6 The Lovers (Parsley)

[stephanelli]

Its been a while since I did much with the Herbal Tarot but Spring is coming and so I'm endeavouring to continue my studies here if I can following recent interest that is motivating me.

 

6 The Lovers

The Lovers stand in a beautiful field.  The grass is green and a river flows across the plain.  Beyond the river is the hint of more greenery and then blue mountains rising up into the sky.  The sky is yellow and a golden light shines out of the clouds and onto the Lovers, specifically the woman.  There are also some birds in the sky.  The Lovers themselves are naked and holding one hand with each other.  The man has a serious expression with long brown hair to his shoulders and looks towards the woman.  The woman is looking towards the golden light coming from the clouds and her free hand is raised towards it.  She wears a necklace of red beads at her deck and her hair is up and adorned with light blue-purple flowers.  The herb, parsley, grow up from the ground at the front of the card and seems to entwine around them.

 

In the Herbal Tarot, The Lovers represent attraction and magnetism, it can represent relationships and love and the balance of the female and masculine energies within us.  The woman reaches towards the golden light which I feel is perhaps an acknowledgement of the Divine that is accessed through the traditionally feminine energies - intuition and inner knowing.  This is also represented on this card in the form of the river which can often be seen in this deck as an extension of High Priestess's garments.  The way that the man looks towards the woman shows to me a sense that the yang parts of us sometimes need guidance which can only be obtained through connection with the yin parts.

 

Parsley

Family Name: Umbelliferae

Botanical Name(s): Petroselinum crispum

 

The companion book calls Parsley the Herb of Discrimination because it supposedly allows us to observe and remove blockages that may be stopping out yin and yang being in balance and harmony with each other.  The Greeks held this herb in high esteem and used it to crown victors at the Isthmian Games.  They also used it to decorate tombs.  It is apparently the Romans who first ate parsley and realised its power for countering strong odours.

Parsley grows naturally in rocky soils and its root are deep and strong and can help break up those rocky soils (I can attest to this in my own garden!) so it is a very useful herb.  In the kitchen, both the leaf and roots can be used.