Strength Tattoo Meaning
Inner strength, gentleness, courage, and the calm hand that masters the lion.
Strength is the tarot's card of gentle, inner power — card VIII, a woman calmly closing the jaws of a lion not by force but with serene, loving hands, the infinity sign above her head. It teaches that true strength is not domination but the quiet mastery that transforms through patience and gentleness. To carry Strength is to carry inner strength and gentle power — the calm hand that masters the lion not by force but by love, the courage and patience that are a deeper power than raw force, the quiet mastery of one's own inner beast through compassion rather than violence.
Strength is card VIII (or, in some decks, card XI) of the tarot's Major Arcana, and its image beautifully redefines what strength means. A woman, robed in white and crowned with flowers, gently closes — or holds open — the jaws of a great lion, her hands resting on the beast with calm, loving ease. Crucially, she is not wrestling or forcing the lion: she is calming it, taming it through gentleness, her serene composure mastering the powerful beast where brute force never could. Above her head floats the lemniscate, the infinity symbol (as above the Magician's head), marking her as a master of infinite, spiritual power.
The lion represents raw power, passion, instinct, the animal nature and our inner beasts; the woman represents the higher self, gentleness, and inner strength. That she masters the lion not by overpowering it but by calming it with a gentle hand is the whole meaning of the card: real strength is not force but the serene, loving, patient power that tames the beast through compassion and self-possession. She is stronger than the lion, but her strength is of a different and higher kind. The tarot Strength is the calm hand on the lion — card VIII, the serene woman gently closing the lion's jaws not by force but by loving composure, the infinity sign above her, the image of a strength that masters the beast through gentleness rather than violence.
The Rider-Waite Strength card shows a woman in white robes closing the mouth of a lion with bare hands — not wrestling it, not forcing it, but gently and lovingly managing it. A lemniscate (infinity symbol) floats above her head, identical to the Magician's. She wears a crown of flowers. The lion's tail is between its legs — it has been gentled. This card's position in the Major Arcana varies by tradition: in the Rider-Waite deck it is VIII, in the Thoth deck and many earlier decks it is XI (with Justice at VIII). The woman and the lion echo the stories of Androcles and the lion, of Daniel in the lion's den, and of the strength that works through compassion rather than domination. She corresponds to Leo in astrological tarot attribution.
Strength across cultures
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