Major Arcana · Mirror of the Arcana
VIII · ArcanumStrength
Strength in tarot is a card of inner strength, gentleness and courage.
Key meanings
- inner strength
- gentleness
- courage
- compassion
- patience
Strength upright
A quiet inner strength and courage. A gentleness that is stronger than force.
The shadow side
Crushing down what growls inside instead of taming it with tenderness.
Strength reversed
Self-doubt, fear, a sense of powerlessness in the face of your own feelings.
Strength as the card of the day
Your strength today isn't in an iron grip, it's in the softness that calms a lion with a single touch. Don't wage war on the part of you that growls out of fear, tame it gently instead. You can get through this without breaking yourself.
The question this card asks
What inside you right now is asking for gentleness and patience instead of a fight?
Strength: yes or no?
yes
Strength tames the lion with bare hands. You can do this, and do it gently.
On the deck's five-step scale arcanum VIII sits at yes, and a lean is something to weigh rather than something to obey.
This is the tilt of a single card, and the theme holding that tilt is inner strength. Pull your own card →
Every card is a mirror, not a verdict. Walk the other arcana and listen to what they say together.
✦ See all 22 Major ArcanaFAQ
Is Strength (VIII) a kind card or a hard one?
There is no bad card in the deck. It carries inner strength and gentleness, and whether that reads warm or difficult is decided by your question and by the position. Frightening you is not my work.
Strength - major arcanum or minor?
Major, arcanum VIII of twenty-two. Major arcana speak of thresholds and minor arcana of routine, and VIII is a threshold.
What are the cards either side of Strength?
The order of the twenty-two puts The Chariot in front of it and The Hermit behind. Arcanum VIII is the step between them, and that is where its direction comes from.
What does Strength (VIII) mean upright and reversed?
Set the right way up, the card speaks of inner strength and gentleness without a mute on it. Reversed, arcanum VIII loses its footing more than it flips into an opposite, and that loss is what you read.