The Lover Departs (or “Squeezing the Grape”)
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I recently came across an unusual interpretation of the Tarot de Marseille “Lover” card that I find quite engaging. It inspired me to present a pair of amusing anecdotes that convey a serious message. (I’ve already covered this subject from the Chariot’s perspective in much the same language; see my previous essay, linked below.)
It’s an acknowledged fact that modern renditions of “The Lovers” (as distinct from the singular “Lover” that is the focus of this essay) are weighed down with esoteric baggage: in the Waite-Smith deck it is theological while in the Thoth tarot it is alchemical. I’ve long believed that the TdM version is more faithful to the card’s fundamental meaning, that of an apparent choice that is really a directive being foisted on the central figure by Divine intervention (think “shotgun wedding with bow-and-arrow”); discretion is illusory since Cupid is showing him what he must do (that is, face the future and embrace the tantalizing unknown) and the only way he can demur is to bow out of the obligation completely. That’s the premise behind this innovative take.
Let’s suppose that the Lover is unwilling to accept either of the offered trysts and decides to abscond from the situation, freeing himself to pursue an alternative path that strikes out in a different direction. He wiggles out from between the two women who are attempting to bind him, dodges Cupid’s bolt and boards the Chariot, thereby ducking a commitment to one or the other. To me it suggests that the footloose Fool is once again on the move, not caught like a “rat in a trap” and held there until the Pope can be summoned to perform the nuptials.
The beckoning Chariot offers him a fortuitous bypass, a way out through avoidance if he has the courage to take it; there is no reason why incentives can’t come in “threes” nor for him to suffer “the slings-and-arrows of outrageous fortune” if it isn’t in his playbook to do so. A crossroads generally offers two well-worn paths out of an intersection; the escape route is probably being watched by that sinister cherub, so here we could say that after exiting the vicinity he must “bushwhack” his way to the Chariot’s outpost. By looking beyond a simple choice and thinking outside the box, he can transcend his dilemma. I like his chances, and that of anyone who receives this card in a reading and chooses not to take its message at face value.
About that grape. When my brother and I were kids we used to find wild Concord grapes (the thick-skinned variety that tastes like Welch’s Grape Juice) along the roadside. We discovered that we could squeeze them firmly and the pulp would squirt right out into our mouths, leaving the leathery husk in our purple-stained fingers. (I just recalled that one color associated with the Chariot is a “royal purple.”) This memory invoked the fanciful image of the Lover “squirting right out” from between the twin pillars of Virtue and Vice and fleeing the trap, following what might be described as the “Way of Indifference.” Perhaps the solar rays shooting out from the orb behind the figure of Cupid represent the motivating power (call it “spiritual lubrication”) he needs if he is to be “sprung” and then impelled toward freedom.
A second instructive story comes from the scene in the Mel Brooks movie Spaceballs, where Princess Vespa blows right by the priest who is supposed to marry her to the sleepy Prince Valium and goes out the back door of the church. She was clearly having none of it, and I think it’s a cinematic interlude the indecisive Lover could benefit from viewing. But perhaps we shouldn’t give him any radical ideas, such as “Sometimes the best choice is no choice at all.”
https://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com/2023/10/25/the-lovers-escape-thoughts-on-the-chariot/
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on April 17, 2024.
