Card of the Week: The Lovers

In movies and television shows, a Tarot Lovers card is often used as a quick and easy shorthand to refer to literal lovers.  Of course, real-world relationships are never so simple.

The Lovers card represents an important choice that may need to be made.  It might involve a romantic partner, but often connects to other types of relationships with family, friends, coworkers or other associates, or with other cards near it in a spread.  Some types of decisions are more abstract, such as weighing knowledge against experience, or a potential path of vice versus virtue.

Inverted, this card can portend of a weakness in an existing relationship.  A challenge may come as a drastic issue of trust, or a more common question of communication or misunderstanding.

In “The Paradise Syndrome”, the Enterprise visits a planet whose local culture resembles an early native-American tribe.  Their village is overseen by a tall alien obelisk.  Kirk accidentally falls into it and disappears, forcing the landing party to leave without him.  Kirk emerges with amnesia, misremembering his name as Kirok.  The village elders name him tribal medicine chief, replacing Salish.  Spock takes temporary command of the Enterprise to intercept an asteroid before it impacts the planet.  The Enterprise suffers damage in its efforts to change the asteroid’s course, and takes months to return to the planet, giving time for Kirok and Miramanee to fall in love and, over Salish’s objections, marry.  When the Enterprise finally arrives, Spock uses a Vulcan mind meld to restore Kirk’s memory, and Kirk must make the choice to return to the Enterprise.