Finding Your Strength: The Tarot’s Eighth Major Arcana Card

(Based on the representations found on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.)

When I pulled Strength from the deck, trying to look at it with fresh eyes, I was immediately drawn to the lemniscate — the infinity symbol, or figure-eight, above the figure’s head. Instantly, it should bring to mind the Magician, whom we first encountered in Meditation #1, where we noted the connection between the lemniscate and Mercury’s synodic cycle through the zodiac.

The lemniscate is said to signify a “union of two becoming one” (Adele Nozedar, The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols, 102). In the the Magician, the union take place through manifestation. Heaven and earth are married in the old alchemically inspired (and oft-misquoted) axiom, “As above, so below.” Our thoughts, properly directed, become things on the material plane, leveraging the tools at our disposal: inspiration, ideas, emotions, and material resources. Without jumping too far ahead in the Tarot, the lemniscate will appear in at least two more cards — one Major and one Minor Arcana — but here we are, after just eight archetypes into our Tarot journey, pondering the connection between the Magician and Strength.

The other commonality between Strength and the Magician are the white dresses that both wear, associated with purity, wisdom, and spirituality. The Magician, on the other hand, also dons a red cloak — a possible nod to ritual garbs in Mars’ colours, denoting action and creative life force…