The Lovers:

 

The Lovers:

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

This card is associated with Gemini and the Hebrew letter Zain, the card corresponds to the 17^th path on the Tree of Life and connects Binah to Tiphareth, or the sphere of Saturn to the sphere of the Sun. The card depicts a wedding ceremony, at the top of the card above the bride and groom is Eros, descending with the light upon the bride and groom. In the background is the Hermit assuming the sign of the enterer, there are two children standing at the foot of the card, who Crowley writes represent Cane and Abel, the one child is holding the Holy Grail and the other the Sacred Lance, these represent the Yoni and the Lingam and sexual magick. In fact, the whole card is full of masculine and feminine symbolism and suggests a method of sex magick. At the top of the card there are two statues, one of a naked man and the other a naked woman and at the bottom of the card we can see a red lion and white eagle, also symbolic of the dichotomy of male and female, or rather opposites in general. These opposites are all united in love and forms the Orphic Egg at the bottom and shows its relationship to Eros, thus symbolizing Love, as the means to this particular attainment. The swords in the background, forming what looks like a gate, seem to present the idea of entering the Ethical Triad, which is symbolic of the intellect and associated with the Ruach, it is also symbolic of a womb.

The nature of this path is Love or Agape, not merely a sentimental love but universal love, as this path represents the Shekinah’s first influence on an adept and so it reflects the nature of their union. It is along this path that the essence and mode of creation is unveiled, and an adept is raised via his connection to the Supernal Triad, to this realization. Thus, it symbolizes transformation, as it is this step that alters his constitution and raises him to a new level of understanding himself and his relationship with the world around him. Thus, he must cultivate his new perspective, and this may be done by employing the above stated formula. As Liber AL states: "Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.”  Liber AL I,22: This path is one’s first direct experience with the Shekinah, which is an aspect of the Great Mother and therefore also Nuit, the universe itself, the nature of which is Love, wherein all is united in L.V.X. This inbreathing of the Shekinah seems then to be what draws an adept toward Binah through the following grades, as imprinting upon the soul of a magician the significance of such an experience. It is by uniting with the Shekinah that the magician joins Heaven and Earth via Tiphareth, this may be what is indicated by the wedding ceremony depicted in the card. While union with the Shekinah is certainly indicated, the card also speaks of the formula of Agape, that is realized at Tiphareth, which is the nature of union itself and indicated in the formula of 0=2. The above-described method seems to become an imperative for even maintaining balance at this stage of the magician’s development, as indicated by the above quote as well. “Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.” Crowley writes of this principle in The Book of Thoth: One may now consider the Hermetic marriage itself. This part of the Card has been simplified from “the Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosenkreutz”, a masterpiece too lengthy and diffuse to quote usefully in this place. But the essence of the analysis is the continuous see-saw of contradictory ideas. It is a glyph of duality. The attainment symbolized in this card then, seems to show a means to progress and continued development, rather than being an end in itself.

“Love is the law, love under will.”