Lovers and 2 of Cups: Valentine's Day

I've been busy this past week, and so sleepy, that I haven't felt up to making time for a blog post, and I'm well overdue. Ironically, the day I feel I have some time to set aside for this is Valentine's Day, where so many people are running around town frenetically trying to find last-minute gifts for loved ones. I should know. On my way to work this morning I stopped off at the local superstore (my least favorite place in the world to go) in order to pick up some chocolate for the kids for when they get home from school. As I was perusing the long aisles of heart-shaped boxes, a man rushed by me, his hands full of pink baskets, flowers, cards, and candy. He said to me "I've been working all week from 9am-Midnight and haven't had time to go shopping, so once again I'm here at the last minute!" He told me he worked at a restaurant and they'd been booked solid the entire week for Valentine's dinners. I reassured him that the fact that he'd made time to work this in to his busy schedule should count for something.  He asked if I'd seen the over-sized stuffed bears, and I said no, and he rushed away into the vacuous space of the commercial wonderland.

People harp on Valentine's Day for being "too fabricated," or structured to empty people's pockets of hard-earned cash. I don't feel that way, but then I tend to take from each holiday what works for me, and leave the rest….also happen to adore boxed chocolate, so it works out okay for me! In fact to be honest I don't mind buying up my goodies on the day after, when everything is marked down. Score!

So, love. Yesterday I had the fortune to meet with a local reader-friend for a 3-hour session of playing with Tarot and Lenormand, and two cards that kept popping up in our readings were the 2 of Cups and the Lovers - so fitting for the occasion, don't you think? These are two cards that have shown up a lot in my personal readings over the past year, a combination of redirecting my path towards something I love, something that feeds my soul, and which as a result is bringing my being back into alignment. But I want to put aside these meanings about "choice," "alignment," etc., because today is Love Day and I want to talk about how these cards represent our most sacred feeling. For this purpose I'm using two images from the Anna K Tarot, which I do NOT own, but which my reader friend does and used for me yesterday. (Very fitting, too, as my blogging friend Ellen used this deck for a post yesterday, and every time she does so, it makes me think I should add it to my collection!).

I was stuck by these two cards yesterday, in this particular deck, because of how the artist seems to have connected them:

Anna K Tarot - Llewellyn Publishing

The 2 of Cups shows a young couple in what could be the throes of early love, or a developing and exciting romance. They are demurely engaged, giving the impression that they're really trying to find some privacy so they can feel free to express their feelings for each other away from prying eyes. The flowers are in bloom behind them, a sign of happiness and perhaps the expansion of love they may soon experience.  Some people consider the 2 of Cups a "soul mates" card, and I don't necessarily see it that way. As a 2, this card is about new love, flirtation, mutual attraction, which may or may not become something deep and long-lasting.

Anna K Tarot - Llewellyn Publishing

Then we have the Lovers, and this would indeed be a card I'd consider to be more indicative of a deep connection that moves past flirtation and fleeting passion and onto something more meaningful and significant. In this image we see what appears to be the same couple from the 2 of Cups, yet now they've aged quite a bit. They're no longer the young lovers trying to hide behind a curtain for privacy. They sit closely together holding hands, enjoying each other's company, content and secure in the loving friendship that has developed after many long years of being together, learning about and from each other, forging the slow and profound bond of loving coupledom. The flowers have expanded and filled out along with their relationship.

Now back to the definitions I wanted to avoid….. most relationships start with the 2 of Cups, and it takes the careful cultivation, flexibility, open mind, dedication, and above all the right pairing of two people to reach and then maintain the Lovers relationship. It ain't easy! Not all Lovers relationships work out, and their demise can be deeply painful. Those that do last require an even flow of those attributes, an alignment of core values, a sprinkling of grace…. and above all, a choice. A choice to stick it out, work through the problems, grow from the pain, and as a result come to care more deeply for each other than either partner might have imagined was possible.

So here is to love in all its messy glory - all love: 2 of Cups and Lovers, 10 of Cups and 6 of Cups, the Sun, Ace of Cups, and even the 3 of Cups of joyful friendships. Finally, a special shout out to the 3 of Swords, the bittersweet agony that is at times a consequence of having had the courage to be open to the blessing of giving and receiving love.

Happy Valentine's Day.

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