Well folks… the theme of the hop ~ Oracular Anomalies and my title… there are a couple of influences I have to thank for that…
1. The subliminal effect of Mr S taking some time off work and watching back to back Star Trek episodes…
2. A couple of seemingly innocuous words from a friend as we sat with a deck and a brew…
Those words landed in my brain and I felt them as they did this…
I was quite suprised really as I’ve seen this card many times and it’s never triggered excessive thoughts…
But when held up in front of me as my friend said to me something along the lines of :
Do you think that this is an unusual depiction of The Lovers?
I found myself saying… yes actually I do… Though I couldn’t instantly fathom out why other than it felt quite sad and somehow poignant and I thought a bit longer and it was the position of the hands covering their hearts and it seemed to say – I’ll give to you my body and my mind but not my heart. I don’t trust you not to break it…
And then I thought A-Ha! Solved it! That was easy…
Yeah… you can guess what’s coming next… 😀
I thought NO! It’s not that! What is it? And I rolled and rolled it around in my head for days and still no closer to what was niggling and gnawing at me…
So then I thought…. OK… what did you expect to see? What is a ‘typical’ depicition
And broadly speaking, my mind has two types of images that spring up most readily… The thrusty/lusty and the Garden of Eden feel…
Yet that still had me ???? as those Wildwood lovelies are pretty much camping out in that field…
I looked around the room at the sprawling chaos and here are the decks that struck me as ‘typical’…
But what you can’t see is the even bigger pile out of sight that have images I find atypical. Was the answer over there?
I looked over at Mystereum and I thought of how many times when I’ve read for people they’ve backed away and grimaced when they’ve seen The Lovers and felt quite unsettled by it. I’ve never been particularly deterred by it other than slightly puzzled in that it does feel to be a bit of a misfit compared to the rest of the deck. I find them quite androgynous and not immediately apparent as to who is who… and Lady Lover seems starkly tomboyish compared to the swirly, flowing figures of the other females in the pack but I’ve always considered it to be quintessentially a depiction of one person and the facets of personalities within… Then it occurred to me… oh… when people have reacted strongly, they have said – I don’t like THEM!
So… I looked at the pair of them… oh… ok… now I see it… in fact now I see way too much… theatre masks and stage curtains and sadness… the man’s eyes… I see a man stood behind a woman who says – Honey I’ve got your back! whilst he silently prays that she doesn’t turn around and look into his eyes, the windows of his soul and see his fears and worries… but then I don’t think she will turn around as she too masks her anxieties and together the two of them put on a public display of style over substance…
In my head I hear music and words drift in…
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
I revisit my Wildwood Lovers and I look in to their eyes… Their gazes are locked and now I see their hands not as protecting their vulnerability but as making a solemn pledge to always face each other eye to eye even in the darkest of times and to protect what grows in the sacred space they create between them…
And I hear them sing…
So… ye cannae change the laws of psychics? No of course not! There are no laws… we see blips on the radar and try to explain them with what ever stories and knowledge we have at that time… We just make shit up as we go along don’t we? Analogies we pull outta our ass… Is that applied analology? Or is that just me? 😀
The pure and blessed way 
A very interesting post …..but I can’t bear Pink Floyd 😀
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Lol to be honest… I prefer them in small doses… few and far between 😀
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A great journey, you are a wonderful story weaver 🙂
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Thank you Olivia. I’ve missed you on this hop, I hope you’re back for the next one 🙂
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Egad! Woman, you’re he cause of my month of worry! Next time pick a simpler topic! Lol! Love your post ..so much wit and humor:D
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Lol I’m sorry Joanna! I should have wrote in brackets – just write about anything you find interesting! lol believe you me… I’ve cussed at myself a few times over choosing this… Karen! You had the chance to make things easy… and what do you do… 😀 xx
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The Lovers has never been my favourite card tbh. I think because it is a bit of a letdown (in RWS, at least). You expect from the title that it will be about love and passion, but it is quite a cold card – look at that huge mountain (of misunderstanding) between man and woman and that’s before you get to the Xtian notion that passion is something that you should feel guilty about. No, not my favourite card.
