Of course, such a disclaimer will not appear on every single post that reflects views of mine that have since been revised – but with regards to some posts (such as this one) I feel it is especially important to make that point particularly clear. I find insertion of such notices to be more intellectually honest than simply deleting the post.
The “strength” referred to in the Tarot card by that name is not physical strength, but strength in the Force.
Traditionally, this card portrays a woman opening the mouth of a wild lion. However, as I worked on my rendition of this card for my deck of Force Cards, I chose instead to depict a scene that probably far more familiarly illustrates the same concept – Yoda lifting the X-Wing Fighter from the swamp on Degobah in The Empire Strikes Back.
As Yoda explains to Luke in the movie, his small size and the large size of the X-Wing Fighter are of no consequence because Yoda has a most-powerful ally in the Force.
The ancient Stoics used fire as a representation of Logos – a concept that bears similarities to that of the Force (and may even be the same thing in some variations of Stoicism, albeit not in the orthodox form of Stoicism). In this card, I adapt that to use now as an iconographic representation of the Force by color-coding the flames to represent specific aspects of the Force. In this case, the flames are colored green to represent Yoda’s Consular nature that is reflected in his channeling of the Force. These flames surround Yoda, and are also beneath the X-Wing Fighter that he is lifted – with an upward arrow inside the fire beneath the Fighter to indicate the upward push.
Hanging from the Fighter, three leaves are shown. In addition to literally representing the vegetation that hangs from the Fighter in the movie, they also represent the life that is teeming on Degobah.
Far above Yoda’s head is a symbol I devised to represent Harmony with the Universe. The large, outer-circle in this symbol represent the Universe – and the smaller circle in it’s center represent the self (in this case, Yoda). The medium circles represent the forces of Nature at work in the Universe – all of them touching both the outer-circle at one point each and collectively forming the space in which the small circle contently sits – representing how the small circle is content to be just where it is placed by the Forces of Nature — in short, representing harmony.
The symbol of Harmony is connected to Yoda – and in the field connected the two is the mathematical symbol for Infinity.
Divinatory Meaning
What? You were expecting me to give a divinatory meaning here? If so, you are under a very common misconception of how to use the cards – or even what they are about. The cards themselves do not hold the power – they’re just pieces of card-stock with ink on them! The power is in you!!
The image on the card does not give you the information – but rather, it allows you to see within yourself for answers you already hold inside – much like a Rorschach test. Through the Force, this will include whatever you truly need to know!
If the images on your cards do not invoke any such effect on you, that is a sign that the deck’s images do not properly resonate with you. To rectify this you can either (a) get another deck that is a better fit with you – or better yet (b) do what I’m doing and write your own deck.
