The lion
On Strength a woman closes a lion’s jaws without force. Waite says her fortitude has already subdued the lion, and he moved the card to eighth place to match the Golden Dawn’s gift of it to Leo.
In the tradition
Older decks painted Fortitude, one of the four cardinal virtues, often as a woman holding open a lion’s mouth or breaking a column. Psalm 91 promises, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion", and Waite echoes that line when he writes about this card.
The Golden Dawn gave Strength to Leo and Justice to Libra, which only works if the two trade places. Waite made the swap, Strength to 8 and Justice to 11, saying only that his reasons satisfied him.
In the cards
Lions are carved on the thrones of the Queen and King of Wands, the fire court.
Sources
- A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910). Waite's own guide to the deck he designed with Pamela Colman Smith, with each card's divinatory meanings.
- Various, The Bible (King James Version 1611; the Latin Vulgate, 4th century). The source of much of the Temple, Eden and Revelation imagery in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
- Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Book T: The Tarot (1890s, published by Israel Regardie in The Golden Dawn (1937 to 1940)). The source of the planetary, zodiac and elemental attributions of the cards.
Updated October 9, 2026.
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