elitarot2strikingly.com
Above all things, know thyself.
The Ocean Tarot-Key 8-Strength
Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot — Key 8: Strength
The Lady, the Lion, and the Mastery of the Serpent Fire
In the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, Key 8 — Strength shows a serene woman gently controlling a lion. She does not conquer the beast through violence, fear, or domination. Instead, she masters it through calmness, love, confidence, and spiritual presence. This is the central mystery of the card: true strength is not force against nature, but the Higher Self guiding the animal body into harmony.
The woman represents the Divine Feminine as the soul’s receptive, creative, intuitive, and emotionally intelligent power. She is the inner Shekinah, the living grace of Spirit within the body. Her white garment suggests purity of intention, while the red roses symbolize love, passion, and the awakened desire-nature. She does not reject desire; she refines it.
The lion represents the animal nature of the body: instinct, passion, appetite, sexual force, courage, fear, rage, and survival power. In alchemy, the Red Lion is associated with Sulfur, the fiery solar principle. This is the raw life-force that must be joined with Mercury, the principle of mind, will, and magical direction. When Sulfur and Mercury are harmonized, the beast becomes not an enemy of Spirit but its living vehicle.
Above the woman’s head is the lemniscate, the horizontal figure-eight symbol also seen above the Magician. It represents infinity, the 0=2 formula, and the unbroken circulation of masculine and feminine forces. The same sign links Strength to the Magician, showing that this card is not passive gentleness but magical will under perfect control. The wreath around her head further suggests victory: not victory over the body, but victory through the consecration of the body.
In Western Hermetic Qabalah, Strength is linked with the Path of Teth, traditionally connecting Chesed, Mercy, with Geburah, Severity. This path balances expansive mercy with disciplined power. Here, Fire becomes Light. Raw desire becomes conscious radiance. Instinct becomes magical vitality. The body becomes a temple of directed spiritual force.
The Hebrew letter Teth means serpent. This is important because the card shows not only the lion of Leo, but also the hidden serpent-force coiled in the body. The lion and serpent together form the ancient mystery of the Lion-Serpent, the solar animal power united with the kundalini or serpent fire. This is the same deep force hinted at in dragon symbolism, chimeric creatures, and the ancient guardians of occult power.
Parapsychologically, this card speaks of self-command over reactive consciousness. The ordinary personality is often conditioned by fear, media suggestion, inherited trauma, religious guilt, social programming, and unconscious emotional reflexes. Strength teaches that the awakened person must stop being a “knee-jerk” reaction of the outer world and become a conscious expression of inner Presence. This is the power of the statement: I AM.
Metaphysically, Strength teaches that the body is not a prison of Spirit. The body is the sacred field where Spirit becomes experience. The animal nature is not evil; it is untrained power. When the Higher Self embraces the body with love, the flesh becomes the altar of divine incarnation.
Cosmologically, Key 8 shows the universal law of force becoming form. The invisible currents of will, desire, and light are woven into manifestation. The woman and lion are therefore not two separate beings, but two poles of the same magical current: consciousness and life-force, soul and body, Mercury and Sulfur, Moon and Sun.
The number 8 also reinforces this teaching, for it is associated with power, resilience, balance, material manifestation, and the harmonizing of spiritual and material worlds. Turned sideways, it becomes the infinity sign, revealing the eternal circulation between above and below, Spirit and flesh, desire and divine will.
Arthur Edward Waite’s involvement with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn deeply influenced the symbolism of this card. Although the Rider-Waite-Smith deck presents the mystery in a softened Christian-mystical image, the deeper Western Hermetic doctrine remains present: the awakened soul must master the serpent-lion force through love, will, and spiritual intelligence
Therefore, the primary meaning of Key 8 — Strength is this: Know Thyself, and the beast within becomes your sacred power. Do not divide Spirit from body. Do not shame passion. Do not fear instinct. Refine them. Love them into obedience. The Higher Self does not destroy the animal self; it teaches it to serve the Great Work.
Strength declares:
I AM Love.
I AM the Spirit’s Will to Be.
I AM Spirit.
I AM Mind.
I AM Body.
The body is my sacred place, and through it, the Solar Self shines.
The Ocean Tarot — Key 8: Strength
The Mermaid, the Dragon, and the Compassionate Mastery of Power
The Ocean Tarot — Key 8: Strength transforms the traditional woman and lion into a mermaid and a magnificent ocean dragon. This keeps the essential meaning of Strength while shifting the symbolism from land and solar animal power into the deep waters of emotion, instinct, memory, and the unconscious.
The mermaid represents the Divine Feminine of the Waters: intuition, emotional intelligence, receptivity, beauty, compassion, and psychic sensitivity. She does not battle the dragon. She tenderly holds its head in her hands, calming it through love, presence, and trust. This shows that true strength is not domination, but the ability to meet primal force without fear.
The dragon replaces the lion as the image of instinctual power. In Western Hermetic symbolism, the dragon is a deeper and older form of the Lion-Serpent mystery. It combines the fiery force of Leo with the serpent power of Teth. Therefore, this ocean dragon suggests the awakened life-force hidden in the depths of the body and psyche. Its rose-colored eyes and mouth features imply that this primal power has been softened and spiritualized by love.
In Western Hermetic Qabalah, Strength corresponds to the Path of Teth, the serpent path of awakened desire and controlled force. This path connects Chesed, Mercy, with Geburah, Severity. Chesed gives expansion, benevolence, and divine authority, while Geburah gives discipline, courage, and restraint. Strength is the balance of both: power guided by compassion.
