What is Strength?

(Decoding the Strength card in the Tarot)

The Writer Erin

You know strength is a funny thing. It comes with so many different connotations from person to person. Even in various cultures and religions, signs of strength are different.

Many of our feelings about strength are come from societal gender roles and concepts on masculinity and femininity.

The Strength card in Tarot breaks it down in a most pristine way. It includes a symbol that is recognized around the world for its power. The lion.

On the card, the mighty beast rests on the ground with a content look on its face. An angelic, divine being is standing over the lion, calming it with hands resting on his head.

The angel has a wreath on her head and a similar plant wrapped around her waist. Wreaths elude to eternal life and victory. And the infinity sign above the angel’s head references unlimited possibility and potential.

Lions, in most iconographies, symbolize power, sovereignty, and even leadership. But on the negative side, they are looked at from a place of fear because with his speed and ferocious nature, it can kill… and often does.

But on the card, the lion is being soothed by the divine. More importantly, it’s being touched on the head as if the soothing is mental in nature.

Strength isn’t always defined by external aggression. It’s often displayed in silence and observation. It’s developed through inner knowing and deep reflection.

It is a relationship with one’s own soul or the divine. It comes from a place of self acceptance. It also embues one with the knowledge and prowess to execute the right way.

Strength also comes from intense focus, another mental attribute. That focus clarifies decisions and amplifies will power.

On the Warrior card in the Carolyn Myss archetype deck, a tribal being in battle dress holds a spear shaped like a bolt of lightening.

The spear can injure or cause death. And lightening refers to immediacy. A strong warrior has to be decisive and be ready resolve conflict without hesitation.

Warriors of many indigenous world cultures are taught how to defend themselves utilizing an intense level self discipline.