Betrothal initiation archetypal image (Tarot)

The encounter of the psyche with an image of marriage is emblematic, reflecting a particular condition of conscious existence. It is one of the most important archetypes and is expressed visually in many forms, from male-female companionship to conjugal relations, and all possibilities in between such as the marriage sacrament, its ceremony, and its feast. The mystical symbolism of marriage pervades Christianity, esoteric Islam, and Judaism, and was central to some of the gnostics. It also entered the faith-systems of hermeticism and alchemy in the West, and is still crucial to the practice of Hindu and Buddhist tantra yoga. In the Tarot system the related emblem is the sixth card (of the 22 tarots of the Grand Arcana) where it is depicted as a priest marrying a man and women. The solar crown behind the cupidus or Eros indicates the noble love which attends initiation. Flowing upwards from beauty (harmony), there is represented the enduring union of opposites, male and female, sun and moon. Within the Tarot system itself there are indications that the psychic encounter with Marriage may be associated with the emblem of the Magician.

The correspondence of the Lovers emblem in the Kabbalistic Paths of Wisdom is said to relate to the connection between the sephira of the middle-pillar, beauty (Tiphareth), which is the nexus of all the sephiroth, and intelligence or understanding (Binah).