Tarot Card Meanings:
Strength
What is "Strength" in Tarot?
Strength is card number eight in the Major Arcana. It represents inner strength, compassion, and courage. This card signifies the power of patience, self-control, and resilience in overcoming challenges.
What are the key symbols in the "Strength" tarot card?
- Woman gently taming a lion: Symbolizes inner strength, patience, and the power of gentle influence.
- Infinity symbol above head: Represents limitless potential and mastery over oneself.
- White robe: Reflects purity, compassion, and a nurturing spirit.
- Lion: Indicates primal instincts, courage, and raw energy.
- Mountain in the background: Suggests stability, strength, and challenges that can be overcome.
These symbols are based on the Rider-Waite Smith tarot. Symbols may differ in other decks!
Strength Tarot Card Meaning
Strength Keywords: Inner strength, compassion, courage, patience, self-control, resilience, gentle power, balance.
The Strength card in the tarot signifies the importance of inner strength, patience, and the compassionate approach needed to overcome challenges. This card represents the power that comes from mastering your own emotions, showing kindness, and controlling impulses in difficult situations. It highlights courage and resilience, encouraging you to face obstacles with grace and unwavering inner confidence. Strength invites you to embrace your personal power, using compassion and self-control to navigate challenges and find harmony in your environment.
Strength Reversed Tarot Card Meaning
Strength Reversed Keywords: Self-doubt, lack of confidence, fear, weakness, loss of control, impatience, inner struggle.
When Strength appears reversed in a tarot reading, it signifies self-doubt and a lack of confidence, where inner strength feels diminished or difficult to access. This card suggests that fear or impatience may be affecting your ability to face challenges effectively, leading to a struggle with self-control or feelings of weakness. It reflects a time when inner conflict or frustration may be undermining your resilience. Reversed Strength urges you to address these fears, rebuild self-belief, and reconnect with your inner power to regain control and find the courage to move forward.
El Tarocchi Insight
Strength is about trusting your own willpower.
One of the first things I point out to clients when Strength appears is that this card isn’t about muscling through something. In over twenty years of tarot reading, I find it most often shows up for people who are dealing with something genuinely difficult and doubting whether they have what it takes, when in fact they do.
This card also happens to be what I consider my “identifier” card; the card that most closely represents who you are as a person. As a Leo Sun born in the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Fire Tiger, Strength feels like a natural fit — and as someone who has dealt with Impostor Syndrome and self-doubt throughout my life, it serves as a personal reminder that I am more powerful than I sometimes think or feel. When this card appears for my clients, I read it with that same energy: you are more capable than your doubts are telling you right now.
Gallery: Strength in Various Tarot Decks
by Corrine Kenner, Pietro Alligo, and
Giulia Francesca Massaglia