Intro to Tarot: Symbolic Alchemy — A view of The Lovers and Art

Editor’s Note: This article continues our weekly series on the tarot. You can find some of the earlier ones by clicking the “tarot” category link above. For additional information on this week’s topic, here is an archive article by Eric on the Lovers/Art comparison. In case you want to experiment with the cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator. The formation is called the Celtic Wings spread. It’s based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article tells how to use the spread. We’re happy to respond to questions and will take direction from readers who comment, so please let us know what you think. You can visit Sarah’s website at this link. –efc

By Sarah Taylor

Today, we are going to use our previous article on The Lovers as a springboard to compare and contrast two cards — this time, though, we’re going to be looking at two different cards from the same deck: The Lovers (VI) and Art (XIV), both major arcana cards from the Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot.*

But first…

A crash course in alchemy

“What has alchemy got to do with tarot?” you might ask. An understandable question. The answer, in this instance, lies with this particular tarot deck. The Thoth Tarot was created by occultist Aleister Crowley and artist Lady Frieda Harris, and its symbolism is based on several different disciplines. Alchemy played a significant role in Crowley’s life and the practice of his art; and it is alchemy that lies at the heart of both The Lovers and Art cards in the Thoth deck.

Start looking up “alchemy,” however, and you rapidly understand why it is referred to as an occult art. Occult simply means “hidden”; occultism is the study of hidden knowledge; and alchemy not only has many branches to it, it’s also hard to grasp if we take a purely left-brained view of it — its hidden meaning can elude us. So let’s engage our right brain along with our left, take a brief look at alchemy (far from comprehensive, but enough for our purposes here) and see where it leads us in an exploration of The Lovers and Art. (For those who are better versed in matters alchemical, feel free to add any expansions and corrections in the comments section.)

At its most basic and physical, the study of alchemy is the study of turning base metals into gold. Add another layer and it is the study of changing base elements into an elixir of life — a substance that confers immortality. Add a further layer and it is the study of spiritual transformation.

This third approach is found in Hermetic alchemy, and this is where much of the symbolism of The Lovers and Art cards has its roots.

In the Thoth Tarot, The Lovers and Art refer to a central tenet of alchemy:

Solve et Coagula.

Dissolution and coagulation are The Lovers and Art, respectively. Together, they describe the process of breaking down a substance (dissolution) in order that it can be combined with another (coagulation) to create a third, superior substance.

Now we can apply this knowledge to the two cards in a way that hopefully adds to and enriches their meaning in a reading.

VI The Lovers — Dissolution

If we go back to our exploration of The Lovers in last week’s article, we can see that — whether literal or metaphorical, whether about a relationship with another or with oneself — the card refers to the tension of different forces or ideas, often in opposition to one another. In Eric’s words, it symbolises duality and the potential “of the integration of opposites in a true meeting.”

It’s just the potential, mind you: in the image, there is still separation described by the people, the colours, the ideas that sit in counterpoint to each other. The black and white figures of adult and child hold hands or cross arms, but they are independent entities. The red lion and white eagle are juxtaposed at the outer reaches of the card, inanimate. In fact, apart from the figure of the cupid at centre-top, and the continuous movement inferred by the mobius strip, there is a static nature to the card. But there is a seed of initiation into something else: the egg in the centre at the bottom of the image. This, according to Aleister Crowley, represents “the essence of all life that comes under the formula of male and female.”

Interesting word, that: formula. It has scientific connotations. It describes something measured, precise. Formulae lie at the basis of scientific processes.

This is where we start to see how alchemy fits into the picture.

Remember that The Lovers refers to the process of dissolution in alchemy. According to the Collins Pocket Dictionary, dissolution is “a breaking up or into parts.” Knowing this, let’s look at the card again.

The Lovers tells us that everything that exists has an opposite. Male/female, adult/child, human/animal, earthly/celestial, black/white, emotions/physicality.

Crucially here, it is also about known/unknown. And here is the crux: when we look into the mirror of The Lovers card, we see those parts of us that we have disowned, and that we didn’t know existed. The Lovers, in this instance, brings us into contact with our shadow material. We finally separate all the ingredients; we look at them; and we acknowledge “I am all that.” We have entered the stage of dissolution.

As painful as that process can be, we now have the raw ingredients to work with. So The Lovers, in an alchemical sense, heralds the birth of something new out of opposites. Until that moment, we, like the figures, are held in suspension as if something is poised, waiting… the moment before rebirth… the pregnant pause before the chemical reaction of Art.

XIV Art — Coagulation

Where The Lovers represents dissolution, Art depicts coagulation, or integration. But enough of the theorising — we don’t need it. Just look at the card: the imagery is striking and irrefutable.

First, the adult figures from The Lovers card have been synthesized to create a beautifully balanced third figure that embodies the attributes of both. Two heads sit atop broad shoulders, white arm belonging to black head, black arm belonging to white. The figure’s dress makes room for both the snakes and bees on the separate gowns in The Lovers. The hands hold the cup and spear respectively — though here the spear has shifted to its elemental counterpart of fire (in tarot, wands — spears — are associated with fire, or creativity).

The lion and eagle have traded colours, have changed from static to animated. They drink from the same cup, each adding something to it at the same time. The fire and the water from the hands of the figure combine harmoniously to create something life-giving and nourishing, and are able to co-exist without extinguishing or vaporising each other.

The red tones of The Lovers have given way to the complementary colours of red and green in Art, while the figure is cloaked in a rainbow: the full spectrum of colours, representing the full spectrum of what it is to be human.

Finally, the egg that embodied the potential for transformation in The Lovers card is now ready to hatch what it held in embryo. On it, is the inscription: “Visit the interior parts of the Earth; by rectification thou shalt find the hidden stone.”

The “hidden stone” refers to the philosopher’s stone — that rare substance that alchemists were after in their magical pursuits. But what is that substance to those of us who aren’t alchemists? Once we have gone through a process of being stripped down to our basest elements and recombined in a chemical reaction, what is it that we have created?

I believe that the answer is consciousness. We see who we are; we see what everything is around us; and we see how it all fits together.

If we view the tarot as a means of describing the journey of the soul, The Lovers and Art are a microcosm of that journey. When they each come up in a reading, they are significant in that they will refer to this journey in some form or other. When they come up together, their meaning is amplified.

So when you draw The Lovers or Art, pause for a moment. Is it about a relationship? Is it about balance and the creative process? Or is there something more that is waiting to be discovered? Check in with your intuition, feel the potential that these cards are bringing you, and expand your idea of what is possible. There lies the pathway to inspiration.

* Thank you to wandering_yeti for the article suggestion.

Previous articles:

– Intro to Tarot: The Lovers – A three-card comparison

– Intro to Tarot: How to read a picture

– Intro to Tarot: Synchronicity and card positions

– Intro to Tarot: Gearing up for a reading

– Intro to Tarot: Humanity’s relationship to symbols