Strength
a.k.a. the Daughter of the Flaming Sword
Card Number: 8
Rulership: Leo
Hebrew Letter: Teth
Translation: Serpent
The path between Geburah (Severity) and Chesed (Mercy). Finding its expression between these polarities Strength arises in the interim of Love and Hate. It is through strength that we undertake a willful submission to the abnormal and the distasteful. Strength is that coiled serpent in everyone--the infinite energy dormant in the base of the spine. When all else is stripped from us the strength of primal instinct to exist remains.
The number eight: Infinity; Octagon; heaven on earth or the lower sephiroth plus Daath; Mercury; Hod, Ogoad, the Buddhist and other "8 path." Perfection. Strength, fortitude, everlastingness. The first cubic number, hence it stands for the cube itself, or earth. Splendour of endurance. The octagon is the symbol of the meeting between heaven and earth because it is a compromise half way between a square and a circle.
Leo: The fire of the fixed signs. Sign of courage and strength. The Velle of the Tetramorph, The Lion is characterized by the solar heart of born leadership and has the strongest, most dramatic, sensitive, and temperamental personality of the Zodiac.
Teth: Signifies an asylum, a refuge which a human provides for hirself for hir protection. As a grammatical sign it denotes resistance and shelter. Its esoteric meaning is that of a hiding wall erected to guard something precious and a watch over a dear object in times of danger.
Numerically: Teth is Teth + Ayin + Tau or 9 + 70 + 400 = 479 = 20 or 2.
20: Days in a Maya month. Kaph. Resurrection. Rebirth.
2 we have seen in the High Priestess.
In readings:
Dignified: Courage. Strength. The synergetic interaction of mental and emotional forces. Control of passion and defeat of base impulses. An arbitrator sometimes.
Reversed: Weakness. Defeat. Concession. Self-indulgence. Lack of self-discipline and surrender to unworthy impulse. A clash of interest sometimes.
Mythological Links: Pasht. Sekket. Mau. All cat goddesses. Ra Hoor Kruit as god of the sun. Demeter and Venus as agricultural goddesses.
Metaphysical musings: In Strength we have an intrinsic notion of will. It is within our capability (and even becomes our responsibility) that we control the so-called, "beast within." It is not so much an analytical fact that we come to realize our obligation, but rather, an emotive force which inspires the intuition that as a genuine human being we must exercise our will over our self. Self discipline that is learned through sloggin' it out here in the human milieu. In today's society, we see increasing examples of the beast running wild, and this, if nothing else, ought to inspire us to an even greater vigil. Here we find a good context in which to place Crowley's formulation of the Law. "The Law is Love, Love under Will."
Yet Crowley's renaming of Strength, "Lust," seems to go against the spirit of this arcana, as outlined above. Lust is typically involved with giving in to desires which are shallow or derive from weakness. If Crowley meant that we all need to acknowledge this force within us, and sought to evoke its spirit more clearly in order to gain mastery over it, then it seems he has reason to change the way we see this card. However, if it is to represent unchecked base impulse to be manifest without responsibility, then there is no Strength here.
In Strength we find the fortitude to bear the cross of material creation. It is in the spirit of this card that we are able to transform this earth into heaven. Through a strong relation to the internal-external genuine knowledge of being and Self is understood, and this generates wisdom which comes to restrain by bonds of Love. |
