La Forza/La Force/Strength
Courage, Fortitude, and Endurance—the Strength tarot card signifies much more than physical power. Traditionally, this allegory of courage has been depicted two ways: a woman with a pillar, or a woman with a lion. Both images derive from classical myth and the Bible. Before considering these images, we’ll look at how Fortitude has been defined through the centuries.
Definition of Fortitude
Fortitude is one of the three Moral Virtues which appear in the tarot deck. Through the centuries, from Plato and Aristotle to St. Augustine to Thomas Aquinas, the definition of this virtue has remained stable. Foremost, it is courage in the face of danger— a quality especially important for a soldier on the battlefield.
Fortitude is the steadfast mind that’s able to endure adversity and persevere in hard times. It’s what enables us to keep plugging away no matter how many setbacks.
Aristotle taught that the virtues are a middle ground between two extremes. The lack of fortitude is cowardice: losing your nerve, running away, being a quitter, and caving in as soon as things get tough. Excessive fortitude is the berserker rushing into danger in a rage. It’s when you force things and beat your head against a brick wall when it makes more sense to give up and change tactics. It’s using intimidation and bullying to get what you want.
The Allegory of Fortitude
For centuries, the allegory of Fortitude has been depicted as either a woman and a lion, or a woman with a pillar. These two block printed tarot cards from the late 15th century are examples of each type. The Budapest card on left is unique in showing a man rather than the standard female allegory. This card probably illustrates the story of either Hercules or Samson wrestling with a lion. The woman on the right wears the scalloped halo of an allegorical figure, indicating that she is a virtue.
The lion on the tarot Strength card may have been inspired by the myth of Hercules’ Labors; but the biblical strong man Samson is associated with both the lion and the pillar. The virtue of Fortitude in the Charles VI card (left) wears a scalloped halo as in Rosenwald card above, but her pillar is broken, a direct reference to the story of Samson. The virtue of Fortitude, by 15th-century Florentine artist Pesellino, holds a pillar and wears the same scalloped halo as the tarot figures. Samson sits at her feet holding his attribute, the jaw bone of an ass. The pillar appears more often in early Italian tarot decks, so we’ll consider the origin of this image first.
Samson and the Pillar
The story of Samson, from the Book of Judges in the Bible, tells of the world’s strongest man who lived in Judea when it was occupied by the despised Philistines. Samson displayed excessive Fortitude by constantly stirring up trouble with the Philistines and doing considerable damage to them with his brute strength. One time, he bashed in thousands of Philistine heads with the jawbone of an ass. Years later, Samson’s mistress, Delilah, discovered that the source of his strength was his long hair, so she arranged to have his hair cut while he slept, depriving him of his super-human strength. Delilah turned Samson over to the Philistines who blinded him and put him to work as a slave in their grist mill.
One day, the Philistines were making a sacrifice to their god Dagon and thought it would be fun to bring Samson in so he could perform for them. A boy led Samson by the hand into the temple. When they got next to the pillars flanking the entrance, Samson told the boy he needed to lean against a pillar for a moment to rest. His hair had grown out and his strength had returned, so he pushed on the pillars with all his might. The temple of Dagon collapsed killing everyone including Samson. Samson became a noble example of Fortitude: overcoming his fear of death to put his physical strength at the service of a higher cause—ridding the land of hated occupiers.
Samson and the Lion
The Bible story of Samson wrestling a lion may have inspired the allegorical lion seen in art and tarot. One day, Samson was walking through the countryside when a growling lion suddenly blocked his path. Samson didn’t have any weapons with him, so he used his super-human strength to kill the lion with his bare hands.
In most works of art, it’s difficult to tell whether Hercules or Samson wrestles with the lion. Often, the artist tips us off by including a distinguishing attribute, like Samson’s jawbone or Hercules’ club, as in the etching below.
Hercules and the Lion
Hercules was another strong man who often got into trouble because of blind rage and an excessive use of force. As a youth, he had to take music lessons from Linus, the brother of Orpheus. Hercules had no musical talent and became exasperated with his teacher’s constant criticism and corrections. One day, Linus used corporal punishment on the young Hercules who retaliated by striking him dead. This act thrust Hercules beyond the borders of polite society and branded him as an anti-social troublemaker.
