The Strength of Goddess Power Within

As the Dark Moon approaches, this reading feels reflective to me. And as I look at the Strength card, I remember as a child having an interesting effect upon animals. Even nasty animals seem to have an affinity for me. Growing up in Alaska, my family raised sled dogs and it was normal for us to have at least 50 dogs to care for. They loved me.

I was eight years old at the time when I was teaching myself to play guitar and I used to take my guitar out to the dog area during the summer and practice. All the huskies would begin howling while I attempted to play. It was amazing even though in retrospect they were probably asking me to stop. That summer some friends left their 60 dogs with us while they went outside for three months. So between ours and theirs, I took care of 125 dogs that summer. Needless to say it was a noisy summer. Oh, when you live in Alaska, you’re either inside the state or outside the state. So when anyone left the state for vacation, it was known as going outside. It’s an Alaska thing.

 

 

I love the Strength card in any Tarot deck. In today’s reading, I’m using the Robin Wood tarot deck and this deck features the lion more prominently than do other decks. The Druid Craft tarot deck at the top uses a wild boar instead but the effect is the same.

In Thoth, Crowley moved this card from 8 to 11 and renamed it Lust, including the lion’s presence, but modified with multiple faces. The woman controls the many-faced lion, yet the card gives the impression of balanced energy holding up creation. Strength, passion, wisdom, tenacity.

The Strength card resonates perfect love and perfect trust, and the balance between wild, instinct-based wisdom and the more civilized aspects of self. In the Robin Wood deck, the woman gazes lovingly at the male lion at her side, an expression of receptive and projective energies in balance. It speaks of allowing yet with a quiet determination and presence.

The next two cards in this three-card reading involve the suit of Cups. So perhaps our emotional strength is in play here. A Water Element suit, Cups deal with our emotional presence, relationships, creativity as well as our subconscious.

The 7 of Cups shows a woman daydreaming, about riches and successful endeavors. And dragons and serpents because who doesn’t want a dragon around them? The cup in the center with the mask could indicate that these are flights of fancy rather than any serious imagining, but I see it as anything is possible. She’s willing to push, if not eliminate entirely, the boundaries and allow for anything to unfold, peel back the mask and look at all her options.

The stars emerging from the top cup on the left bearing a red heart are perhaps a wish for love, the castle below, a wish for structure and stability, the cup at the bottom, wealth, the cup on the right with a green wreath indicating success over adversity or even death. The placement of the cups with the snake and the dragon is interesting as I see this as an expression of as above, so below. I don’t know if the deck’s creator had that in mind or not, but the snake with the triple moon represents Goddess energy or Spirit, with the fiery red dragon as our more earthly passionate side. So it seems that our dreaming woman is looking at integrating various aspects of a new path to take.

The 10 of Cups shows a happy family, sitting together, enjoying their day. Birds fly above toward the light from the sun emerging from behind the clouds, a rainbow springing from beginning to end of the ten cups beneath them. A genuine flow of love surrounds the family. A desired outcome has been achieved and the family can sit together in contentment and joy.

With this in mind as well as the approaching Dark Moon, our daydreaming woman may be reflecting on all that she chose along the way to establish security and stability for her family, clearly including a variety of considerations. Their happiness indicates that she chose wisely, using the Strength of the Goddess within as her guide. She didn’t rest in her dream but instead made choices that resulted in the security of her home and family, all done from perfect love and perfect trust.

Women have a way of understanding the greater good. We know how to balance strength with wisdom, knowing when to allow and when to take command. It’s that awareness that drives us forward, particularly in times of difficulty and hardship.

It’s the power of the Goddess within us that gives us the Strength to endure amid the chaos. And maybe dragons. Yes, for sure, dragons.

Blessed Be