This is a card of…

Self-assurance

Beginner’s mind

Fortitude

Maturity

Equanimity

“Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.”

-Rainer Maria Rilke

The Strength card brings us to the Second Line of the Majors, a series sometimes seen as a continuation of the life cycles of the first ten, sometimes as a complimentary parallel unfolding in the inner world as the First Line unfolds in the outer. The First Line kicked off with the Magician manifesting his will into outer reality. The Second Line begins with Strength courageously confronting a beast, not with will or even weaponry but with stable self-possession.

Strength tells us that even the most fearsome parts of ourselves can be tamed when we approach them with love. Sometimes we even find that a part of us we thought needed to be ‘cured’ can be useful to us. The strength referred to is not about muscle or physical force, it is the inner strength that allows us to accept ourselves and others. It is calm and curious rather than active and aggressive.

A person who truly inhabits this card has an aura of deep power, no need to prove anything or to take any action at all unless it is necessary. The lion has not been tamed with a chair and a whip but through the spiritual bravery of the woman. He shares the flower garland around her waist as she shares the infinity hat of the Magician. In this first card of the Second Line, we see the compliment to the Magicians awesome power of material manifestation in Strength’s tremendous faith and fortitude. Self-understanding and self-compassion have transformed a dangerous wild beast within into a helpful friend.

Advice:

Let your own values guide your choices.

Know yourself.

Find a center that is unperturbable.

Warning:

Spiritual health is not an acheivement, it is a continual practice.

Approach self-knowledge with love.

Practicing resentment doesn’t hurt anybody but you.