Later in life, Hercules’ nemesis, the goddess Hera, caused him to have a fit of madness where he killed his wife and children. As atonement, he had to serve the king of Tiryns, who made him do twelve seemingly impossible labors.
The first labor was killing the Nemean Lion and taking its skin back to the king. This was no ordinary lion. Blades couldn’t puncture its skin, and weapons couldn’t kill it. Hercules used his super-human strength to choke the lion, then used the lion’s own claws to strip its skin off. Hercules is usually depicted with the lion’s pelt draped over his shoulder and holding a club, even though he didn’t use it to kill the lion.
Early French Strength Cards
The woman with a pillar does not appear on any French tarot cards. Evidently, tarot decks with a woman and lion on the Strength card were the only decks to travel from Italy to France in the early 16th century. Four 15th-century Italian Strength cards with a lion exist today: the block printed Budapest deck near the top of the page, the hand-painted card made for the Duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza, the Cary Sheet where half the card is missing but the lion is visible, and this hand painted card created for the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, about 1440, known as the Visconti di Modrone Tarocchi. This 15th century card has features that appear two centuries later in the Tarot de Marseille design: a woman sitting on a lion prying its jaws open, while the lion raises its paw to resist. These details may be evidence that a Milanese deck was exported to France about 1500.
Two decks created in Paris in the mid -17th century have Strength cards with details similar to the Modrone Strength card. In the Anonymous Tarot de Paris on the left, the woman is actively wrestling with the lion who raises his paw to protest. In the Vieville card on the right, the barefoot woman seems to be getting the upper hand, but the lion is putting up a fight. Her wide brimmed hat with its large crown hasn’t quite evolved into the infinity symbol that we will see in other cards.
When the Tarot de Marseille deck was exported from France to Italy in the 18th century, the lion with a raised paw was adopted in Lombardy and Piedmont. In the Strambo card on the left, printed in Piedmont, the hat’s lines make an infinity symbol. The barefoot woman on the Milanese Dotti card actively wrestles with an angry lion, as in the two cards in the previous paragraph.
Classic Tarot de Marseille
By the first half of the 17th century, the classic Tarot de Marseille pattern had been established. The Payen deck on the left was printed in 1743 using wood blocks from the Marseille based Vachie workshop of 1639. The Arnoux & Amphoux card on the right was printed in 1801. These two cards show how the Tarot de Marseille image has remained stable through the centuries. Compared to the cards above, the scene in the Tarot de Marseille deck is rather static. The woman sits calmly on a passive lion who allows his mouth to be pried open. We don’t see her feet. The crown of her hat is minimized, allowing the brim to seem like an infinity symbol.
Traditional interpretations of the Strength card don’t address the virtue of Fortitude directly. Rather, they foretell success if you have confidence, keep fighting, and prevail over obstacles. If the question is about a conflict that’s already underway, neighboring cards show who will come out the victor. The woman and lion seem almost fused, as if they were two parts of one psyche. This leads to interpreting the card as putting mind over matter and subduing one’s animal nature.
French Occult Strength Card
The French occultist and ceremonial magician Eliphas Levi associated this card with the Hebrew letter Caph, a hand grasping and holding onto something. He envisioned this card as a woman with an infinity symbol over her head effortlessly closing the jaws of a raging lion—an initiate taming the lion with gentleness.
Oswald Wirth, who designed the card at left, followed the Tarot de Marseille closely by depicting the woman opening the lion’s jaws. His card interpretations lean toward the psychological: self-mastery, where one’s wise higher self masters its lower nature. The lion represents wild, anti-social energy that should not be violently repressed. Instead, it should be dealt with consciously and transformed into energy that can be used for a noble purpose.
British Occult Strength Card
The Waite Smith card shown here adheres closely to Eliphas Levi’s description: a woman with an infinity sign over her head closing the mouth of a compliant lion. A chain of red roses and white flowers links woman and lion, and she wears the same flowers on her head.
This is a peaceful scene where the struggle between woman and lion has been resolved. The lower nature, symbolized by the lion, has been subdued by the spiritual power of the higher self. Physical and spiritual natures are balanced, but the spiritual dominates.
