Strength Major Arcana VIII · tarot card meaning
- Sign
- Leo
- Hebrew letter
- Teth
- Yes or no
- Yes
Strength upright
Strength means power that does not need force. It may be patience with something wild or meeting anger without matching it. This card carries an old argument in its number. In the Marseille deck it is XI and Justice is VIII. Waite's circle swapped them.
Yes or no: Yes, through patience, not force. Strength answers by holding steady rather than pushing hard.
Strength reversed
Reversed, Strength is patience run out, or never offered — force where softness was the method. Self-doubt read as coldness, or holding on with clenched hands. Tradition keeps this the harder of the two courages, either way up.
Yes or no: Not yet. Turned over, the doubt speaks louder than the resolve right now.
The card at a glance
- Attribution
- System
- First printed
- Themes
- will, power, feeling
What is shown
A woman in white bends over a lion. Her hands rest around its jaws. The lion's tail curves inward, and its tongue remains visible. A chain of flowers loops around both bodies. More flowers circle the woman's waist. The Magician's horizontal eight floats above her head.
- Number
- VIII
- Yes or no
- It depends
Strength upright
La Justice faces forward with sword upright and scales level. At VIII, she represents law, reason, fair measure, and accountability.
Yes or no: It depends. The answer follows the evidence, rules, and consequences actually in view.
Strength reversed
Reversed, it can show a judgement made before the weighing, or a reckoning postponed. It asks what has not been put on the scale.
Yes or no: No, if judgment has already outrun the evidence.
La Justice is read in its Marseille title, image, and position; its RWS link is a structural cross-reference, not permission to replace the card's identity.
The card at a glance
- Printed title
- LA JUSTICE
- Printed number
- VIII
- Pattern
- Edition
- Themes
- will, power, feeling
- Deck
- Tarot de Marseille: Justice (La Justice)
What is shown
A crowned woman sits directly facing the viewer. She holds a long upright sword beside one shoulder. A balance hangs from her other hand across her lap. A high-backed seat frames her body like an architectural niche.
- Attribution
- Nerone (8)
- Yes or no
- It depends
Strength upright
Nerone holds a smaller figure close above a brazier while cords stream from his head. The scene places unequal power beside active heat.
Yes or no: It depends. Nerone gives power, but the answer rests on how vulnerability is treated.
Strength reversed
Reversed, intensity is denied, displaced, or used without accountability. The vulnerable element remains exposed while control is only performed.
Yes or no: No. Reversed, control is being maintained without accountability.
Nerone is read on Sola Busca's own terms — a trump in its own historical line, not a renamed RWS card.
The card at a glance
- Attribution
- Nerone (8)
- Workshop
- First documented
- c. 1491
- Themes
- will, power, feeling
- Deck
- Sola Busca: Nerone (8)
What is shown
Nerone stands in violet over a small fire, leaning toward a smaller nude body or figure held at waist height. Long curling cords stream from his head, and a red animal-headed support appears behind his legs.
Questions
What does Strength mean?
Power handled without force. Strength means power that does not need force.
What does Strength mean reversed?
Reversed, Strength is patience run out, or never offered — force where softness was the method.
Is Strength a yes or no card?
Yes upright, not yet reversed. Through patience, not force.
What is shown on Strength?
A woman in white bends over a lion.
