Strength Tarot Card
Strength Meaning
The meaning of this card varies in numerous different interpretations, typically focusing on the lion, the masculine, and what is yet to be tamed by frailty. However, it is in fact the card of Strength, and speaks quite openly about the true strength coming from our inner world and our most feminine, vulnerable sides that need to be in touch with wilderness and instinct to be safe and protected, and powerful enough. This card isn’t typically linked to the symbolism of Venus, but we must acknowledge its deep role of goddess, adulteress, the giver of life, the one to tame lions, whisper to those in positions of power, and the emotion itself that can take over and make us truly powerful only when we obey the most sensitive calling of our hearts. She seeks pleasure, forms and creates life, supports the authority to be expressed in adequate and caring ways, giving light to things that typically scare us. She is the actual wild, untamable feminine, Lilith among Eves, and the one to stand as the symbol that the collective hasn’t yet fully embraced all its power.
Love
This is an extremely passionate card, the one to connect the masculine and feminine energies in their rawest, instinctive forms, and speaks of relationships that come to life, bind for life only to break apart, as well as secret bonds that might last for years. Instincts need to be under control and under careful guidance of emotion, and for a love reading, this card shows how important the creative, fiery, feminine side to the person is, showing them how love itself is the caregiver and all the control they need. The card of Strength represents the purest power of emotion and shows the sacrifice and the freedom one is to carry in their heart for the right partner and the love to inspire them and push them on a journey of the heart.
Career
Strength might be the card coming as a reminder that our professional world shouldn’t be a matter of status and finances without creative and passionate love for the job. Depending on the question asked and the career reading in question, it might show that it is time for a change of pace and routine, when a person is to embrace their true role, use their talents, and make progress in ways that have been unusual in the past. It brings liberation and one's ability to keep things under control and authorities respected, yet on a safe distance to not interfere with the inner authority needed for actual unique and authentic success. It announces incredible deeds and powerful efforts that could make a person shine as they are in touch with the truest childlike beliefs in the core of their heart, while bringing material benefits and treasures as a reward for our honesty.
Health
When health is marked by the card of Strength, matters that might be in question are those with the stomach, lower or higher, depending on the balance of a person's inner world. It is also a point where the spine and nerves could get enflamed, slowing down fiery actions in other areas of life. This is always a card that returns us to the state of balance of the mind with physiology. It announces a peaceful way to heal, a touch of health found in the right emotions, and could show us the right path to follow depending on the cards it relates to in an opening. When feelings need to be released, other cards will show if one needs to cry out, punch a bag and show anger, or go out and have some fun to release the tension to slowly heal.
Strength Reversed
When Strength is reversed, it may speak of deeply painful issues that arise due to misunderstandings and limitations of the common people and the collective consciousness. Judgment could break one's heart, dismissal of their actual emotional power with the fake pose respected more. It is a test of confidence and faith, showing us that we must do what we feel is right even when we are deeply insecure and bruised by the way we are being treated for our choices. Things look upside-down, as if vulnerability simply cannot be accepted in a world tainted by selfishness of personal power.
Strength Time Line
Past - Strength opened in the past is the one to speak of solid and creative contacts, things that have been done in togetherness and in the state of inner balance. It is the raw and free intent that pushed us in a certain direction that doesn’t really ask if we are ready for the consequences. It shows actions made, clear and proactive, initiative that might have left a mess but also started something grand, and points out all those things that shouldn’t be dismissed just because several small problems appeared in the past. It is a wonderful foundation to rise from and build a life from, but only when we are free to cooperate with our own vulnerability.
Present - The card of tamed instinctive forces that are used for incredible things, it is the full potential one has opened in one go. Today, it simply points out the numerous open doors in front of a person, there to be flown through without shame and with confidence high. It requires faith and commitment, and for one to understand that no outer authority or opinion should define the steps that are best felt in their chest. An inner dialogue is needed to find peace with any negative opinion or judgment coming from others.
Future - When one's future is colored with Strength, everything preceding it might be a bit off, rigid or they might be stuck in a rut that will push them out of their comfort zones. It evokes incredibly large personal moves, those that cannot be controlled by anyone else, and a time when success comes through the state of inner balance where no project, partner or move will be chosen using only awareness of the mind. It points us in the direction of smell and sensations that we typically don’t follow through to see where they actually lead.
Strength History
This was a card also called Fortitude and Lust, and conveniently changed numbers from XI to VIII and back. One of the cardinal virtues, it comes side by side with Temperance and Justice, and went through change in its design, names and interpretations. It showed moderation in attitudes towards painful things in life, the balance of accepting what doesn’t come easy on the heart and body. Older card decks show two symbolisms, one with a woman breaking (or holding) a stone pillar, and the other with a lion subdued by a human. It has also been connected to Babalon, the Great Mother and the Scarlet Woman, a goddess from the occult system of Thelema. Known as the “mistress of the beast”, she pointed to the sexual intensity given by the card and the tamed instinctive nature that every human carries inside.