In the Golden Dawn system, and the Waite Smith deck, the Strength card is the eighth major arcana, rather than the eleventh as in the Tarot de Marseille. The Justice and Strength cards were switched from their Tarot de Marseille positions for the sake of astrological symbolism. When the Golden Dawn assigned Hebrew letters to the cards, with their astrological associations, Libra fell into the eleventh position, and Leo in the eighth. By switching the cards from their original Tarot de Marseille location, the Justice card could be assigned to Libra and Strength to Leo.
Contemporary Strength Cade Meanings
Most contemporary decks follow the Golden Dawn system, which puts the Strength card immediately after the Chariot. The Chariot is the culmination of the first row of seven major arcana cards, which are about ego formation and developing into a competent adult. This process involves learning to play a role, doing what’s expected of you, and suppressing the emotions and desires that don’t support your self-image. The Strength card starts a new row of seven cards, and is about dealing with the lion who represents the disowned contents of the unconscious that are getting restless and demanding attention.
Contemporary card meanings focus on psychological interpretations. The card is literally about taming the beast—getting a handle on your emotions, distancing yourself from rage, terror, and other emotions that can easily overwhelm us. The card advises us to learn to channel strong emotions and discharge them in a positive way. The card can also be about wrestling with a problem while using fortitude to transcend your fears and stay in control of the situation. More directly, it’s about having the physical strength, vitality and confidence to take risks and go for your goals.
Modern Strength Cards
The woman in the Light Seers deck shape shifts into a lion. She has absorbed the lion’s strength and has nothing more to prove. She demonstrates the quiet, gentle strength that allows a lion to show compassion for the little lamb.
The Spacious Tarot illustrates Fortitude as hanging in during tough times. The cactus struggles to survive in a very bleak desert, but it still has the strength to flower and the confidence to cast seeds into the future.
The Viet Nam war protester in the Ink Witch tarot puts flowers in the muzzle of a National Guard gun. During the culture wars of the Viet Nam era, protestors were deemed anti-American and put their lives on the line to protest in public. This image brings to mind the famous photo of a man standing alone in front of tanks in Tiananmen square, an icon of fortitude.
See more cards and art at
https://www.tarotwheel.net/history/the%20individual%20trump%20cards/la%20fortezza.html
Illustrations:
Samson and the Lion. La Twyere Psalter, 1320. New York Public Library.
Budapest Tarot, late 15th century. Recreated by Sullivan Hismans, Tarot Sheet Revival, 2017. Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
The Rosenwald Deck, c. 1475. Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Dalla Torre Tarocchi, 17th century. Collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale Française.
Tarocchi Charles VI, c. 1460. Collection of Bibliothèque Nationale Française, Paris.
Allegory of Fortitude. Francesco Pesellino, mid 15th century, Florence. From a cassone panel of the seven virtues. Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art.
Samson Destroying the Temple of the Philistines. Maarten de Vos. Mid 16th century. Collection of the British Museum.
Samson Wrestling a Lion. Albrecht Durer. Woodcut c. 1500. Reproduction from an auction catalog
Hercules Wrestling a Lion. Antonio Tempesta, 1608. Etching, collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Tarocchi Visconti di Modrone. C. 1440, Milan. Reproduced by Il Meneghello, Milan, 2015. Collection of the Beineke Library, Yale University.
Tarot de Paris, c. 1650. Collection of Bibliothèque Nationale Française, Paris.
Tarot de Jacques Vieville. Paris, mid-17th century. Collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale Française.
Tarocco Piemontese Strambo. Varallo, late 19th century. Il Meneghello, 2014
Edoardo Dotti Tarocchi, 1862. Restored by Giordano Berti, 2021
Tarot de Marseille Jean Payen. Avignon, 1743. Facsimile by Marco Benedetti, 2023.
Tarot de Arnoux & Amphoux, Marseille, 1801. Facsimile restored by Yves Reynaud, 2018
Oswald Wirth Tarot, 1887. Collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale Française, Paris.
The Centennial Waite Smith Tarot Deck. London, 1909. U.S. Games System, Inc., Stamford, CT, 2009.
Light Seers Tarot. Chris-Anne. Hay House, Inc. 2019.
Spacious Tarot. Carrie Mallon and Annie Ruygt. Self Published, 2020.
The Ink Witch Tarot. Eric Maille. Self Published, 2021.
See the separate Bibliography for books that discuss all the trump cards.
Tarot Heritage 