The word arcanum means secret, and comes from the Latin “arcanum” — but an arcanum is a secret that does not want to remain such, it wants to be revealed, a mystery that defies rationality. The major arcana describe a universal process that contains all the spiritual aspects of being.
We must develop our understanding, starting to use this alphabet of the imagination to reach a stimulating dialogue. Even though each card has its own symbolism and meaning, it must always be read in relation to the others, a bit like what happens to us in life, made as it is of encounters, clashes, happiness and sorrow. And so, within this subtle web of contradictions and in the face of “relationships”, Arcanum No. VI, “The Lovers”, presents itself to us in all its possible and inexhaustible contradictions. Love is one of the most ambiguous cards to interpret and opens the field to countless projections. It is the card of union, of disunion, even though the various clues lead us to believe that the concept of union is the truer one.
The meaning of this card lies in good feelings, desires, but also temptations. Indeed, the symbolism of Love is the contract between vice and virtue. We must strive to let our better energies win out, we must strengthen our will, which will allow us to pursue virtue and not give in to the pleasantness of the fleeting advantages offered to those without the ambition to grow and mature. A single choice can change our life; above all, we must love ourselves, committing to reaching a high goal.
The card shows us two young people joined in a sacred bond, with another figure in the centre, and above, in the sky, a small cupid with the features of a child, symbolising that such love renews itself continuously, while the three figures represent the three instances of the human being — intellect, the emotional centre and the sexual one — coming together to form a single one.
The sun that frames cupid spreads its light over the scene, as if representing a source of universal love that leads us towards a conscious and unconditional love. Of this conscious love, now more than ever, we must be aware; let us follow the path of virtue, let us persevere in some small sacrifice, thus safeguarding our life, just as the three figures do, holding hands to symbolise the “complexity of the relationships at play”.
My personal pairing for Arcanum No. VI, The Lovers, is “la Bella Galiana e il Principe Romano” (Beautiful Galiana and the Roman Prince). Legend has her fall victim to the immense, unbridled love of the powerful prince who, disappointed by her rejection, preferred the pain of seeing her dead to the thought of knowing her loved by another. Needless to say, of the two paths before him, the prince chose the wrong one.
Now this arcanum invites us to ask ourselves these questions: which choices must I make? what is my emotional state? perhaps it will comfort us to know that the answer to these questions will be the same for all of us. Our home, a safe refuge like a nest of love, we will turn from a prison into a temple. Italians have turned their homes into gardens, into places where their creativity can flourish.
I want to dedicate this kiss to you metaphorically, sending you this image which I created on a fragment of peperino, because we know that a kiss tells more than many words. I love Gustav Klimt because he was one of the first artists of the 20th century to give a dreamlike reading, in which the themes of love and death always coexist; he manages to bring together, within the same works, the figurative — as we see in the faces — the geometric — as we see in the bodies — and the gold used in the backgrounds, which emphasises the suspension of the floating bodies. Looking at every detail we are absorbed only by the “details”; looking at it as a whole, a complete image presents itself to us, exactly as happens in the arcana — it is like standing before an orchestra where we hear not just one but all the instruments playing.
If I remember correctly, perhaps eight years ago “The Kiss” by Klimt was the most highly valued painting in the world; today, for us forced into our “isolation”, a kiss — even if “signed” only by our own lips and not by such a famous author — would feel to us like a true work of art.
