Tarot Soul Card -- Strength (Number 8)

[Halloween Tarot]

Classic Strength card imagery depicts a savage lion allowing a gentle maiden to open (control) its mighty jaws of death and destruction. Men and women whose soul card is Strength will find themselves living out either one or the other of those roles in their lives. Untamed passions and overwhelming emotions twist and turn deep down in their souls. It feels like those forces can rip their world and themselves apart. People on the Strength soul path must be brave and learn how to be the maiden who "tames the beast within." If they cannot, the lion will spring free and go on a rampage.

The secret to taming those wild internal passions and overwhelming emotions is not to forcibly subdue, repress or deny them, hoping they can be ignored or will just go away. A person of Strength must come to terms with and accept their inner reality. They must face their fears, express their emotions in a healthy way and "integrate their Shadow" in the Jungian sense. Such strong inner passions and emotions may not necessarily be bad or wrong in themselves -- they may simply be unconventional or unaccepted by the society or family in which the Strength person lives.

Other people often recognize men and women on the Strength soul path as being real survivors, who must struggle and overcome great odds. Strength people must steadfastly persevere to incorporate their passions and emotions in a well-lived life, expressing themselves truly, fully and peacefully.

There is one other major arcana card in this constellation which influences a Strength soul path: the Star.

[Ludy Lescot Tarot]

The Star card, whose imagery also involves a gentle maiden, represents peace, hope and new life. If a Strength person is successful in accepting and integrating their inner lion, Star energy will manifest in their lives as self-confidence, creative innovation and vision. Such a Strength person embraces and lives out their many talents and positive inner truths. They will understand and fulfill their destiny.

However, if Star energy remains a repressed, hidden factor, a Strength person will hide their talents and true self, believing themselves to be ugly and useless. Self-doubt and self-hatred will gnaw at them, with pessimism as a constant companion.

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Next Week: the Hermit Soul Card

[NOTE: If you haven't yet determined what your Soul Card is and would like to, please go to the introductory post of this series found here, do the calculation and play along!]