"One part of you is cooperating with another part of you.  You may hold some beliefs and attitudes that don't always work smoothly together.  Here, you are finding a way to bring them together and have them support each other - you may realize that you can be both fat and beautiful". - Gail Fairfield

Traditionally The Lovers, the 6th Major Arcana, represent choices, not only of a romantic nature but also of a life altering nature, and the coming together of opposites, polarities and opposition, the feminine and the masculine.  It represents the principle of relatedness and choice.  The Lovers is often seen to represent choices and paths we take in life.  It can also symbolize romantic partnership and alliances. 

On the Legend Lovers card Ferguson used Gareth and Lionors to represent The Lovers.  Their tale is one of challenges that must be overcome in order to win true love.  Each choice that is made, each road that is followed may be us closer to our ultimate desire - the partner that fulfills us or the choice that makes us whole.

Drawing The Lovers the day after drawing the 2 of Cups seems like moving from minor leagues to the major leagues.  Some of the same concepts apply about choosing to open yourself up to a partnership and emotionally connecting to someone.  But I drew this card reversed so I'm seeing a bit differently.

The path I need to follow, the choice I need to take starts with embracing myself; with learning to love myself.  I need to be comfortable embracing all aspects of myself - my snarky side, my caring side, my raunchy side and my shy side.  All of these aspects are part of me and denying one aspects is denying my true nature.  I think sometimes in society when we have an aspect that isn't pretty or doesn't seem to fit the accepted norm we try to fix it or control it.  I'm tired of that.  I think that's what has gotten me into this mess to begin with.  Instead of accepting and embracing all of me, I tried to bury beneath piles of food and mounds of flesh.  Screw that!  I'm tired of it and I'm not doing it anymore.

I have to admit that I would not necessarily share all of myself with everyone.  I need to be selective about which people I could be comfortable sharing with and quite frankly what's appropriate.  Some things aren't appropriate for public consumption.  In fact, despite the fact that I post these things in a public blog, I always censor certain things.  Not everyone needs to know all there is to know about me (even if everyone only means those who actually read my ramblings).  As much as I might joke about certain things, I rarely (if ever) discuss sexual matter with others.  And quite frankly I rarely, if ever, want others to share this information with me.

I know that I am a mass of contradictions and conflicting attitudes and beliefs.  And I don't flatter myself that I am the only person with such complexities.  We all have them but we share them with varying degrees of honesty.  I may not always be honest with others (or maybe I'm discreet) but I am always honest in my own mind.  I am confused and confusing, shallow and deep.  I often refer to myself as WYSIWYG and that is true.  I'm not good with ulterior motives.  I rarely have them and find it difficult to understand people who operate that way.  But at least I'm reaching a point where I can integrate all of these pieces of myself into a coherent whole.  Maybe the reality is that we all have multiple personality disorder but most of us can still remain functional with it and are aware of these other personalities.  I am now in the process of integrating those parts.  I'm sure the journey will be interesting.