Strength (VIII)

Appearance

A woman in a white gown bends over a red lion and holds its jaws gently in both hands. She wears a wreath of leaves and flowers in her hair, and a garland of roses winds around her waist and trails down toward the lion. Above her head floats the same infinity sign that appears over the Magician. The lion's tongue hangs out and its tail curls low between its hind legs; it seems to lean into her rather than resist. Behind them is green ground with trees and a single blue mountain in the distance, under a yellow sky.

In most older decks this card is number eleven and Justice is eight; Waite swapped them "for reasons which satisfy myself." He wrote that the lion is already subdued and led by a chain of flowers, and that the card has nothing to do with self-confidence in the ordinary sense.¹ Her white dress can be read as a clean, undivided spirit, and the flowers she wears as nature at its most generous and full. The infinity sign suggests that what she draws on has no fixed limit, a reserve of patience and understanding that does not run out.²

Upright

Strength is the card of courage that works through gentleness. The woman does not fight the lion; she has already calmed it, and the force in the card is patience, compassion and steady nerve rather than muscle. Waite's meanings are power, energy, action, courage and magnanimity, and also complete success and honors.¹ Traditionally the lion stands for the passions, and the card describes taming them without crushing them. A useful comparison is the Chariot, which also wins, but by will and outward control; Strength wins from the inside, by endurance and composure, and lasts longer for it.²

Its way of getting things done is influence rather than command. A person in this card persuades, waits, and steers, and others may not notice how much of the outcome is theirs. Being underestimated is not a problem here; it is part of how the quiet kind of power works.² In love, Strength speaks of a relationship that can weather difficulty through patience and kindness, of softening a partner's anger instead of meeting it with your own, and of the confidence to be vulnerable. For someone single, it suggests attracting others through warmth and self-possession. At work, it favors persistence, calm leadership, and handling difficult people or pressure with composure; respect is won through quiet competence rather than force. With money, it advises restraint over impulse. It is also a hopeful card for recovery from illness or a long ordeal, and for someone worn down by stress it promises that the reserves to finish are there.²

On a personal level, the card is about inner strength: facing fear, anger, or appetite with understanding and a firm hand. Feeling rage, grief or shame is not the failure; the card cares about what you do next, and it leans toward forgiveness over retaliation. Talking it through with a counselor can be part of that work.² The lion is not killed, only befriended, a reminder that strong feelings are part of you and can become allies once they no longer run the show. The card can also cast you as the steady one for someone else, the friend who shows up and simply stays while they get through something hard.²

Reversed

Reversed, Strength suggests that the inner balance has slipped, and the first question is which way: too much self-assurance, or too little.² Self-doubt, low energy, or fear may be making challenges seem larger than they are, and you may feel unable to face something you would usually handle. In this form the card can point to insecurity, giving in to old habits, or exhaustion after carrying too much for too long, especially from looking after others or driving hard at a goal. A short retreat to rest is not weakness here; you cannot keep holding others up from an empty tank.²

After a setback, the reversed card often means you have more resilience than you are crediting yourself with. One practical remedy is to look back at hard things you have already come through and treat that record as proof, and to be gentle with yourself while confidence returns.²

The opposite failure is loss of restraint. The lion breaks loose: temper flares, impulses take over, and gentleness turns into force. In relationships, this can mean arguments that escalate, jealousy, or one partner bullying the other. At work, it can be a manager who rules by intimidation, or your own frustration spilling out in ways you later regret. The answer is not to bottle the feeling up but to give it a channel that hurts no one, and if outbursts keep happening, outside help is worth seeking.²

Waite's reversed meanings are despotism, abuse of power, weakness, discord, and sometimes even disgrace.¹ Both strands are there: power misused and power lost. The way back is the patient work the upright card shows: rest, rebuild confidence in small steps, and meet your wilder feelings with understanding rather than either suppression or surrender.