We have completed the first line of the Major Arcana- the Creation Line. Looking at the blog posts from each of the first seven cards, I hope you can see how they build each other, lily padding from one to the next. The Magician opened us to our own personal magick, and how that magick is intertwined with the magick all you. The Chariot showed how we move with that magick, along with all the invitations. Just as we start to feel like this movement is alignment, we learn we must step down from the Chariot, and have the strength to continue forward.
Strength is one of two cards that switches in number, the other being Justice. Some decks will have Strength at number eight, or at eleven. I personally believe that Strength belongs at number eight, and will use this blog and accompanying podcast episode to show you why. I have an entire episode dedicated to this numerical switch, which you can find here. Don’t forget to follow and review to help boost the show!
Looking at the numerology of Eight, it on the surface makes sense why Strength would be at this numerical position. Themes with this number include balance (which we will see in droves in the imagery), leadership, tenacity, assessment, strategy, and power. As we begin our initiation into the second line – the Destruction line- we will need a brave heart to face the felling that come with these next seven cards.
Opening the Heart and Finding Resilience with Strength
Strength is one of the few cards with the title indicating a quality, a concept, and a way of being. We all know, to a reasonable degree, what this word speaks of, and we have a plethora of symbols and images from our own lives to use in reading this card intuitively. If I were to ask you a character, person, animal, or story that speaks to the concept of Strength, you would have a good list to use. Strength, not merely in the physical sense, is something that speaks to all of us. We love stories of the underdog. We find value in the resilience of the spirit. We champion those brave enough to forge their own path.
Strength in the tarot is an initiation into our own bravery. We must use the Strength card to lift our eyes and faces to the journey ahead, the problem, the edges within us, and continue forward, finding the way even if we don’t know how the journey will play out. As beautiful as this card is, I can tell you from personal experience, this card usually comes forward when I need to be honest about where I feel weak. Those places are what need to be strengthened, and that is not easy.
The first way that I read this card is that gentle healing and strong resilience needs to be rooted in honesty of what needs to be healed. The step down from the Chariot may be a blow to the ego, or spring a fear-based trigger within of how we will continue. That is precisely why Strength is needed. We need to feel the edge of fear, loss, heartbreak, grief, or devastation in order to move with this card. We need to recognize that we must have an open heart to have a strong resilience, and visa-versa
Main invitations with the Lovers:
Gentle healing and strong resilience rooted in honesty of what needs to be healed
Inner strength is a practice of evolving and gaining wisdom. To learn and grow is the only way
Fortitude to find compassion and tending is a powerful manifestation and gift of the spirit
Looking at the cards starting at the top, we first see the Bear looking at the fish, summoning the creature from deep below. This works on two levels. One we have to conjure strength from deep within, but we also have to have the ability to call forward what we need into the physical. Here, the mutual relationship shows the strength of the animals, and the ecosystem itself.
From the Dark Wood Tarot, we have to find a way to invoke our strength into the physical. The woman cannot show fear of the cobra. Her strong spirit can subdue, coerce, and manage a situation that looks frightening. The Garlic, Rose, and Honey association with the Herbcrafter’s Tarot shows that we need a strong body and immune system. If we are weak there, anything we attempt will be much harder, and garlic is known to strengthen the body’s immunity. Finally, we see the playful cat not only standing up to the snarling wolf but playfully embracing the beast. Another invitation is that when we are strong in spirit, we are not as easily swayed and can find levity in situations that would derail us.
The second way I read the Strength card is that inner strength is a practice of evolving and gaining wisdom. To learn and grow is the only way. Strength most often comes from looking at situations where we have failed, stumbled, or fallen before. We must reckon with these situations and learn from them. Sure we can have a support system, or those who inspire us to find our strength, but it must be from a place of reflection and insight that we see how to apply our strength to the task ahead.
The third way I read this card is that we cannot be so physically strong or armored that nothing penetrates. Those who show true bravery are often the ones who think they can’t succeed. It is within the heart and the spirit that the most valuable part of our strength comes in. We must have the fortitude to find compassion and a sense of tending and grace. This is where the spirit is gifted. If your strength softens you, are doing right by this card.
