The two trees of Eden
Behind the Lovers stand the two trees of Genesis: the Tree of Life behind the man, and behind the woman the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, with the serpent in it.
In the tradition
Genesis 2 sets both trees "in the midst of the garden". Waite gives the Tree of Life twelve fruits, after the tree in Revelation that bare twelve manner of fruits, and Smith drew them as flames.
Earlier Lovers cards showed a young man choosing between two women under Cupid’s arrow. Waite replaced that scene with Adam and Eve before the fall. He leaves the great angel above them unnamed; later writers call him Raphael.
Sources
- A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910). Waite's own guide to the deck he designed with Pamela Colman Smith, with each card's divinatory meanings.
- Various, The Bible (King James Version 1611; the Latin Vulgate, 4th century). The source of much of the Temple, Eden and Revelation imagery in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
Updated October 9, 2026.
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