What does Strength mean in tarot?
Strength upright represents Strength, courage, patience. It is one of the 22 Major Arcana cards, marking a significant theme in your current path. When this card appears, it invites you to pay attention to what is unfolding — something meaningful is in motion.
Upright & Reversed Meanings
✦ Upright
Strength is courage of the gentle kind — power expressed through patience, compassion and inner steadiness rather than force. Upright, it shows you taming your fears and impulses not by fighting them, but by meeting them with calm love. Soft power achieves what brute force cannot.
↓ Reversed
Reversed, it points to self-doubt, depleted confidence, or raw emotion running the show. It asks you to be tender with yourself — the lion isn’t an enemy to defeat, but a frightened part of you that needs reassurance, not punishment.
The origin & symbolism of Strength
✦ Where this card comes from
Card VIII (numbered XI in older decks) shows a woman serenely closing — or opening — the jaws of a lion, the lemniscate (∞) of infinite spirit above her head and a chain of roses around her. She doesn’t overpower the beast; she gentles it. The card embodies fortitude, the inner virtue; its sign is Leo.
Reading the picture: the symbols in Strength
✦ What the Rider–Waite card shows
A calm woman in a flowing white gown gently closes, or perhaps opens, the jaws of a great tawny lion, her hands resting on the beast without force or fear. Her white dress speaks of purity and innocence, and over her head floats the lemniscate, the sideways figure-eight of infinity, the same sign of boundless spirit seen above the Magician. A garland of flowers loops around her waist and crowns her hair, suggesting that nature and gentleness, not violence, are her tools. The lion stands for raw instinct, passion and animal urges, and she masters it through patient tenderness rather than brute strength. A soft yellow sky glows warmly behind them. Together they show that true power is inner courage, calm compassion and the quiet taming of our wilder impulses.
Strength in Love, Career & Spirituality
Love
Love met with patience and gentleness; taming conflict with a soft, steady heart rather than force.
Career
Quiet confidence and persistence win the day; influence gently, don't dominate.
Spiritual
True inner strength — befriending your fears and impulses with compassion, not combat.
Questions to sit with when Strength appears
Wooly suggests journaling on these prompts after drawing Strength:
- Where in my life do I feel the energy of strength right now?
- What would change if I fully embraced courage?
- Is there something I am resisting that this card is gently pointing to?
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