Tarot, the Lovers, the Devil and Spock

Make friends with the Devil — he’s wiser and more helpful than you give him credit for. And he might be a Vulcan.

Most mornings — I try for ’every’ but am happy with ‘most’ — I get up before seven and pull a single Tarot card. The focus is always the same — what lesson is this day going to teach me? Sometimes, I meditate for fifteen minutes before I draw a card. Other times, I draw the card, prop it up on my altar and wrestle with it the way a Rinzai monk might wrestle with a tricky koan. Earlier this week, I drew the Lovers and on the following day, I pulled the Devil.

The Lovers — from choice to consequence

The Lovers is numbered six (VI) and has the not unexpected traditional meaning of new relationships or choices. The Marseille version dates back to the 17th century and shows us a youthful man caught between two women seemingly vying for his attention. Above, Cupid aims his ‘poison arrow’. Whom the arrow will strike is unclear. The image echoes myths like that of the Judgement of Paris, where Paris had to choose who was the fairest amongst the Greek…