From Touchstone TarotTM by Kat Black
Strength
Meanings
Strength through persuasion. Use of force to dominate will ultimately fail – it is more effective to settle peaceably than to invade. You have the inner strength to face all of life’s challenges.
Reversed (?)
Lack of commitment. Self doubt and willingness to capitulate instead of asserting one’s sense of what is right and protecting the weak.
Description
A beautiful young woman with a garland of flowers in her hair opens the jaws of a lion. There are wild herbs in the foreground and a river and castle in the distance. A lemniscate or infinity symbol hovers above the woman's head.
Touchstone follows the Rider Waite Smith numbering of VIII Strength and XI Justice. Some decks use the older tradition of Justice as VIII and Strength as XI.
Artwork
- Landscape, castle, sky, body: DA SESTO, Cesare, Madonna and Child with the Lamb of God, c.1515, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan.
- Lion: CRANACH, Lucas the Elder, Samson's Fight with the Lion, 1520-25, Kunstsammlungen, Weimar.
- Face: COXCIE, Michiel van, Saint Cecilia, 1569, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
- Ribbon: EVERDINGEN, Caesar van, Amor Holding a Glass Orb, c.1660, private collection.
- Garland: ZURBARÁN, Francisco de, St Casilda of Burgos, 1638-42, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Members
78 Friends members who have chosen this card as their Significator...
I love this card but it exhused softness and not power to me :) The lady seems to be saying "There, there, it's going to be ok. Good boy. Let me see what's hurting you so bad..." Takes me back to the fable of the Mouse and the Lion.
That was my feeling also when first seeing this card: she seems to be comforting him. But given that mercy and compassino are forms of Strength, I don't see this as being at odds with the essential message of the card.