Tarot Journey with Leisa ReFalo

08. Strength

Number: 8
Card Title: Strength
Esoteric Title: Daughter of the Flaming Sword, Leader of the Lion
Astrological Atttribution: Leo
Elemental Attribution: Fire (hot, dry)
Dates & Timing: July 23 to August 22
Hebrew Letter: Teth Serpent 9
Color: Yellow
Intelligence: Intelligence of the Secret of Spiritual Activities
Esoteric Function: Taste
Qabalistic Path: Path 19: 4 Chesed to 5 Geburah
Translation of Path: The Mercy of Severity

Keywords: Cosmic Consciousness, Success, Bodywork, Global Issues, Travel, World Shaking Events, Change, Sports, Physical Concerns, Karmic Completion, Reward, Success, Liberation, Integration, Accomplishment, Involvement, Fulfillment, Kerubs

Ill-Dignified: Weakened, Stressed, Worn-Out, Discord, Delay, Unrealistic, Obstianat, Misuse of Power, Agressiveness, Intolerance.

Interpretation: The ability to live in direct harmony with cosmic laws. Full control of the animal nature (vital reproductive energy). Triumph of Love over Hate. Complete success and honors. Going through a healing. Connected to the Animal Kingdom. Rewards for Effort & persistence. Inner Strength, Love, Patience & Gentleness are greater than material power. Triumph over material. Lover over hate. Positive over negative. Trust and Allowing. What areas of your life would you like to live more fully? I enjoy living to the utmost.

Reversed Interpretation: Have given out too much energy. Don’t loose nerve. Domineering attitude won’t solve problems. Harmony needed to succeed. Need to face reality. Lack of self-confidence. Unreasonable demands. Others are selfish and envious and must be firmly dealt with. Domination of material side of life. May be clamping down too tightly or the oppostie allowing yourself to run wild.

Rider-Waite Imagery

A blonde woman wearing a long white dress is holding the head of a red lion. She is wearing a garland of red roses on her head and around her waite. This garland wraps around the lion also. She has a lemniscate over her head. She is looking with down cast eyes on the lion. The lion has an open mouth with its tounge hanging out. The lions tail is between its legs. The sky is yellow. In the distance there is a single blue moutain peek and a pair of trees. The land is hilly and green. By her fortitude the woman has subdued the lion who is being led by a chain of flowers.

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite (1911)

Part I: The Veil and its Symbols

8. Fortitude. This is one of the cardinal virtues, of which I shall speak later. The female figure is usually represented as closing the mouth of a lion. In the earlier form which is printed by Court de Gebelin, she is obviously opening it. The first alternative is better symbolically, but either is an instance of strength in its conventional understanding, and conveys the idea of mastery. It has been said that the figure represents organic force, moral force and the principle of all force.

Part II: The Doctrine Behind the Veil

A woman, over whose head there broods the same symbol of life which we have seen in the card of the Magician, is closing the jaws of a lion. The only point in which this design differs from the conventional presentations is that her beneficent fortitude has already subdued the lion, which is being led by a chain of flowers. For reasons which satisfy myself, this card has been interchanged with that of justice, which is usually numbered eight. As the variation carries nothing with it which will signify to the reader, there is no cause for explanation. Fortitude, in one of its most exalted aspects, is connected with the Divine Mystery of Union; the virtue, of course, operates in all planes, and hence draws on all in its symbolism. It connects also with innocentia inviolata, and with the strength which resides in contemplation.

These higher meanings are, however, matters of inference, and I do not suggest that they are transparent on the surface of the card. They are intimated in a concealed manner by the chain of flowers, which signifies, among many other things, the sweet yoke and the light burden of Divine Law, when it has been taken into the heart of hearts. The card has nothing to do with self-confidence in the ordinary sense, though this has been suggestedâ€“but it concerns the confidence of those whose strength is God, who have found their refuge in Him. There is one aspect in which the lion signifies the passions, and she who is called Strength is the higher nature in its liberation. It has walked upon the asp and the basilisk and has trodden down the lion and the dragon.

The Tarot of the Bohemians by Papus; tr. A. P Morton, [1896]

Chapter X. The Symbolical Tarot

11. 11th Hebrew letter (Kaph).

ORIGIN OF THE SYMBOLISM OF THE ELEVENTH CARD OF THE TAROT.

