Mary El Tarot - Strength

Bat Chicken

http://www.mary-el.com/11.html

Like the Thoth, the woman sits on the back of the Lion, We can only see her thighs and hands within the frame and the calm head of the lion. The beads in her hands remind me of prayer beads or a rosary.

There is such a quiet focus behind this card. The Lion is a red, solar force. It seems to be a card of preparation for strength needed for what is to come.

Thoughts?
 

Terrapin

Not only is the lion being ridden, the lion is between the person's legs! I think this is very Thoth-like--using your sexual energy or lust to propel you in a certain direction--to create, to laugh and love or whatever your desire. I also think this card is very much an example of Marie's statement that she used RWS and Thoth ideas in the deck. The prayer beads or rosary suggest more of an RWS Strength adding a more traditional,measured spiritual energy, ie, controlling your passion, but using it in the right measure. I think this actually one of her best Majors card and I actually prefer it to the Thoth Lust card.
 

Bat Chicken

...I think this is very Thoth-like--using your sexual energy or lust to propel you in a certain direction--to create, to laugh and love or whatever your desire.

I love the way you put this... Yes! And the dominant colour is very orange - more the sacral chakra than the root.
 

Le Fanu

This image screams "potential" more than manifestation to me. Especially because of the closed hands. I know it is ostensibly prayer - with the beads etc - but hands clasped as if anything can be realised. It feels like a "closed" image; hands pressed together, legs not explicitly open and the Lion with its mouth closed. An oddly "silent" image where we mght expect roaring. I'm not making myself very clear. It's early here...
 

crystalwings

Mary El Strength

It took me a while to recognise what the lion is looking at in the background but I got there in the end, zebras. Like the Fool, a pearl starts its journey off being nothing more than a foreign particle. Over time layers of a nacre substance make the pearl a precious labor of beauty. The Fool's journey is also built over time learning lessons that support the wisdom of our soul’s purpose. The hands set in pray clasping the pearl rosary beads are praying for guidance from the source of creation. Are prays manifest in the lion who draws on his own strengths and experiences, he knows to watch in quiet observation his prey, when the time is right, he will have the ability to strike out.
 

JadoreHauteCouture

I dont agree with any of these interpretations at all... Maybe my point of view is totally opposite or extreme but i guess i join in with my 2 cents..

So the streght is generally about becoming yourself... finding your true potential and being who you are... like a lion, being fearless, knowing who you are and what you want...
We can see that by zebras in the background... they represent the outer world that is naturally offered to lion... his possibilities and purpose.... Lion is a predator and his purpose is to explore, dominate, ravage, to be the king of the jungle (in human case, being on top, king of the world)...

yes, he is starring at the zebras, but he is not hunting them, not even following them... the lion, paradoxly is enslaved... he is not waiting to hunt them, he is not even preparing either... lion naturally knows what he needs to do, and he naturally knows how to do it... he knows how to hunt... there is no need for preparation...

Now... I dont know where people are getting all these romantical ideas.. it is a naked slim smouldering woman on a lion in both Mary-el/Thoth... no one finds that at least puzzling, not even disturbing???
The image is not about a lion at all... It is a metaphore for a man... A man - natural hunter since ancient times - who knows what he wants and how to get it... Naked woman represents a seduction/a sin... it represents a woman who distracts the man from following his own purpose and being himself, just to get some... and you know what i mean... her p...y... thats why the woman is not afraid of the lion and she has him BETWEEN her legs... to make him forget his essence, who he is, and control him through sex, pleasure and earthy desires...

the lion should stay who he is... a hunter... (you can imagine a fearless enterpreneuer, who is successful in his business and gets what he wants, house, cars, clothes and so on)... lion should find another lioness who will simply accept him as his equal mate, let him be a king of the jungle and simply have a mutual love and create family...

now this woman comes into the scene... since she is on top of the lion, it automatically talks about inequality... the woman controls lion in every single way.... the top became a bottom... and how she controls him? through sex, desires, being naked and also through flashy clothers, low V-necks, miniskirts, make-up and jewelery... thats why she is naked but only has pearl ring and necklace... (it could be prayer beads, but i dont see the cross and the beads looks too pearl-like, expensive)... shes totally naked... why she wears a pearl ring? maybe shes wearing also 10-inches pornstar stilletos too?

