The Reacher stands alone in a desolate landscape. The intensity of his gaze and his tensed hands, no less than his erect penis, convey the all-consuming power of his arousal. He is lust incarnate.
Sexual passion burns in him. He knows it, surrenders to it. It drives him. Masturbation is a healthy, genuine expression of sexuality, but something in the nature of the sexual force seeks a mate. The Reacher yearns for the excitement of another body clasping and stimulating his own. His desire demands an object. He knows what he needs, and must find it, at any cost.
This can be a frightening card. The intensity of sexual need it portrays may violate all conventions and decencies, may make its own rules, may even become violent. Even putting the ghastly spectre of rape aside, how many of us have regretted acts committed in the grip of sexual desire?
The unsettling truth is that the sexual urge, in its uncompromising pure form, as seen in the Reacher of Desires, cares not for intimacy, for depth or richness of relationship. It seeks only its own satisfaction.
What, then, is the role of this primal figure in our interpersonal lives? He is energy, a source of power, a passion in search of coupling. His single-minded, uncluttered, uncivilized desire can be immensely erotic, for both the Reacher and the object of his urgency. Intimacy, love, safety, cast a circle of magic within which the Reacher can be liberated, seeking his pleasure heedlessly, without inhibition, knowing that when his passion finds satisfaction and melts away, he will find himself safe in the arms of a beloved spirit, unashamed. His passion has found safe, welcome expression.
This card, however, also signals the dangers of unsated lust. Many are searching for a sexual partner who will allow the safe expression of their need. This is where the Reacher rules, where he dominates personality and behavior. Unsatisfied temptation gives him power, makes him large, inescapable, and terrifying.