TAROT CARD GUIDE

Strength Tarot Card Meaning & Interpretations

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Strength Card from the Rider Waite Smith Tarot Deck

Introduction

Just over 100 years ago Tarot went through a revolutionary change with the publication of the Rider Waite Smith (RWS) tarot deck. Up until this point the most popular Tarot decks had followed a structure and format based on the Marseilles Tarot. The cards in the Minor Arcana had no pictures and were closer to playing cards with pips than to the fully illustrated deck of cards that the RWS deck introduced. In addition to this radical evolution Waite and Smith also swapped the positions of two of the Major Arcana cards. Prior to the RWS deck Strength was card 11 and card 8 was Justice.

The majority of modern Tarot decks have continued with this altered numbering in the Major Arcana even though the reason Waite gave, which you can read below, was "for reasons that satisfy myself" which doesn't give much insight as to why it was so important to him or Pamela Smith. Tarot has a well ordered structure based on the foundations of the classical elements and numerology. The 8th card of the Major Arcana, according to the symbology of numerology, should have a meaning and interpretation of power and control. For this reason Strength is numerologically better suited to position 8 than Justice. In addition to this Justice as card 11, which reduces to 2 in numerology (1+1=2), links it directly to Judgement which is card 20 and also reduces to 2 (2+0=2). Therefore swapping these cards corrected and improved the overall structure of Tarot significantly.

As with all the cards in Tarot's Major Arcana Strength represents the mastery of the elements in combination with the numerology. It's worth reviewing the cards numbered 8 in the Minor Arcana to understand what it is this card has mastered. The common traits of the number 8 are ambition, discipline, practicality, being realistic and in control. Tarot's Strength card is mental strength (Swords, air and intellectual challenges), emotional strength (Cups, water and emotional issues and needs), physical and/or financial strength (Pentacles, earth and the material including health) and strength of resolve and ambition (Wands, fire and energy).

In the RWS deck the woman depicted in Strength has an infinity symbol placed like a halo above her head. This will be to remind us that the number 8 is an upright infinity symbol and that the laws of karma apply. Any action will have an equal and opposite reaction as the closed looped always returns. She is depicted as using gentle force to open the mouth of the lion. When you are in a position of strength over another remember to treat them as you would want to be treated yourself.

Strength is the card of physical well being, strength of will and controlling the inner beast. Mankind's dominance over the animal kingdom through the use of his superior intellectual strength. Impulsive animal instincts need to be controlled with strength of mind and will. In a very simple interpretation it can represent a pet or animal. Good physical health is a common theme with this card, it often represents good health if health is of concern and a focus in a reading. Surrounding cards will indicate if this health is at risk or how it can be achieved.

Strength in a Tarot Reading

Strength brings together the forms of control represented by all four suits: clarity of mind, steadiness of emotion, practical capability and strength of resolve. It describes the ability to direct these resources without being ruled by an immediate impulse.

The woman and lion illustrate the difference between having power and using it well. Strength includes restraint and humane treatment of those over whom you have influence. The question is not only what you can overcome, but how you behave when you are able to prevail.

Upright Meaning

Upright, Strength suggests that patience, discipline and self-command can hold a difficult situation steady. You may have more capacity than the immediate pressure allows you to recognise. A measured response can be more effective than a display of force.

The number 8 connects the card with practical control and ambition. Its scope is broader than physical toughness: it can describe staying clear-headed during an argument, sustaining effort through frustration or managing strong feelings without denying that they exist.

Strength can also concern responsibility for someone more vulnerable, including an animal in the appropriate context. The useful quality is controlled power. Being able to impose your will does not make imposition the wisest response, and gentleness need not mean surrendering a necessary boundary.

Upright keywords: self-control, fortitude, patience, discipline, resilience, resolve, controlled power, compassionate firmness.

Reversed Meaning

Reversed, Strength may suggest that pressure is exceeding your current capacity. Confidence can weaken, frustration can become impulsive behaviour, or repeated demands can leave little energy for the restraint you usually exercise. Recognising a limit can be an act of sound judgement.

The opposite imbalance is also possible: an excessive need to dominate, suppress emotion or prove that nothing affects you. What appears strong on the surface may depend on refusing all vulnerability. Surrounding cards help distinguish depleted resources from the misuse of power.

The response should fit that distinction. One situation needs rest, assistance or smaller demands; the other needs a different way of exercising authority. Neither is improved by simply demanding that you try harder.

Reversed keywords: depleted resolve, insecurity, impulsiveness, overcontrol, intimidation, frustration, weakened confidence, misused power.

Love and Relationships

In love, Strength can describe staying kind and grounded while addressing strong emotions. Attraction, jealousy or anger may be present, but they do not have to determine the way partners treat one another. The card supports warmth with clear boundaries.

It may also indicate the patience involved in supporting someone through difficulty. That does not require one person to absorb every problem indefinitely. Reversed, a struggle for control or the exhaustion of always being the steady partner may need attention. The aim is a relationship in which strength protects both people rather than silencing one of them.

Work and Career

At work, Strength favours composed leadership and sustained effort. A difficult colleague, demanding project or setback may test your ability to respond without losing sight of the task. Calm authority can make others more willing to cooperate than forceful insistence.

Reversed, trying to prove competence through relentless effort may be undermining it. Alternatively, a manager may confuse authority with intimidation. Consider whether the situation calls for better support, a firmer boundary or more disciplined use of the power you already possess.

Money and Finances

For finances, Strength can concern control over impulses and the ability to maintain practical commitments. The relevant strength may be resisting pressure to spend, keeping attention on a difficult budget or discussing money without allowing embarrassment to end the conversation.

Reversed, spending may become a release for frustration, or rigid control may turn every financial decision into a struggle. Look for a workable level of discipline that can be sustained. This card describes your relationship with material pressures rather than guaranteeing wealth or the success of an investment.

Advice from Strength

Use the least force that will achieve a sound result. Identify which resource is actually needed: clear thought, emotional steadiness, practical help or renewed resolve. Strength becomes more reliable when you understand its limits as well as its reach.

Ask yourself: How can I hold this boundary firmly without turning my strength against someone?

The power of Strength is the ability to remain in command of your response when force would be easier.

Strength According to A. E. Waite

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

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 suggested--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.