"The Marseilles woman on the Strength trump has a hat similar to the Magician's. She is, therefore, given the same lemniscate in this deck. In the Golden Dawn's table of correspondences this card is linked with the astrological sign Leo, which is why Strength, with her lion, was placed here in what is the traditional position of Justice. Switching the positions of Strength and Justice disrupts the Platonic meaning and suggests that Waite was unaware of it. The image itself, however, is in harmony with the Platonic concept of Strength.
Alchemically the woman is white, the higher feminine aspect of the soul, and the lion is red, the lower physical aspect. She gently but firmy closes the lion's mouth. The higher aspect controls the physical strength but this is accomplished through love, not force. This is shown by the lion licking the woman's hand and by the chain of roses that connects them. This card represents self-mastery through love. The distant mountain is the goal, the sacred center. These symbols are prominent in Rosicrucian imagery. A woman in white holding a symbol of love while sitting on a lion with a mountain in the distance can be found in an alchemical illustration of the The Golden Tripod, which is one of the alchemical texts that Waite translated and included in his Hermetic Museum, a collection of alchemical texts."
taken from the Tarot-history, symbolism and divination. pg 199
by Robert M. Place
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