World Spirit Study group - The Strength (8)

Seed Crystal

So often descriptions of this card in other decks talk about the woman taming the lower beast; I don't get any of that from this card, the woman mouse and lion are certainly in harmony but no dominance, more mutual respect for differences and samenesses. (If that's not a word - you know what I mean. :D)
 

Alfred Douglas

The lemniscate and the Tarot

Laying the Major Arcana cards out in a figure-of-eight undoubtedly throws up some interesting ideas, as I examined briefly in my book published back in 1972. I found that the first eleven cards pointed outwards and the second eleven pointed inwards, with the Wheel of Fortune and The World crossing in the middle. These two cards are both mandalas; the Wheel depicts characters clinging to the outside, while the World shows a single character in the middle surrounded by the symbols of the four elements.

The High Priest (on the right, solar side) corresponds with The Devil (on the left, Lunar side). The Priestess on the right corresponds with The Moon on the left; the Emperor appears opposite the Tower; the Chariot opposes Death; Justice faces The Hanged Man. When we were designing the Sheridan Douglas Tarot we decided to make Justice number VIII and Fortitude (Strength) number XI, rather than the other way round, partly because the first arrangement made more sense when the cards were laid out in a lemniscate formation: Justice <--> Hanged Man; Hermit <--> Fortitude.