Strength is about courage, about doing what you fear. In comparison we could say The Chariot gives in to social norm because of fear, while Strength expresses his true self while feeling tremendous fear.
Courage is not the absence of fear, it’s to face the fear head on and does what one has to do. Thus, Strength is a card of action. You don’t confront your fears of public speech by sitting all day thinking. You confront it by giving speeches even as your whole body is shaking.
Strength is a card of discomfort. Doing something you fear will always give you discomfort. But that is what it takes to break your limitations.
Meeting people is always a pain to me. But last year I intentionally went out and met new friends regularly, and the result is satisfying. Instead of staying in my room for months, I now hang out with new friends regularly. The process is stressing, and I remember once when my legs were literally shaking for hours.
The Chariot is about stay in the boundary and repeat the same old routine, while Strength is about breaking out of that boundary.
Strength is also a card about fear. When you are staying in your comfort zone, you won’t know how much you fear something. It’s only when you are about to do what you fear, that you will begin to know your fear. Fear of sex, fear of marriage, fear of expressing one’s feelings, etc. These fears usually don’t haunt you in the night, they simply stop you and limit you.
That’s why most people don’t know fear while people who do achieve something is familiar with it.
But then how do you deal with your fears? What do you do when you just can’t tell your boss that you want a salary raise? The only way to deal with your fear is to take action. You don’t conquer it. It won’t ever disappear. So learn to live with it and do what you must.
When talking about this card, people often comment how the woman has great inner strength that she could calmly open the lion’s mouth without getting hurt. While this is a good interpretation, I would likely to add my different view.
The lion has great inner strength because he doesn’t prey on the weak when he could.
I consider such self-restriction a great achievement.