Metaphysically, the card teaches that the lower nature is not evil. The dragon is not a monster to destroy; it is a sacred force to be understood. The emotional body, sexual force, instinct, fear, rage, and survival drive all become allies when touched by the Higher Self. The mermaid’s gentle hands show the soul calming the subconscious waters.
Parapsychologically, this card speaks of self-mastery over emotional reaction. Fear, doubt, trauma, and unconscious impulses can rise like a dragon from the depths. Yet when the mind is centered and the heart remains open, these forces become sources of vitality rather than chaos. The card teaches psychic poise: the ability to remain calm while powerful inner currents move through the body and aura.
Cosmologically, the fertile sea of anemones and coral shows that creation arises from the watery matrix of life. Water receives, remembers, conceives, and gives birth. The dragon is the fiery seed-force within the cosmic ocean, while the mermaid is the lunar intelligence that shapes and harmonizes it. Together, they reveal the union of Fire and Water, Will and Emotion, Spirit and Soul.
Upright, this card represents courage, compassion, resilience, and inner power. It asks you to face challenges with grace, patience, and unwavering resolve. Your strength increases when you stop fighting yourself and begin directing your own life-force with love.
Reversed, Strength may show fear, self-doubt, emotional imbalance, or loss of confidence. The dragon has not disappeared; it has only become misunderstood. Reconnect with your inner authority, calm the emotional waters, and remember that your power returns when you trust yourself.
Comparison with the Rider-Waite-Smith Strength Card
The Rider-Waite-Smith Strength card shows a woman gently mastering a lion, symbolizing the Higher Self guiding the animal nature through love and will.
The Ocean Tarot Strength deepens this mystery by replacing the lion with an ocean dragon, making the instinctual force more ancient, subconscious, and magical. The RWS card emphasizes solar courage and the gentle control of passion, while the Ocean Tarot emphasizes emotional healing, psychic compassion, and the calming of deep unconscious power.
Both cards teach the same Hermetic truth: real strength is not brute force, but the soul’s loving command over the primal energies of the body.
When the RWS or Ocean Tarot Key -8 Strength card is thrown during a reading, it means the querent:
- Is relying on spiritual powers to manage the situation at hand and is receiving the strength to overcome.
- Following one's own inner light, doing what their "heart of heart". inner self, says is right.
- There can be an experiencing of a "gut level" driving force, instinctual and compelling for protection or survival.
- Also, possessing the courage of one's convictions.
- The strength of Passion, in Higher Nature, is power, courage, energy, action and magnanimity.
- One is experiencing the Law of Self-Domination, self-rule, and self-control.
- Resort to magic.
- The use of Magical power.
- Showing compassion and tenderness towards one's animal nature, thereby making oneself whole.
If reversed, it implies:
- Weakness
- Lack of sexual fulfillment.
- Depression.
- Aggression, perversion, and addiction because of repressed instincts.
Thank you for your interest, your thoughtful comments, subscriptions (free) and your generous support. Every dollar helps.
Your donations help keep this work alive and accessible to all sincere seekers.
May your generosity return to you in abundance. May you live long and prosper.
3 Western Hermetic Tarot and Magick websites helping people become more magick and less tragic since 2010.
Home page, Tarot Store readings page, Master Tarot class, and nontraditional Tarot Card Comparisons blog.
Traditional Tarot Card Comparisons blog and Tarot classes and layout store.
Western Hermetic Magick ritual and invocation website with magick blogs.
🔮 Thoth Tarot Readings by a Master of the Thoth Tarot
This Is Not a Reading. This Is a Revelation.
If you are tired of vague answers, recycled meanings, and comforting half-truths, it is time for a Tarot reading that speaks the language of the Soul.
A Master-level Thoth Tarot reading does not predict your fate — it reveals your pattern.
🌞 Why the Thoth Tarot Requires a Master
The Thoth Tarot is not a “beginner’s deck.”
It is a Hermetic engine of consciousness, encoded with:
- Western Hermetic Qabalah
- Astrology and planetary forces
- Alchemy and elemental dynamics
- The Solar Self and Higher Genius
In untrained hands, it becomes confusing.
In the hands of a Master of the Thoth Tarot, it becomes precise, illuminating, and transformative.
🜂 What You Receive in a Master Thoth Reading
- 🔥 Radical Clarity — no fluff, no superstition
- 🌳 Tree of Life Mapping — your situation placed within Qabalistic structure
- 🃏 Archetypal Diagnosis — seeing why patterns repeat, not just that they do
- ☀️ Solar Alignment — guidance rooted in your Higher Self, not fear or dependency
- 🧠 Actionable Insight — what to do, what to stop, and what to integrate
This is Tarot as initiation, not entertainment.
🌿 Who This Reading Is For
✔ Seekers ready to take responsibility for their path
✔ Those at crossroads who want truth over comfort
✔ Mystics, thinkers, creatives, and initiates
✔ Anyone drawn to Hermetic wisdom and real transformation
No prior Tarot knowledge required — only honesty and willingness.
💠 A Sacred Exchange
Readings are offered with integrity and depth, and pricing is flexible.
Sincere seekers are never turned away because of money.
✉️ Book Your Thoth Tarot Reading
Come with a question.
Leave with clarity, sovereignty, and alignment.
🜂 Final Word
Tarot does not tell you who you are.
It reminds you.
Read the symbols.
Reclaim your authority.
Awaken the Solar Self.
— Magus Eli
