Strength

Strength speaks to a kind of power that is easy to underestimate because it does not announce itself loudly. Traditionally the card describes the mastery of instinct, fear, or raw impulse not through suppression but through gentle, sustained engagement — the beast that is calmed rather than caged. Leo's solar confidence underpins it: this is not the strength of gritted teeth but of someone secure enough to be tender. It tends to appear where endurance, courage under pressure, or the compassionate handling of something difficult is called for — and where the temptation might be to force an outcome rather than allow it to come around.

Imagery

Strength is often depicted as a serene figure — traditionally feminine — gently holding open or closed the jaws of a lion, the animal neither restrained by chains nor fleeing but quietly yielding. A lemniscate is commonly shown above the figure's head, linking this card to the Magician and the idea of infinite, patient energy.

Reversed

The quiet power shaken — self-doubt within, or the gentle hand replaced by force.

Reversed, Strength's calm mastery of instinct falters. The serene confidence that lets the upright card be tender gives way to self-doubt, insecurity, or the depletion that comes from holding steady too long without replenishment — the inner lion no longer calmed but agitated, or its keeper simply exhausted. The reversal can also describe the substitution of force for patience: raw impulse, temper, or fear taking the controls, the difficult thing handled through suppression or brute effort rather than gentle, sustained engagement. Leo's warmth, inverted, can curdle into bravado that hides fragility. Traditionally the card reversed asks where one's courage has thinned, and counsels a return to the patient, compassionate handling real strength has always required — beginning, often, with oneself.