Strength represents menarche and the new woman's journey from adolescence to motherhood. She is the growing vitality, evidenced in the new and powerful life-force in the girl-child's ability to create new life out of her own body.

In our culture girls seem to lose their inner vision and strength at this point in their lives. They have difficulty in accepting their new creative power and they find themselves in the midst of terrible choices with low self confidence. Because we live in a patriarchal and hierarchical society, young girls innately recognize when they reach adolescence that their lives will be different from the boys they have grown up with. They will face challenges and fears that are difficult for young men to understand. In Strength we see the image of the power, joy, beauty and pride young women should feel when they begin to menstruate. At this important moment in their lives they move forward with the power of life growing within them and they hold the future of all humanity in their sacred cycle.

The strong and beautiful woman of the Strength card rides forward on the lion, holding a flag that proclaims the source of her power. She is naked because she feels pride in her womanly body; she is completely comfortable in the world just as she is. She feels no need to hide her power beneath clothing or to play a role by wearing a particular costume. The spirals painted on her body tell of the cyclic nature of all life and give expression to her own menstrual cycle. She wears amber beads that proclaim her relationship to the sun, since she is like the rising sun, both in her newfound power and the heat of her passion. The ancient word for amber was 'electrum', for which electricity was named, because rubbing amber produces a static charge.

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The snake spirals up her leg, and the woman is not afraid of it but recognizes the snake as the ally of women's power. The serpent has always been a representative of the Goddess because she shed her old skin and was continually reborn. The ancients believed that the snake was immortal and as it sloughed off its old skin its life was renewed and it began again. The old skin of a snake was like the wrinkled and dry skin of old age and as the snake crawled out of its skin it left death behind. Like the adolescent woman who is beginning her life as an independent person, the snake was able to renew its power and begin again. Serpents were even connected with the renewing life-blood of menstruation, which was shed just as the snake shed its skin and was renewed. Women were said to begin their menstruation after copulation with a great serpent. The snake opened the young woman and made her fertile and allowed the creative spirit of the Goddess to enter her.

The lion is a symbol of royal power and strength. The lioness is the huntress and queen of the lion pride and it is she who supports her family, providing food for both her mate and her children. The lion represents the power of the shining sun because of its golden color and intense courage. The young woman of the Strength card heads into the solar period - or noontime - of her life, when she will control her destiny and make her own choices. The lion is also a symbol of the passion and animal desires, and the joy of new sexuality which the woman now discovers. This lioness chases the tail of the male lion before her, representing the will of the woman to get what she desires, both sexually and materially. The lioness runs to symbolize the quick moving strength of adolescence.

The lion was an attribute of the Phrygian Goddess Cybele, a parallel to Greek Aphrodite, the Goddess associated with sexuality. Cybele's other totem was the queen bee who, like the lioness, was the provider for her family. Like the queen bee, Cybele was an independent goddess who did not need men to provide for her or to define her role. Her sexuality was a part of her power and was wholly her own, and she bestowed her favors only on her own initiative. Adolescent women today - who define themselves against the backdrop of the patriarchical culture - have difficulty being independent like the Goddess Cybele, and often are forced to give their bodies for food, shelter or even to save their lives. The Strength card is both a reminder of the true role and power of women and a call to our society to respect, honor and support young women who try, against the tide, to hold on to their sexual power.

Above the head of the young woman are the representative bees of the Goddess Cybele. They form the figure eight symbol of infinity above her, and like the never-ending circle, this form represents eternity. But the infinity symbol, with its two circles joined together - one moving clockwise (deosil) and the other counterclockwise (widdershins) - symbolizes much more. The clockwise movement of the sun from sun-up to sundown symbolizes the masculine force, while the moon's more subtle motion over several nights as it appears to move counterclockwise represents feminine energies. Therefore, this symbol represents the relationship between opposites and the relationship between women and men. It is a symbol of the dualism of the world, and yet it shows that these separate things are forever bound together and dependent on one another.

The bee itself is a potent symbol of feminine power. The society of bees is an all female one where the drones are only momentarily useful to fertilize the eggs of the queen and all the worker bees are sisters. The bee symbolizes the sweetness of life because it produces honey, which is symbolic of the sweet fruit of sexuality. Ancient priestesses of the bee Goddess were called Melissae (Melissa is Greek for honey bee) and served the Goddess in her Nymph (or sexual) form, and the men who came to the cult of the Bee Goddess castrated themselves in order to serve her truly.

The bee was also the symbol of spring and was associated with the blooming gorse (a variety of broom) that turned the hillsides all over the Mediterranean region bright yellow as soon as the sun's light increased. The bees began to journey out of the hive to gather its pollen as soon as it appeared. Both the sunny yellow color of the blossom and its springtime blooming are linked with the period of adolescence and the flowering of womanhood. The broom was connected with the letter 'O', the vowel that represents the second part of the five part Goddess (see the 5 of Swords for more information on this) and is connected with menarche.# The letter 'O' represents the womb of the woman not yet opened in childbirth.

The woman of the Strength card holds a flag high; as a wand it is her symbol of accomplishment and power. Her flag is really two flags: the golden solar flag and the white flag of the moon. Because she is a woman, the flag depicting the moon is above the sun's flag. It is the symbol of her intimate connection with the moon's cycle, as evidenced in her monthly menstruation (from the Latin word for month - mensis). The full cycle of the moon is shown on her flag in its four phases. These four icons, added to the symbol of the sun, make five emblems on the flags, symbolizing the five-fold nature of women's lives.

The road is a symbol of the journey of life and the gateway up ahead symbolizes the gate into motherhood, the next road marker in this woman's life. The lake symbolizes the feminine water of life and the fruitful womb. The mountains symbolize the challenges of living and the far-off goal. They are also another reference to Cybele, who was a mountain Goddess and the Queen of Phrygia's Mount Ida. The fire on the hill in the background symbolizes the midsummer fires and represents movement from spring to summer, which the Strength card personifies. The fire also represents the burning passion of adolescence, to move forward into the world and to leave childhood behind.

When this card comes up in your reading, pay attention to what you have passion for and use this passion to further your life. This is a card of enormous courage, vitality and power to achieve anything within your imagining. The power you have is not a power over others but a power from within, a strength you have that is really your own. You do not need to hold it over others, but use this inner strength calmly and by example many others may discover this most powerful strength.

This is also a card of initiation; just as the new woman is initiated into womanhood when her menstruation comes, you are initiated into something new and special when this card comes up in your reading. It is a good time to begin something new and something you love and have a passion for. Like the blooming furze you will blossom into something bright and lovely.

It is a special time for love and sexuality or for the passions that arise from anything truly moving. You are moving away from the control of others and can make your own decisions. This is a card of women's freedom and power, and so a particularly powerful card for women. If you have been letting others make decisions for you, now is a good time to take this power, and like the woman of Strength - ride the lion!