Letter: Kaf = Mars
Path: Between Chesed and Netzach
Quality: Life, vitality
The Strength card channels the immutable strength and relentlessness of wild Nature, which is only ever temporarily tamed. The power that allows us to live and thrive can also recycle us at a moment’s notice. The only control we truly possess is self-control, which needs constant renewal through fresh acts of self-discipline.
In Sophianic terms this is the taming and refining power of Love working through Wisdom to harmonize Creation and organize the animal, vegetable, and mineral world for humanity’s sake. Here we see Harmozousa, the universal technician who arranges or structures things, putting them together in the appropriate manner and seeing to it that they maintain mutually-supportive relations.
Some might be surprised to find a feminine face upon a card representing Mars, but this is absolutely not an anomaly. In another variant of the Continental family packs, the branch emanating from Spanish esoteric currents, one can see Mars attached to the Empress card, leaving Venus to occupy the Strength icon. As a rule gender images within the sequence of the Trumps are not to be interpreted in a physiological manner as if these forces were actually burdened with inflexible either/or limits.
The ancient Hebrews who developed the alphabet as an astronomical and astrological tool didn’t suffer from the same gender expectations that we moderns do. It was common to find the women in charge of running the household dealing with practical issues like food, children, livestock, and the domestic economy. Masculine preoccupations (beyond survival tasks) were focused on studying scripture, embracing mystical explorations along the lines of yoga and/or meditation, and writing extensive scholarly commentaries on the ancient teachings.
The basic construct by which the Kabbalah Tree emerges from its invisible Source is that the Father force of expansive Space (Fire) pours out and emanates into matter, which precipitates the condensing force of Time (Water) in the Mother as a response. On the Tree, Mars is the middle Sephira on the descending Pillar corresponding to the right hand in the body. This is the point in the materialization process at which an empowered individual begins to gain some personal capability, some sense of traction and leverage for implementing one’s will.
One could explain the attribution of dominance to this Trump by realizing that the Strength icon represents the intention to prevail, irrespective of the momentary goal. Having completed the Light trine of celestial motivation, we now enter into the Fire trine of emotional and intuitive responsiveness. This triangle registers the descending forces of the previous three Trumps as they impact upon matter, which in response starts to seethe and give birth to new forms engendered by the Light.
The first term of our “dark Fire” trine is Trump 11, called Strength or Force. This Trump has a revolutionary implication, which is summed up in the phrase “entering into the Wrath-Fire unafraid.” Unlike the Fool, who stumbles into his situation unpremeditated, the Strength icon shows us the courage and fearlessness that comes from engaging with one’s challenges head-on, openhearted, and ready to respond with full energy. Such is the virtue of feminine force that her passionate suasion empowers the most noble and radical of our Divine Elements.
When this representative of Spirit appears, the usual clanging chaos among the Elements subsides. For love of her, the unregenerate instincts of Nature feel moved to conform themselves to a higher power, of which this lady is the representative. Even the king of beasts cannot resist this prodigy of non-verbal engagement. The persuasiveness of this expression of Martian vitality is fulfilled perfectly by Mulder’s amazing image:
"The hair of Lady Alchimia is Fire. Her eyes are Sun and Moon, the twin Principles - Mercury and Sulphur - of the Work. Her breath is Air and the influx carried in the shape of rays by light. The three Stars on her forehead are the three Works, and the milk flowing from her generous breasts is Lac Virginis, the Virgin’s Milk which nourishes the Stone…"
(de Rola, 1988, p. 307.).
In the esoteric system that connected with the Marseilles-style Tarots, the Strength angel embodies the most attractive, constructive, and creative aspects of the planet Mars. Nevertheless, this Lady Alchimia is a fully ambiguous figure, somewhat monstrous upon close inspection.
Her deviations are also apt: As a symbol of ambition, drive, desire, aggression, and the appetites, Mars is not above the occasional confrontation or conflict demanded in order to win the fulfillment of our visions and desires. In this context the lion symbolizes the restrained yet still feral side of the Martian force.
The above text is an excerpt from our book Tarot of the Holy Light: A Continental Esoteric Tarot - Volume One.
