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Strength Tarot Card Meanings

Major Arcana Tarot Card number eight is the Strength card, succeeding The Chariot, and preceding The Hermit. As the name suggests, this card is about strength, but not just any kind of strength. This is not brute force or will, this is the strength in vulnerability, in opening up, in risking getting hurt, and taking our inner wildness. This Tarot card represents true strength.

Read on below for its Astrological and Numerological significations, and what it means for you if it shows up in a general, career, and love reading, and as a reversal:

Meaning Of The Strength Tarot Card

The beautiful Strength card on the RWS deck, and many other Tarot decks, shows an image of a woman gently opening a lion’s mouth, who is submitting to her and licking her hand; a representation of what this card is about- not harsh strength that dominates, but a gentle strength. The kind of strength that we can summon up from our infinite well of life force energy when we think we have none left, as indicates by the lemniscate above her head (one of only three in the whole Tarot, one in The Magician and one in the Two of Pentacles), this is a light that never goes out.

As the wild lion is being coerced, so too can we see it has a harmonisation, a befriending our own inner wildness, taming the lion within. This is the strength that shows up even when it’s hard, that has learnt how to be mature and domesticated, rather than feral. It is about looking our lion in the eyes and coming to peace with it. Just the like woman on the card, true strength is not loud, boisterous or overbearing, it is soft, quiet, and gentle. Like a whisper, it has no need to shout.

Traditionally, and in the Thoth Tarot, it is the 11th Major Arcana card. It was swapped with Justice by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to align with its Zodiac Sign (Leo) to follow in Zodiacal order (in between The Chariot, Cancer, and The Hermit, Virgo). In the Thoth Tarot this card is called Lust. In this title we can also see that Strength relates to harnessing that zest for life.

Strength can also be about taming our triggers. It is one thing to consider ourselves enlightened in a forest, it is quite another in the face of what the ego perceives as threatening. The Strength card can be about finding our inner strength and resiliency, the vulnerability and gentleness that are hardest to cultivate in those spiky moments. It is about being strong when it is easier to not to back down, to remain prey to our habits and impulses.

Astrologically, this is, of course, a Leo card. Leo is the regal monarch of the Zodiac, sure of its place among the centre of the solar system, as indicated by its ruler, the Sun. Leo shows us the importance of reigning supreme in our own kingdom and shining our light, simply because. Simply because we deserve to and it brings us joy. Leo also teaches us the meaning of play, of lightness, of having fun and being silly, because what’s the point otherwise?

Numerologically, the number 8 relates to manifestation and abundance. It is a fortuitous, fruitful card of mastery. The eight can represent spiritual and infinite growth, being an infinity symbol turned on its side. As the first card in the second horizontal line of the Major Arcana, this card indicates a new initiatory phase of Tarot journey.

The Strength card in a General Reading

In general, an upright Strength card is a remind of your innate strength, the kind that may be difficult or scary to harness, but that we do have the capacity to manage. It can be a reminder that you have this deep well of strength to call upon in a situation or an invitation to reach into your inner strength and pull out a more evolved version.

Reversed Strength Tarot Card

Its meaning reversed can either be a resistance to calling upon our inner strength, acting with integrity and maturity, in alignment with our honour and values; or a feeling of being weak, downtrodden, lacking in strength. As always, there is the invitation for us to turn our card upright, if it has shown up for us it is an indication that we do have what it takes to move forward, persevere, and triumph in a situation, it just maybe doesn’t feel that way. On the other hand, Strength as a reversal can also suggest an overbearing strength, a domination, dogma, brutishness. Either you or someone around you may be acting in a way that is not a true test of character. It can also point to a lack of confidence or insecurity.

The Strength card in a Love Reading

Of course, as will all Tarot meanings, the true nature of the card will completely depend on the question and context of the situation, where in the spread the card has fallen, and the surrounding Tarot cards. But in general, sometimes Strength in a love reading can simply mean that the relationship is strong or that strength is required to see through a patch. Again, this is about a true, inner strength, a maturity that requires vulnerability, openness, and doing the right thing even when it’s hard or not what we want to do.

Strength in a Career Reading

Similarly, for a career meaning, the Strength card can show us that we need to call upon our inner strength and persevere through something difficult or challenging, or that a role may require great strength of us but that we have what it takes. It can be a message to not rely on others and to look inside yourself for the answers and action needed. Even if it doesn’t feel that way, you do have some form of power and control, always. It may be time for you to believe in yourself and step up to a challenge or bigger position.

Overall, Strength is a beautiful card of valiance and courage, of drawing upon our inner reserves of strength and harmonising with our wild self. It is a symbol of calm confidence, the marriage between will and inspired action, and a reminder that we have the fortitude to see us through. When it shows up for us, we can ask ourselves where we have been shrinking or not shining our light? Where have we given way to our fears or primal instincts? What would the strongest version of us do in this situation?

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So those are some significations of the Strength Tarot card, I hope they’re insightful for you! Let me know in the comments section below if you have anything else to add or any other questions.

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