Tarot · The Major Arcana
Strength
- Gentleness
- courage
- patience
The picture
A woman in a white dress, wearing a garland of flowers, calmly closes the jaws of a lion, with a figure of eight floating above her head.
The meaning
The woman does not master the lion by force but with quiet hands. The tradition reads the card as inner strength that stays gentle. It stands for courage, patience and a kind way with your own wildness. In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck it carries the number eight.
Reversed
Reversed, it is read as self-doubt, or strength that works against itself.
In love
In love it is read as tenderness, trust and the calm not to fear your feelings.
At work
At work it stands for stamina and the ability to handle a difficult situation calmly.
As your card of the day
You do not need loud strength today. Stay kind and stay firm; that is enough.
Strength is a reminder that patience is strength too. Whatever is restless in you today can be taken gently by the hand.
The Major Arcana are the 22 trump cards, from the Fool at zero to the World at twenty-one. The tradition reads them as stations on a life's journey: large themes that touch everyone at some point.
Picture: Pamela Colman Smith, Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, 1909, public domain (Wikimedia Commons).