The hieroglyphic meaning of the Kaph is the hand of man, half closed and in the act of prehension, like the Gimel. But the Kaph is reinforcement of the Gimel, so that we might say that it designates the hand of man in the act of grasping strongly. Ideas of strength are therefore applied to this letter. The number 11, the first after the decade, gives a different value to the Kaph, which designates a reflected transitory life, a. kind of mould, which receives and restores every variety of form.

It is derived from the letter Heth, ? (8), which is itself derived from the sign of absolute life, He ? (5). Thus, allied on one side to the sign of elementary life (see the 8th arcanum), it joins to the signification of the letter Heth (?) that of the organic sign ? (Gimel) (3rd arcanum), of which too it is merely a reinforcement.

The Kaph is a double letter, corresponding astronomically with March and Tuesday.

THE ELEVENTH CARD OF THE TAROT. Strength.

Only two ideas are expressed by this arcanum:

The idea of strength.
The idea of vitality.

A young girl calmly closing a lion’s mouth without any visible effort. (First idea.)
This young girl wears the vital sign 8 upon her head. (Second idea.)

The 11th arcanum. is midway between the 8th and 14th arcana. In it we find the symbolism of the 8th arcanum. transformed to the physical plane. It is, in fact, the image of the power given by the sacred science (2nd arcanum) when justly applied (8).

The eleventh card of the Tarot shows us all the negative or reflective significations of the fifth, that is to say:

Reflex of the Intelligence (5). LIBERTY.
Reflex of Authority, of Faith. COURAGE. (To dare.)
Reflex of the Universal Life. Manifestation of the strength of the preceding arcanum. REFLECTED AND TRANSITORY LIFE.

11. Strength.

The strength, already potential in its manifestations, has shown its full force in the 11th arcanum; it will balance itself in the following arcanum.

Affinities

Primitive Hieroglyphic: The Hand in the act of grasping
Astronomy: Mars
Day: Tuesday
Hebrew Letter: Kaph (double)

Significations

Reflex of the Intelligence LIBERTY
Reflex of Authority, of Faith COURAGE (To dare)
Reflex of Universal Life
Reflex and Transitory Life
Major Arcana Signification from the Divining Point of View

11. Strength signifies STRENGTH. FORTITUDE.

The Tarot by S.L. MacGregor Mathers [1888]

Symbolism of Each Key

11. Strength or Fortitude. A woman crowned with crown and cap of maintenance, who calmly, and Without effort, closes the jaws of a furious lion. She represents Strength.

Meanings of the Cards

11. Strength, or Fortitude. Power, Might, Force, Strength, Fortitude; R. Abuse of Power, Overbearingness, Want of Fortitude.

The Symbolism of the Tarot by P. D. Ouspensky [1913]

What is the Tarot? Card VIII. “Strength”.

The Real Power. Strength of love. Strength of Union (Magic chain). Strength of the Infinite. Occultism. Esoterism. Theosophy.

CARD VIII. POWER.

In the midst of a green plain, surrounded by blue hills, I saw a woman with a lion. Girdled with wreaths of roses, a symbol of infinity over her head, the woman calmly and confidently covered the lion’s mouth and the lion obediently licked her hand.

“This is a picture of power”, said the voice. “It has different meanings. First it shows the power of love. Love alone can conquer wrath. Hatred feeds hatred. Remember what Zarathustra said: “Let man be freed from vengeance; this is a bridge for me which leads to higher hope and a rainbow in heaven after long storms”.

“Then it shows power of unity. These wreaths of roses suggest a magic chain. Unity of desires, unity of aspirations creates such power that every wild, uncontrolled, unconscious force is subdued. Even two desires, if united, are able to conquer almost the whole world.

“The picture also shows the power of infinity, that sphere of mysteries. For a consciousness that perceives the symbol of infinity above it, knows no obstacles and cannot be withstood”.

The Tarot Trumps by G. H. Soror, Q.L.

VIII. STRENGTHT

his also represents the mastery of the lower by the higher. But in this case it is the soul which holds in check the passions, although her feet are still planted on earth, and the dark veil still floats about her head and clings around her. The colors, pale greenish yellow, black, yellowish gray, and reddish amber, suggest the steadfast endurance and fortitude required, but the deep red rose which is the flashing color to the greenish yellow, gives the motive power.