Strength tarot card from the Simply Tarot deck

Strength Tarot Card Meaning

The Lionheart
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Courage • Self-awareness • Resilience


You may be facing a challenging situation that calls for courage, confidence and determination. Strength asks you to consider how you respond: whether to defend your position, persist through difficulty or acknowledge something you need to change. Be assertive without becoming aggressive, and stand firm without trying to dominate. Patience and self awareness can help you use your strength constructively.

The Subject may be facing a challenging situation that calls for courage, confidence and determination. They could need to defend their position, persist through difficulty or speak up about something important. Strength concerns how they respond to that challenge and whether their approach helps them achieve what matters to them.

The Subject may feel misunderstood or unfairly treated, and their anger or frustration could be understandable. However, strong feelings may make it difficult to assess the situation clearly. They should consider what has happened, what they want to achieve and how their response could influence the outcome.

In some circumstances, the Subject needs to stand firm. Maintaining a boundary, challenging a decision or continuing despite opposition may be appropriate. In others, there may be truth in the challenge they face. They may need to acknowledge a mistake, reconsider an assumption or recognise how their own behaviour has contributed to the difficulty. This requires honesty and strength of character.

Confidence and determination can help the Subject act effectively, but those qualities can become less constructive when pride or fear takes over. Assertion may become aggression, or a wish to take control may become an attempt to dominate. The Subject should consider whether they are explaining their position clearly and allowing others a fair opportunity to respond.

The Subject should take time to understand the challenge before deciding how to respond. They may need to stand by their position, acknowledge a fair criticism or change how they are handling the situation. Strength lies in being able to make that judgement without letting anger, fear or pride decide for them.

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Love & Relationships

You may need to speak up about something difficult in a relationship. Strength encourages you to express your needs clearly and listen to the other person’s response. Stand firm where necessary, while remaining willing to acknowledge a fair point or your own part in the difficulty.

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Material Life

A challenge involving work, money or practical responsibilities may test your confidence and determination. Strength encourages you to defend your interests thoughtfully, persist where your efforts can help and remain willing to reconsider your approach. Notice whether frustration is influencing your decisions, and direct your energy towards actions that could improve the situation.

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Notes from the Artist

This picture shows a man in a bare-hand battle with a lion. He has driven his sword into the ground beside him. This man is clearly courageous and confident in his abilities, and he seems to have chosen to battle with the lion in this particularly dangerous way, instead of killing, or maiming, it with his sword outright.

Courage, strength and fortitude are admirable traits that should be encouraged. However, situations can be misread, or underestimated, and an aggressive and over-confident reaction can be entirely inappropriate and damaging. The man is not winning or losing the battle, in this image, and his over confidence may have led him into unnecessary difficulty.

From the archive

The Original Artwork, Reimagined

Before Strength became part of the Simply Tarot collection you see today, it was drawn and painted by hand for the original 2011 Tarot House Deck. The style has evolved, but the meaning and character of the card remain at its heart.

Original hand-painted Strength tarot card by Patricia House from the 2011 Tarot House Deck
2011 Original 2011 artwork Strength Hand-painted by Patricia House
A man battles with a lion with his bare hands having stuck his sword in the earth. He wishes to use his strength rather than power.
Today Strength reimagined The current Simply Tarot artwork

The original first edition

Buy the Original 2011 Deck

The card shown above is part of the original 78-card Tarot House Deck. Every image was drawn and painted by Patricia House before the deck was professionally printed by Cartamundi in the UK. A limited number from the original print run are still available.

  • 78-card first-edition deck
  • Two tarot-spread cards
  • Short meanings leaflet
  • Brocade drawstring bag

£25.99

Shop Now Read how the deck was created