Strength tarot card meaning: upright, reversed and symbols

Strength is card VIII of the Major Arcana in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, and one of the most comforting cards to draw. A woman in a white dress calmly closes the jaws of a lion.

She uses no weapon and no force. This page explains what Strength means upright and reversed, the symbols in the 1909 card and why your deck may number it VIII or XI.

Here is Strength at a glance.

In the Golden Dawn order Strength is card VIII and carries Leo and the letter Teth, while Justice moves to XI with Libra and Lamed. The Order swapped the two cards so that the zodiac would run in sequence along the Hebrew letters. Waite followed the swap, which is why Marseille decks and many continental decks still number Justice VIII and Strength XI. Both orders are historical; neither is a mistake.

The card: what Pamela Colman Smith drew

Smith drew a quiet, sunny scene. Waite wrote that the woman’s “beneficent fortitude has already subdued the lion, which is being led by a chain of flowers”. He added that the card “has nothing to do with self-confidence in the ordinary sense”. It is strength of a gentler kind.

The woman and the lion. The lion is often read as instinct, passion, fear or anger. The woman does not kill it or chain it. She closes its mouth with her hands. Strength here is relationship with your instincts, not war against them.

The infinity sign. Above her head floats the same sideways eight that hangs over the Magician. Her power renews itself. Patience is a strength that does not run out as fast as force.

The chain of flowers. She wears a garland of roses that also loops around the lion. Waite called it “the sweet yoke and the light burden”. Gentle bonds can hold better than iron ones.

The white dress. White often stands for purity of motive. She is not trying to win or to show off. She is calm, and the calm is the point.

Upright meaning

Upright, Strength is courage that does not need to shout. A woman in white, crowned with flowers and with the figure-eight of infinity over her head, rests her hands on the jaws of a red lion. She is not fighting it. Whether she is closing its mouth or opening it, the gesture is calm, and the lion seems to accept it.

The card describes power over yourself rather than power over others: patience with a fear, kindness towards a temper, steadiness with an urge that wants to take over. It often appears when someone is facing something frightening, such as an illness, a hard conversation or a habit they want to change, and it says that gentleness held for long enough is stronger than force.

Strength also speaks of compassion for others’ wild parts. The lion is not the enemy. Read the card as an invitation to tame without breaking, in yourself and in the people close to you.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, the lion and the woman fall out of step. The lion may be winning: anger, cravings or anxiety running the day. Or the woman may have let go entirely, and what remains is self-doubt, the feeling that you have no strength left at all.

The reversed card can also describe force used where patience was needed, such as snapping at someone, pushing through pain or trying to beat a feeling into silence. That rarely works for long.

Ask which side needs attention. If the lion, find a safe outlet before it finds one for you. If the woman, remind yourself of one difficulty you have already come through, and start from there.

In love, work and spirituality

In love. Upright: Patient, warm love that can hold strong feelings; passion with tenderness. Reversed: Jealousy, insecurity or temper getting the upper hand; feeling too weak to say what you need.

At work. Upright: Quiet confidence, persistence and handling a difficult person or project with grace. Reversed: Self-doubt at work, or forcing results through sheer pressure.

With money. Upright: Self-control and patience with a long-term goal. Reversed: Impulse spending driven by emotion, or financial anxiety that paralyzes.

In spiritual practice. Upright: Shadow work done kindly; integrating instinct rather than suppressing it. Reversed: Harsh self-judgment dressed as discipline.

As feelings. Deep, steady affection and protective tenderness.

As a person. Calm, kind and brave; someone who handles strong emotions without being ruled by them.

As advice. Meet the wild part with patience, not force.

Reading Strength: positions, pairs and yes or no

In the past position: A time you stayed gentle under pressure. In the present position: This calls for patience and courage, not force.

In the future position: You will find the strength you need, often in a quiet way. As advice: Be kind and steady, with others and with yourself.

When Strength shows up among mostly Minor cards, give it extra weight: the theme of courage runs under the whole question.

Pairs matter too. Next to The Devil, it can mean the gentle work of loosening a habit or a craving. Patience beats force here. Next to The Chariot, it can mean two kinds of control side by side: will and kindness. Use both. Next to The Sun, it can mean confidence returning after a hard stretch.

In modern yes or no readings, Strength leans yes. It says you can handle this, so it leans yes, especially when patience is part of the plan.

The history and art behind the card

In the Tarot de Marseille pattern the card is called La Force, Strength. The Marseille pattern numbers Strength XI and Justice VIII. Waite swapped them for the 1909 deck to fit the Golden Dawn’s astrological order, so if your deck differs, read by the card’s title.

On fifteenth century cards Strength is one of the virtues, Fortitude, often a woman holding or breaking a column, or a figure wrestling a lion like Hercules. The gentle version, a woman opening or closing a lion’s jaws, became the Marseille standard.

Waite’s change was the number, not the picture. He wrote that “for reasons which satisfy myself, this card has been interchanged with that of Justice”. The reason, as far as we know, was the Golden Dawn’s system, which matched Strength with Leo and Justice with Libra in zodiac order.

When A. E. Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, he listed these divinatory meanings for the card: “Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity; also complete success and honors.”

Reversed, he gave: “Despotism, abuse of power, weakness, discord, sometimes even disgrace.” Waite himself called the fortune-telling meanings of the trumps “artificial and arbitrary”, and on this site I read the picture first and treat lists like this as history.

Strength opens the second stage of the modern Fool’s Journey, meeting the world’s tests. After the Chariot’s outer victory, the traveler learns a harder skill: taming what is wild inside, with patience instead of force.

Common questions

Is Strength card 8 or 11? In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck it is VIII. In the Tarot de Marseille and the Thoth deck it is XI. Read by the title, not the number.

Is Strength a yes or no? Usually yes. It says you have the courage and patience to handle the situation.

What does Strength reversed mean? Self-doubt, being too hard on yourself, or giving up too early. It asks you to rebuild trust in yourself step by step.

Try this

Try this small spread for Strength. Use it when you face something that scares you.

Affirmation: I meet difficulty with courage, patience and a steady hand.

Reversed affirmation: I stop mistreating myself and rebuild strength through small kept promises.

If you keep a tarot journal, take one of these questions to it: What is my “lion” right now: fear, anger, desire? When was I gentle and strong at the same time? What small promise can I keep to myself today?

What next

Cards that sit close to this one are The Chariot (control by will, the card before), Justice (the card it swapped numbers with) and The Hermit (inner strength found in solitude).

Strength is part of the lesson Strength to Temperance in my free Tarot for Beginners course. To keep walking the Major Arcana, read the card before it, The Chariot or the card after it, The Hermit, or go back to all the card meanings.

For every card with keywords, affirmations and examples, see my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot. If you would like a printable cheat sheet for all 78 cards, my 45-page Tarot Workbook is on Etsy.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), Part II and Part III, section 3.
• Pamela Colman Smith and A. E. Waite, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot (London: Rider, 1909).
• Nicolas Conver, Tarot de Marseille (Marseille, 1760).
• Eden Gray, A Complete Guide to the Tarot (New York: Crown, 1970), epilogue “The Fool’s Journey”.
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, entry for Strength.
• Aleister Crowley, 777 (London: Walter Scott, 1909), columns of the Hebrew letters, paths and Tarot trumps.
• Israel Regardie, ed., The Golden Dawn (Chicago: Aries Press, 1937 to 1940), “Book T” and the titles of the trumps.