Strength:
Owning one’s strength. Taming the beast within. Living your life fully, especially during a time of challenge. Mastering your fear to accomplish something satisfying and life affirming. Passion, hope, eagerness, openness. Managing one’s anxieties and fears. Being an agent in freeing oneself from forces of oppression and fear. A lust for life. A desire for a passionate life. Creative approach to problem solving. Channeling forces into one powerful entity. Flow. Unity of body and mind. The eternal rhythm of balancing the physical and emotional. A satisfying physical encounter. Sexuality. Love for what you do. Great energy. An understanding of the challenge or adversary before you. Note that the Strength image is not a muscular man lighting a big weight but a woman taming a beast.
Best Course of Action: Engage passionately in life and creativity. Ask yourself what beast you are taming. Express yourself openly, without masks or defensiveness. Tame your fears and guide your passions. Don’t be scared. You can do this. Own your strength. Take power. Keep your eye on the goal. Be open about who you are, in that path lies your greatest strength.
Reversed: Feeling overwhelmed by a task or situation. Allowing your fear to sweep you up. Feeling bitten or losing your nerve. Choking. Inner torment. Passions out of control. An unsatisfying or disturbing sexual experience. Being oppressed or controlled. Pessimism, negativity. Feeling like you are in the lion’s den or actually being in the lion’s den. Or, it is time to be honest with yourself? Are you are the lion, wildly out of control. Ask yourself if you are savaging someone else out of fear or rage.
Best Course of Action Reversed: Accept that you may be unable to control this situation. Things may be beyond your sphere of influence. Hard to accept but sometimes you may have to surrender. You may have misjudged who your adversary truly is. Stop and take a clear-eyed look at what you are grappling with. Stop attempting to influence a situation. Can be a call to step away for personal safety. If you find yourself lashing out, this is a call to withdraw and subdue yourself.