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Summary:
Hi everyone! Happy Valentine’s Day! How fitting - this week’s Tarot card is The Lovers.
In my portrayal of The Lovers tarot card of the Major Arcana, we see none other than Malka and Joel from my graphic novel, "The Book of Joel.” The uncensored version is on my Patreon, by the way, for those who are curious.
In its upright position, this card symbolizes honesty, attraction, and overcoming trials. As we’ve seen already, Joel and Malka overcome many trials, mostly internal, in “The Book of Joel.” In particular, they manage to overcome Joel’s self-sabotaging and self-flagellating tendencies. Joel is someone who has always struggled with chasing after things that he knows he will enjoy because he doesn’t want to enjoy things in life. He prefers feeling emotionally flat, as he calls it, because there’s less emotional risk involved.
Transcript:
Hi everyone! Happy Valentine’s Day! How fitting - this week’s Tarot card is The Lovers.
In my portrayal of The Lovers tarot card of the Major Arcana, we see none other than Malka and Joel from my graphic novel, "The Book of Joel.” You can read it using the link in my description. The uncensored version is on my Patreon, by the way, for those who are curious.
In its upright position, this card symbolizes honesty, attraction, and overcoming trials. As we’ve seen already, Joel and Malka overcome many trials, mostly internal, in “The Book of Joel.” In particular, they manage to overcome Joel’s self-sabotaging and self-flagellating tendencies. Joel is someone who has always struggled with chasing after things that he knows he will enjoy because he doesn’t want to enjoy things in life. He prefers feeling emotionally flat, as he calls it, because there’s less emotional risk involved.
After Joel realizes in a pivotal scene that Malka needs him, he brushes aside his crippling clear of connecting sexually and romantically with her. He then realizes that sometimes it’s worth it to take an emotional risk and that his way of thinking was somewhat selfish because if he had taken it too far and allowed it to stew for too long, he would’ve hurt Malka. And this is something he never wants to do since he realizes Malka is the woman he wants to be with for the rest of his life.
Behind Joel is a tree of flames, which symbolizes his blazing passion for Malka. Despite his self-restraint (he is called the Modern Tantalus for a reason, people!) and how he shackles himself, he is an extremely passionate lover when he learns to let go of his complexes. The mountain behind them is a volcano, which symbolizes the eruption of passion that happens whenever these two come together.
Behind Malka is a snake, which is a reference to the Devil snake in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. There’s nothing sinister here, but due to her own bad experiences with a womanizing and temperamental father, she had some fears about pursuing love. Fortunately, she finds Joel, who is in many ways, the complete opposite of her father.