"This path may be considered the aspect of the "Garden Of Eden" from which mankind was expelled, but to which it may earn re-entry by consciously dealing with what has been called the inner Sun and Moon"
Accordingly Paul Foster Case related the Sun to self-consciousness and the Moon to subconsciousness.
"The only thing necessary for this encounter is true inner readiness." (Akron/Banzhaf)
The Lovers are/is our intuition, our inspirational voice, illumination of heart and mind by The Great Mother (Binah giving form to Chokmah), analysis and synthesis - leading to equilibrium. This is the "marriage" found by The Hermit (who appears as the cloaked background figure presiding over the scene), depicted in his own atu however as apparently walking alone, he is complete in himself, having united his self-consciousness/subconscious selves, his Soul having freed itself from addiction to the physical senses (through filtration and distribution).
"This cards level of consciousness is one of the prime mover, the frontier state, a pioneer in one's own field; setting standards where there are none and bringing change to disorder." (P&C Zalewski)
"The shedding of blood is necessary, for God did not hear the children of Eden until blood was shed." (Aleister Crowley)
The Hermit (in his eponymous atu) is cloaked in a blood red "Outer Robe of Concealment" (Binah: The Great Sea seen in the 4/Cups, The Great Mother, Understanding, The Moon) and the (hidden) "Inner Robe of Concealment" (Chokmah: equilibrium found in the 2/Wands, Illuminating Intelligence, the creative word "Let there be light" - his lamp, The Sun).
"Marriage is not a matter of two halves, but of four quarters, united in balanced harmony of reciprocal fecundation, Binah and Chokmah are balanced by Hod and Netzach. There are goddesses as well as gods for Man to worship. Boaz and Jakin are both pillars of the Temple and only when united do they produce stability. A godesless religion is halfway to atheism." (Dion Fortune)
In the two (of Wands) we see these opposites united in a central point, undivided - forming an X shape, apparently two wands but seen as four points (masks) coming together in the alchemical state of "blackening", the Wands glowing red-hot with the intensity of the calcination process from the heat of the "flaming staff" of the Ace.
The four (of Cups) is Chesed in Briah, the fourth path called "Cohesive Intelligence" where The Hermit finds emotional security and stability, having fully united his "Moon in Cancer" (adaptability) with the Sun-like Fire element of Uranus (2/Wands), giving him the true inner readiness through freedom and rebellion required to meet with his intuition in The Lovers.
