The Lovers + The Twins | Archetypes of the Tarot
I have explored archetypes from many perspectives and have always been intrigued by the Major Arcana in the tarot as archetypal source material. The Tarot is an exciting source of symbolic language, offering images that have their roots in alchemy. These are evocative when exploring our own stories through imagery.
The Twins or The Lovers as an archetype, whisper of a strong connection and love found in two separate halves that come together to form a whole. The lovers are not only represented through idealized mates, but also can be seen in reflective and complementary pairings of all kinds, such as concepts, actions, symbols, souls, friends, words, images, and ideas. This archetype speaks of the various ways of being connected, twins in the pattern of relationship, with similarities and differences, exploring the art of aligning. In Alchemy this is called the sacred marriage, depicting the Sun King and the Moon Queen – sacred masculine and sacred feminine, light and dark, opposites aligning in a dance of interaction.
Cross-cultural stories and myths reflect our own cycles, patterns and experiences of seeking, longing and loving. Each of us has our own relationship with this archetype of the twin lovers, and all of us can seek the archetype within ourselves in many ways, including through image based exploration.
When I began my journey with transformative art and process, I was in a profound discovery process. Having recently ended a long and complex marriage, I was in a hard place with love. I was grappling with where I began and others ended. Identity, roles, feelings and stories all vied for attention. I was aware of opposition and paradox within my own stories and experiences as I navigated grief and loss.
I used art making and transformative process to explore the depth of my inner state, exploring the nature of emotions, mind, body, relationships, experiences, life. Through the archetype of the lovers, I brought together the opposites I found within in a conscious act of accessing the twin parts of self that were active and unexpressed, within me. I began to tell my stories through my art, seeking information as I discovered new facets of experience. I went deeper into what I thought I knew, uncovering unconscious beliefs hidden underneath experience.
I was finding my way back to the lovers archetype, realigning and realizing a new sence of balance, wholeness that was generated by seeking, finding and joining ‘my lost twins’.
My twins, the archetypal Lovers once lost and now found, are the reflective and balanced natures of Passion and Compassion.
One day when I was walking at a local wetlands, I had the experience of being held between the light of the sun and the moon. When I noticed them in the sky, I felt them both meeting each other in my body at the solar plexus. This ‘mythic moment’ was a crossroads, and part of my journey of releasing what was no longer serving me while moving into new possibility.
My journey with the lovers has been a journey of living into life. Moving into relationship with Compassion, as a lunar energy, has allowed me to deepen my understanding of empathy and meeting myself and others. Connecting to Passion, as a solar energy, has been powerfully illuminating. Offering new insights of the nature of my passion and its expressions, rising heat that can burst forth and explode, and be harnessed.
The Lovers when they are held as the energy of my internal twin flame allow me to move back and forth through my journey holding compassion and passion in equal measure. Navigating remembrance, lost dreams, acceptance, release, love, grief, faith, sorrow, trust, joy and understanding, with my “lost twins” has redefined my life. The journey has translated my understanding of past experience, wholeness being held within the twin flame perspective of both/and. I see these same elements come to the surface in art, image reflecting life and life impacted through the new understanding that is fostered in the creative process. Through my work with the archetypal Lovers, compassion and passion as living energies held within me, I transformed my relationship with myself and others. My understanding of love was redefined from the inside out, old ways opened into new ways enabling me to “live out loud”, a place where trust, love and eventually a new partner invited me to love out loud.
Take a look at your life:
- Where are some opposites/paradoxes that are showing up for you?
- What is feeling separate or apart, within your self or within your life?
- What do you want/need to release, are there old ways that are not aligned?
- Is there something that is waiting to be seen as reflective, united or joined?
Invite the archetype of The Twins/The Lovers to guide you.
Create new possibility and insight through inquiry, invite a creative dance with art and life, explore your Archetypal Patterns through co-creative Depth Coaching. Connect with me if you are interested in finding out more about depth process.
XO,
