Much like the Chinese Zodiac has an animal (and element) associated with every new year, so too does the tarot. 2022 added together is 6 (2+0+2+2 = 6) and the 6th card in the tarot is the lovers. Sounds sexy, doesn’t it? Everyone is going to be in gross love, right? I’m finally going to find the perfect partner, right Allison? Maybe, but the lovers is much deeper than it appears on the surface.
The Lovers Tarot Card Meaning
Yes, the lovers is about love and commitment, but it’s also about unity, connection, balance, decision making, and choices. We begin to question and deviate from the boundaries and traditions we learned in the previous card, the hierophant. We call our own shots and are motivated by desire. The lovers isn’t just about the loving relationships in our lives, but all relationships, and the choices we make in them.
The lovers is the 6th card in the major arcana, and 6’s are associated with harmony, integration, and passivity. It’s associated with the astrological sign Gemini which is adaptable, communicative, and inquisitive. Gemini as a sign shows us that “oneness is multifaceted and that unity and love are possible through joining difference” (Hayertz, 2018). Gemini is an air sign, and as such the lovers card is also associated with air. Do you know tarot suit is associated with air? The swords!
Wait, what?
Swords represent the realm of the mind. They are our fears, worries, and anxieties, but they are also logic, reasoning, and clarity. THAT’S what 2022 is really going to be about. Decision making and choices surrounding our fears and anxieties in the relationships in our lives, and striving to create unity, harmony, and balance. We have to confront our fears and work for unity. If that sounds like a lot of work, that’s because it is, and some of us have more work to do than others.
When I talk about relationships, I mean with everyone and everything in your life. Family, friends, work, money, technology, the person begging on the corner, people who look different or have different beliefs from you- religious, political, you name it. Fears and anxieties must be confronted, and harmony and balance must be restored.
I can feel some of you tuning out now. We’re all exhausted. We’re all running on empty because the last two years have been pretty hellish across the board. The stress of existing is monumental on its own, but we have a pandemic, political extremes, racial injustice, environmental catastrophes, economic divides, and people acting awful all over the place. IT’S A LOT! And it’s hard to keep pushing. You can’t argue with stupid, am I right? Well… am I?
How can the Lovers Help
My advice, and the advice that the lovers gives to us, is to seek to unify with each other in compassion. It’s not just the message of a paper card either, it’s literally the message from his Holiness the Dali Lama. Compassion is the key to unity. The hard choice. It’s so much easier to write off the people we disagree with as nut jobs. It’s hard to seek to understand, to listen, to learn- to confront our own biases, prejudices, and privilege.
If you’re bristling at some of what I’ve said, lean into that. Question it. Sit with it. Why are you feeling what you’re feeling? That’s going to be step one for a lot of us. “That person’s viewpoint upsets me.” Why? We have a lot of fears and misinformation that need to be addressed. Compassionate communication is going to start with a lot of listening. We have to be open. We have to get past the bluster and bristling rhetoric to get to the heart of a matter.
But Allison, those people are wrong. They refuse to listen to reason. They are trying to take things from me, or hurt me. We have no common ground!
Maybe, but I’m betting the majority of us are all looking for the same things. Safety for our loved ones, prosperity and abundance, a peaceful existence, a happy life. There’s some common ground. Work from there. Oneness is multifaceted. We can find unity through difference. It takes a lot of courage to confront our biases, and to reevaluate our positions. It’s difficult, and it’s not always going to work, but it IS worth it to try.
2022 will be a year where our choices will carry serious weight and will deeply affect our relationships for good or for ill. Be mindful and thoughtful. If the Lovers is about choice, choose compassion. Or don’t.
Would you like to know more?
2022- the year of the lovers is just the tip of the iceberg. You can schedule a life path reading with me to learn your birth and shadow card, and see what your personal tarot card is for 2022.