This picture talks about a man who is successful, king of the world, but finds some bimbo who starts to controlling him through sex... instead of finding equal woman who is accepting him and letting him be free, he finds this supermodel that only pleases his libido, instead of supporting him to fulfill his dreams... I mean, why do you guys think the Thoth's Strenght is called "The Lust"???? This man buys this woman expensive stuff and jewelery and focuses on conquering her instead of those zebras... and this woman only prays that she wins and chains him down through the sex. She hopes the man doesnt realize he is being controlled and he is pursuing only flashy box with nothing inside...

If you want prayers to find answers, I would personally pull High Priestess (intuition), High Priest (knowledge) or hermit (inner studies) to go inside and prepare. or in case of preparation chariot or again hermit (inner studies)... The Streght card is about people who have naturally everything they need to become successful and they need to find inner courage/strenght to go out and get them and resist the temptation on the road....

This card paired with 7 cups is the deadliest combinations... the best way to be trapped into passivity instead of working on yourself and progressing, but being fully controlled by pleasures and lust...

one of the most negative cards with one of the biggest potentials but also with the biggest challenges... resist something our sinful nature dies for, so that we can become better ourselves...

i know too many men who got enslaved by sex and desires... they were so smart and successful but they got deceived by sex and they didnt even realize it and this woman had full control of their life and finances, not letting them to pursue anything they liked and used to do before... successful man turned into a coward by dictator-like woman who constantly tells him how to do things, yet she has absolutely no idea how to do them. A gay man who is stuck in marriage, but he cannot become himself/happy with another man, cuz a woman controls him, she can allow him to sleep with other men (lust), but she fully controls his life, his finances, his family, his time and hobbies, his dreams, his reputation... A man with amazing potential who got deceited by a smouldering gold-digger, she got pregnant and turned him into a baby daddy, now she controls him through the baby and paying all her bills, he gives her money that she uses on expensive manicure and hair saloons rather than baby... This card is about demasculating a man (a person) by trapping him into sinful and lustful nature... I dont see anything romantic about that... People need to find XI. Strenght to resist temptation... Naked woman on a lion always represents temptation...
 

ivanna

Maybe my point of view is totally opposite or extreme but i guess i join in with my 2 cents..

I REALLY enjoyed this explanation, and I have to say thank you. I found it interesting and relevant, ant tought me some extra things about this card.

I only do no't like very much the example focused only on the manipulator woman who can get everything she needs from a dummy man through sex. It happens, of course. I wil not say you do not have reason, but can also be applied on the other side. The man who takes profit of a woman.

But appart from this detail, I found your explanation superb. Thank you.
 

uraszz

I dont agree with any of these interpretations at all... Maybe my point of view is totally opposite or extreme but i guess i join in with my 2 cents..

So the streght is generally about becoming yourself... finding your true potential and being who you are... like a lion, being fearless, knowing who you are and what you want...
We can see that by zebras in the background... they represent the outer world that is naturally offered to lion... his possibilities and purpose.... Lion is a predator and his purpose is to explore, dominate, ravage, to be the king of the jungle (in human case, being on top, king of the world)...

yes, he is starring at the zebras, but he is not hunting them, not even following them... the lion, paradoxly is enslaved... he is not waiting to hunt them, he is not even preparing either... lion naturally knows what he needs to do, and he naturally knows how to do it... he knows how to hunt... there is no need for preparation...

