Strength

Jun 17

Strength: Archetype & Symbolism

Strength shows a gentle woman of grace holding a lion’s mouth closed. She is taming animal instincts (the lion within us, a very powerful beast!) through grace, wisdom and gentleness. Strength speaks of raw, unadulterated power transmuted into purity and goodness. It is hence a card of self-discipline: be good in face of the temptation and instinct to be selfish. This card's mystery is having both the gentleness and compassion of an angel and the strength of a lion, which is subject to your will. Ruled by Leo and the planet Sun, inner radiance and warmth of heart are steady companions along this journey of development.

As humans, we live halfway between 2 distinctly different worlds. We partly inhabit the world of animals, with its dominance of the survival instinct and the necessity to vigorously defend our power position. This is the image of a lion, a symbol of raw, majestic and violent power. Yet we are also part of the realm of angels, with its light, goodness, and purity, living a life of self-negating service without questioning why. This is the genteel maiden, who tames this power with nothing but her bare, hands. Dancing the dance and walking that razor edge of these polar opposites is one of the most difficult of challenges and the secret of the Strength card.

Strength: Advice, Lesson & Higher Wisdom

In civilisation, we understand that we must contain our animal nature, or there will be violence on the streets. We must therefore acknowledge that we have a violent tendency, even if we think we have not, and tame this rather than suppressing or denying it. The Strength card is worldly - sometimes you have to deal with danger, facing down someone else's animal strength, as an honest response. In this process, strength challenges us to take the beast of our animal nature AND be angelic. This duality of consciousness occurs when there's a part of you that is animal in its power and a part of you that is angelic in its purity. They're are in of contradiction to each other, they see each other clearly, and neither is more dominant when you get to that level of consciousness. The greater challenge is power over self, not conquering the world. Do not resort to manipulation: it is the abuse of animal power to manipulate another, whether this means using cunning strategy, physical force or sexual charm for personal gain. Transmute your desire for and usage of hard power — position, title, wealth — into soft power: gentleness, wisdom and kindness, even if unrecognised and with no resources. Master situations with slow, controlled, contained breath.

The Strength card is a lesson in purity of intention and truth. It does not advocate the monk’s path of self-denial, who do not celebrate their animal nature but discipline themselves so much that they contain it absolutely. We may have moved indoors as a species and have been trained for a long time by our spiritual teachers to deny sex and violence from our spirituality, yet that is a loss. We have to include our sexuality and animal violence within our spirituality to be complete beings. Otherwise, we are constantly judging that part of ourselves as bad. Judgmentalism is a much more grave problem than everything else. Judgmentalism is to do with blame, and blame creates guilt. Guilt takes us from authenticity, and authenticity is the answer. Truth is always the answer.