8 Strength


Card number eight – fire - 3rd Chakra, worldly domination.
When connected to 4th, 5th and 6th Chakras, the expansive spiritual powers of compassion, truth and perception arise.

The picture in the Rider deck would be well used as a circus side-show bill, advertising a woman lion-wrestler. And she would draw a crowd of paying customers, to be sure, the masses are attracted to displays of physical strength, but the image on this card conveys so much more. Her psychic command is also visible, as she has the lion subdued by her touch, her subtle powers of persuasion – but these alone are not necessarily an indication of any altruism, in fact it is precisely the honing of these skills that is practiced by those who would gain superiority for the express purposes of acquiring dominance and position in the world.
Strength


but how we perceive, acquire and put to use power is the question at hand. The lion represents brute strength, but it's interesting that it is a female shown as the subduer - this says right away that we are not contemplating here military training or body-building.
The lion-tamer is a woman; the Empress, the Dakini, the one who through invocation of divine forces and persistence of will conquers and brings under submission untamed raw male forces which would run rampant in the world without her tempering powers. Emotional control, psychic energies, directed consciousness – these are the qualities that healthy people and societies keep the balance with and thrive upon – brute force is the lowest, basest quality that can be used in order to get what is wanted and is destructive in every way. It's a sad fact that we even have to state this seemingly obvious truth, but the world is such that violent means still trump and obliterate any true progress. True progress would mean the permanent and sincere cessation of violent means to achieve ends - but this shows no signs of abating any time soon. So, we who have chosen to study and to follow the spiritual arts rather than the tactics of war, must persevere in deepening our understanding of what non-violence is and how it works.
But we're not only focusing on violence here - to act and operate from our higher mind is what we're considering as we contemplate 'Strength'. To cultivate the arts, to raise a healthy family, to excel in our chosen field – all these good things come about through exerting our concentration of will and directing our minds toward these ends. All worthy
aspirations require a great deal of skillful means as we face resistance and the countless obstacles which do arise. The symbol of infinity floating over the head of our heroine is the giveaway that sends the significance of this card into the stratosphere and beyond. That cosmic, supernal consciousness is attainable, and that there is no limit to what can be realized through fully harnessing our potential as human beings – this is what lies at the innermost heart of this most important card.




By Ananda G. Brady copyright 2011

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