Now... I dont know where people are getting all these romantical ideas.. it is a naked slim smouldering woman on a lion in both Mary-el/Thoth... no one finds that at least puzzling, not even disturbing???
The image is not about a lion at all... It is a metaphore for a man... A man - natural hunter since ancient times - who knows what he wants and how to get it... Naked woman represents a seduction/a sin... it represents a woman who distracts the man from following his own purpose and being himself, just to get some... and you know what i mean... her p...y... thats why the woman is not afraid of the lion and she has him BETWEEN her legs... to make him forget his essence, who he is, and control him through sex, pleasure and earthy desires...

the lion should stay who he is... a hunter... (you can imagine a fearless enterpreneuer, who is successful in his business and gets what he wants, house, cars, clothes and so on)... lion should find another lioness who will simply accept him as his equal mate, let him be a king of the jungle and simply have a mutual love and create family...

now this woman comes into the scene... since she is on top of the lion, it automatically talks about inequality... the woman controls lion in every single way.... the top became a bottom... and how she controls him? through sex, desires, being naked and also through flashy clothers, low V-necks, miniskirts, make-up and jewelery... thats why she is naked but only has pearl ring and necklace... (it could be prayer beads, but i dont see the cross and the beads looks too pearl-like, expensive)... shes totally naked... why she wears a pearl ring? maybe shes wearing also 10-inches pornstar stilletos too?

This picture talks about a man who is successful, king of the world, but finds some bimbo who starts to controlling him through sex... instead of finding equal woman who is accepting him and letting him be free, he finds this supermodel that only pleases his libido, instead of supporting him to fulfill his dreams... I mean, why do you guys think the Thoth's Strenght is called "The Lust"???? This man buys this woman expensive stuff and jewelery and focuses on conquering her instead of those zebras... and this woman only prays that she wins and chains him down through the sex. She hopes the man doesnt realize he is being controlled and he is pursuing only flashy box with nothing inside...

If you want prayers to find answers, I would personally pull High Priestess (intuition), High Priest (knowledge) or hermit (inner studies) to go inside and prepare. or in case of preparation chariot or again hermit (inner studies)... The Streght card is about people who have naturally everything they need to become successful and they need to find inner courage/strenght to go out and get them and resist the temptation on the road....

This card paired with 7 cups is the deadliest combinations... the best way to be trapped into passivity instead of working on yourself and progressing, but being fully controlled by pleasures and lust...

one of the most negative cards with one of the biggest potentials but also with the biggest challenges... resist something our sinful nature dies for, so that we can become better ourselves...

i know too many men who got enslaved by sex and desires... they were so smart and successful but they got deceived by sex and they didnt even realize it and this woman had full control of their life and finances, not letting them to pursue anything they liked and used to do before... successful man turned into a coward by dictator-like woman who constantly tells him how to do things, yet she has absolutely no idea how to do them. A gay man who is stuck in marriage, but he cannot become himself/happy with another man, cuz a woman controls him, she can allow him to sleep with other men (lust), but she fully controls his life, his finances, his family, his time and hobbies, his dreams, his reputation... A man with amazing potential who got deceited by a smouldering gold-digger, she got pregnant and turned him into a baby daddy, now she controls him through the baby and paying all her bills, he gives her money that she uses on expensive manicure and hair saloons rather than baby... This card is about demasculating a man (a person) by trapping him into sinful and lustful nature... I dont see anything romantic about that... People need to find XI. Strenght to resist temptation... Naked woman on a lion always represents temptation...

Extreme? Maybe

I think you've got the reversed or ill-dignified meaning of the Strength card down pretty well (though I wouldn't tailor it exclusively to bad-woman and victim-man because opposites can and do easily apply)

You must though see that a card has a full spectrum of meaning and does not just indicate one meaning/interpretation

-uraszz
 

Michellehihi

On planet earth, there are so much, so much more men abusing women than the contrary....I find that your vision of the card, Jadorehautecouture, has more to do with its reversed or shadow side.