Tag: Strength

The Fool’s Journey through the Major Arcana: SunFest 2016: Strength

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

As the seekers walk down the Path to Higher Knowledge on the second day they notice signs that say “Beware”, “I’d turn back if I were you.”, and at last “Too late!” With a roar a terrible monster jumps out at them. Strength: I am the beast that lurks deep inside each and every one of you. I am all the anger, lust, and fear that churns and burns just out of the reach of your conscious mind, but just close enough so you know I’m there. Poke me and I lunge out and wreak havoc. I may just embarrass you, or I may ruin your life. If you try to suppress me I’ll torture your body with disease and your mind with terrible visions, phobias, and delusions. I’m definitely not loveable, and I’m the last thing you’d want to take out to dinner. But the only way to tame me is to have the courage and strength to love me and let me out… Read More »

Strength and the Werewolf

Posted C. LaVielle4 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, Writing, Young Adult Fantasy

Whenever I read a story about werewolves, the lion on the Strength card roars in my head like the start of an old MGM movie. A tale about werewolves is always about the eternal struggle between our animal desires, instincts, and power and our logical, self-controlled, altruistic human side. At the end of the 2010 remake of the 1941 movie, The Wolf Man, the Wolf Man attacks his fiancée, forcing her to shoot him with a silver bullet. Her words, which end the movie, states the moral dilemma posed by Strength and the werewolf beautifully. “It is said there is no sin in killing a beast Only in killing a man But where does one begin and the other end?” In his latest book, The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan’s line between man and beast is fairly clear and painfully raw. Jake is a werewolf from hell. A week before full moon the wulf, as he calls, it begins to mess with him. Phantom fangs and… Read More »

The Strength-Justice Tarot Controversy

Posted C. LaVielle13 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot

Some of my best friends read with decks in which Strength is numbered 11 instead of 8 and Justice is 8 instead of 11. In fact, I own eight tarot decks and five of them use this numbering system. Horrors! How can this be? The first tarot cards we know of, The Visconti-Sforza decks, were painted in Italy in the 15th century and didn’t number the major arcana cards. At least the ones I’ve found on line didn’t. Most subsequent decks did number them, but their order has been constantly switched and different cards, such as the virtues Faith, Hope, and Charity have been added and subtracted to accommodate various metaphysical theories. In The Devil’s Picture Book, Paul Huson mentions a 15th century manuscript with a marginal note that gives a number to each major arcana key. In this system, Strength is 9 and Justice is 20. The French Marseilles decks (1600-1700’s) were the first to use the Strength 11, Justice 8 numbering system. They… Read More »

Strength, Part II

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

A young woman closes the mouth of a lion that looks capable of tearing her limb from limb. The lion is, of course, shorthand for the Lion Serpent Sun energy I’ve been talking about. In some decks he’s even colored bright red to make the connection inescapably obvious. The woman has a figure eight above her head the same as The Magician, which is a broad hint that she shares many of his talents. She is the yin to the lion’s yang, and between the two of them, they create a functional whole. The esoteric meaning of Strength should now be clear: It is possible to consciously influence and call upon the vast forces of the universe. As evidenced by the relaxed gentleness of the maiden, this card is not about physical strength. The fact that it is a woman who closes (or, in some decks, opens) the lion’s mouth tells the reader that the key to these forces is the subconscious. This is the… Read More »

The Major Arcana and the Hero’s Journey: Strength, Part I

Posted C. LaVielle4 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

I once met a man named Lion Serpent Sun. He lived in Victoria, BC and was a good friend’s Wiccan High Priest. Len Olsen, a Pentecostal Preacher, appeared on a 1984 Victoria talk show called “100 Huntley Street” and claimed that Lion had attempted to sacrifice him and his wife in a Satanic ritual. Big Mistake. Lion sued Olsen and the talk show host all the way to the Supreme Court of British Columbia and won. “100 Huntley Street” wisely settled out of court. Don’t ever mess with a man named Lion Serpent Sun. The Lion, The Serpent, and The Sun are the three symbols of the Strength card. Leo is the astrological sign attributed to Strength. Everyone knows that The Lion is charismatic, powerful, egotistical, and loves to be in control. Leo is ruled by the Sun, the center of our solar system and the source of all its energy. The planets move around it like dancers around a campfire on a chilly night.… Read More »