Strength (VIII) is a Major Arcana Tarot card.
Description
The design of this card is fairly constant across decks. The key characters are that of a woman and a lion. The woman looks calm and gentle, and yet is dominant over the lion. Many cards, including that of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, have the woman clasping the lion's jaws. Another feature of the RWS deck is a lemniscate hovering over the woman's head. Other decks have the woman sitting upon the lion, or merely with one hand upon it. The occasional deck features just one of the characters. Flowers also often feature on this card.
History
The Strength card was originally named Fortitude, and accompanies two of the other classical virtues in the Major Arcana; Temperance and Justice. The meaning of Fortitude was different to the modern interpretation of the card: it meant moderation in our attitudes towards pain and danger; neither avoiding them at all costs, nor actively seeking them out.
The older decks had two competing symbolisms; one featured a woman holding or breaking a stone pillar, and the other featured a person, either male or female, subduing a lion. This Tarocchi del Mantegna card (image, left), made in Fortezza around 1470, illustrates both. The modern woman-and-lion symbolism most likely evolved from a merging of the two earlier ones.
Interpretation
The modern interpretation of the card stresses discipline and control. The lion represents the primal 'id' part of the mind, and the woman the 'higher' parts. The card tells the querant to be wary of the temptations of the flesh. As in The Chariot card, the querant is fighting a battle. The difference is that in Strength, the battle is mainly internal rather than external.
If inverted, the querant is in danger of losing control to impulses and desires. Pride and unwarranted anger are also often associated with the inverted card.
An alternative reading is of the card representing a reliable friend.
Associations
Links and references
Last updated: 07-25-2005 21:16:44
