Strength – The Power of Inner Mastery
Keywords (Upright): courage, inner strength, compassion, self-mastery, resilience Keywords (Reversed): self-doubt, weakness, repression, anger, imbalance of power
Description A woman gently tames a lion—not with force, but with presence and calm. Above her head, the lemniscate glows, symbol of eternal spirit and balanced power. She wears white for purity, and the lion burns gold with primal fire. Together, they reveal the fusion of instinct and grace.
In the Thelemic and Thoth traditions, this card is Lust—a bold reinterpretation. The woman rides the Beast of Revelation, cup raised in ecstasy. It is not repression of desire, but the transmutation of it—will embracing passion, not denying it. Associated with the Hebrew letter Teth (serpent), this path winds through creative fire and ecstatic control.
Upright Meaning Strength asks you to lead through softness, to meet trials with heart, not force. True power is not domination—it is the calm that tames chaos, the love that steadies the wild. This is the path of integration: of desire and discipline, of fire and form. Trust in your capacity to hold both.
Reversed Meaning Reversed, Strength reveals fractured will—either collapsing into weakness or lashing out from fear. You may be suppressing emotions or failing to honor your instincts. Or perhaps power is being misused—internally or externally. Regain your center. Strength is the equilibrium between surrender and sovereignty.
Summary Strength is not brute force—it is will in service to love. Upright, it affirms mastery through compassion and courage. Reversed, it calls for healing and realignment of inner power. Whether as gentle tamer or Thelemic embodiment of divine lust, this archetype asks: can you wield passion without being consumed by it?