The Strength card from the Robin Wood Tarot deck

2015 is a Universal year 8, which in the world of Tarot translates to the Year of Strength.

Depending on the Tarot deck you use, the 8th Major Arcana will be Strength or Justice.
Most of the decks I use have Strength in this position. Personally I find Strength a better representation of what I associate with the number eight.

I previously wrote that in a year 8 creativity is strong, confidence grows and things can finally get done.

2015 so far has been anything, but this on a world level. Explaining the Strength card, may help people see how actually the eight’s energy is already at work.

Let’s look at the image of Strength in the Robin Wood deck.
A woman wearing a crown made of flowers leans on/ hugs a beautiful lion.
The two of them appear to be friends and equals. She is wearing a white dress.

A crown is a symbol of achievement. White stands for purity.

There is mutual trust between the woman and the lion. In nature both would have a right to fear each other. The lion could easily eat or tear the woman apart. Humans are more likely to shoot a lion than to pet it.

Therefore this card depicts progress that comes through courage and understanding. We are not dealing with physical strength, but rather kindness, self control. The courage to look beyond appearance.

Here we take the time to observe things from someone else’s perspective.

In this card we show courage and compassion, this is how we learn to live using our logical mind and our gut’s instinct together.

When we use the power of strength well we are less likely to attack or retreat in fear. We are better able to assess situations for what they truly are. We have the compassion to let things go when our ego is roaring and the courage to fight when something important is threatened.
In other words we know how to pick our battles.
There is a lot of turmoil going on around the world at this time. It would be very easy to give in to fear, but we would miss the lesson.

To pretend that nothing is going on would be the other extreme. Compassion and courage are required.

Eight represents progress that often comes through a shift of perspective.