(P.S. I love Pink Floyd)
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I’m with you on the RWS VI 😀 This one always makes me lol when you look at where the moon is… never mind did the earth move, they actually shook the moon outta the sky! https://robertmplacetarot.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/72dpi-6-lovers-al-4th.jpg
(Pink Floyd… I mostly favour the older stuff with Syd… they kind of lost it for me around Division Bell…)
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I didn’t even go there with Division Bell. I think they rather lost it after The Wall, though there is some good stuff on Momentary Lapse of Reason
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I seem to recall buying DB for Mr S as a gift and then being pretty disappointed…
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First of all, I love the title of your post! Second, after reading the title, when you said Mr. S was taking time off work I was certain you meant Mr. Spock and had no idea how you knew his work schedule. I love reading about your process here; I love experiencing your revelations with you. I loved this topic and had a lot of fun writing my posts! Thank you!
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Thanks Joy! And you’re welcome. First off, I’m particularly pleased that you enjoyed the topic, especially with you having two post to write (both of which I loved!). Secondly, it never occurred to me that folks might read Mr S as Spock rather than as refering to my better half! That’s just layered in a whole extra level of funny for me! 😀 it’s amused me greatly!
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We were attracted to the same card…WOW!!!! GREAT BLOG!!!!!!
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Thank you! Yes same card, different twists 😀 I LOVE what you did with yours!
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Blessed is a love affair that does not end in heartbreak. I think that it is interesting that love is probably the number one thing that is seeked our but it is also feared. I really enjoyed hearing your representation of this card. thanks Karen for your insight and for the amazing topic. I had a lot of fun with this hop!
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Thank you Mindy! Very pleased to hear you’ve enjoyed the topic and had some fun with it. It’s the first time I’ve wrangled and there were a few new hoppers along so I’m glad I’ve not put anybody off! Lol.
“Blessed is a love affair that does not end in heartbreak”. – I like that very much, thanks for sharing 🙂
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I, too, have always found this card anomalous because of the seemingly contrary exit-from-Eden and love-and-passion-unity themes that run through different decks depending. I do like your final take on the Wildwood Lovers, though. I think that’s the intent.
But you are right, and so is Joanna. This was indeed a challenging prompt for the hop. It’s creating some really fascinating results, though. 🙂
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Thanks Joanne 🙂 I guess that The Lovers will always be anomalous to a degree as they raise the eternal question – What is Love? And that is one of those questions that you think sure! I know how that works… Until you come to explain it and then it’s like trying to describe what the colour bluie sounds like…
I didn’t realise that I’d set a challenging prompt as basically…well… My brain just bumbles along like that all day everyday! So oooops! I guessed I dragged you all into my little world… That being said – yes, you are right, there has been some really good posts and also I was pleased to see a lot of humour coming out 😉 Anyway… That got 2015 off to an interesting start… Lol you can all rest safe in the knowledge that I won’t be let loose with a topic for the rest of this year… Though don’t get too complacent as Ania is up next and I’ve a feeling she’ll throw down a very stylish gauntlet… I’m looking forward to seeing what’s coming… 😉
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Well, I could go into a whole “love is anomalous in itself” thing, but hey, you’ve done such a great job with those cards, why bother? I loved your piles of eden vs passion, and how everything is anomalous somehow 😀
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Thanks Chloe 😀 it was one of those posts where thoughts really did fractal out in all directions and you know you’ve edited out 95% and you’re hoping that the 5% you left in makes sense to whoever reads it! Lol
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I love how you’ve come full circle with the Lovers. You’ve picked my FAVOURITE deck with a great card and you hit this version’s meaning right on the head, in my view. Hoping through, slowly… 🙂
Had to chuckle when you said Mr S… I too thought “Spock!” but then twigged it was the hubby 😉
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Thank you Louise! 😀 It’s the first time I’ve really had a proper look at the people in the deck, I usually talk to the animals…
Mr S does actually answer to Spock… then again, he answers to most things… 😀
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