Strength in the Imagery
Most often with the Strength card, you will see two opposing forces within the imagery, most notable are archetypes of the beauty and the beast. This duo of energies speaks to the idea that Strength is not one thing. Sometimes, we need to be the lion, fierce and powerful. Other times, we need to be the woman, gracious and resolved. It comes down to learning from the experiences mentioned above that will help you distinguish when to use one or the other, and to know how to use it. The woman shown on the right is reminiscent of the Rider-Waite. She knows how to use a calm demeanor to open the mouth of the lion. Her command of strength is not outward, external, or aggressive. It is gentle, tender, but still forceful. The lemniscate in the Spirit Animal Tarot shows the cycling from one to the other, and how it moves in the higher cycles of as above, so below, or heaven and earth qualities.
Below we see two dragons as the beasts. I want to pay attention to the tiny cities on the woman’s shoulders in the Ostara Tarot. The cycling is again evident and highlights masculinity and femininity with the moon and the sun. This imagery also speaks to the need to reflect and be in the liminal just as much as in the open light of day with our Strength. The woman on the right has relinquished her sword because she doesn’t need it. She comes into connection with Dragon. Not defeating it, not running away. She embraces the dragon and forms a bond that will never go away.
The Magician is an initiation into the magick within and around you. Strength is the initiation to use that magick in challenging situations. In truth, sometimes your magick may be all you have. That is where the gifts of the Strength card lie. All cards have shadow and light qualities, but Strength is the first card (if we follow the Major Arcana linearly) that tells us we are about to embrace something needed during hard times.
That is why the Strength card makes the most sense at number eight. With number eight, we are in a space of transformation, evolution, and cycles. That is Strength down to the bones. With strength, we are transforming and evolving. We have to; we literally have no other choice. We must move into the cycle, embrace it, and come out on the other side stronger and wiser.
Looking at the two images above, we see varied and different symbols than what we have seen so far. On the left, from the Mystical Dream Tarot, we have Sophia. She is seen as the personification of Divine Wisdom. The snake represents the cycles seen in the lemniscate with the shedding of the skin. This indirect mention of standard symbols is the highlight of this deck! The torch is the outward expression of Sophia’s inner light and fire. Her spiritual strength is the same as the physical strength of the flame. This is echoed by the golden fish, who surfaces from the depths to manifest the wisdom of the liminal, dream, or the unconscious.
The Strength card from the Hush Tarot is one of my favorites. It shows a being who is part doll, part human. There is decay and wounds, yet she stands proud and tall in her exposure. She does not fear the transparency, for her wisdom and her truth are intertwined. The moths and the bats represent that dual nature of predator and prey. Here, they wrap the twine around her, symbolic of the interconnective threads that weave through us all.
Representations of Strength
Strength is an initiation into the depths of your heart. How brave do you need to be?
It is no wonder to see lions abound in the Strength card because Strength is ruled by Leo. Leo is a fixed fire sign that is ruled by the Sun. This reference to the lion and the Sun shares the idea that much of Strength will be masculine, forceful, external, or active. Leos are theatrical, and charismatic, with an air for drama, vitality, and artistry.
While the Strength card invites you to consider where you will need to be strong in a given situation, one of the biggest blessings with this card is that it reminds you to not settle or downplay your unique self. You are bright, creative, beautiful, with so many gifts to give and lessons to teach to the world. No matter where you are at in the cycle of Strength, do not diminish your light or extinguish your vitality for the comfortable or easy. Remember, Lions are never concerned with the opinions of sheep.
Ashlie McDiarmid
Hello there! I hope you liked this blog post. As a tarot and oracle reader, my goal with my blogs is to offer you content, resources, and access to the tools that have transformed my life.
I believe that your own intuition is the deepest form of knowing, but here in my little corner of the internet, I share insights based in intuition and instinct. I share my love for nature, witchcraft, and the wild spirit.
- If your spirit is at home in wild places
- If you feel the need to claim your autonomy as ritual
- If you want to more deeply trust your own intuition
- If you want resources or connections to tarot, oracle, witchcraft, and wild sovereignty, then welcome!
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