The STRENGTH of LUST: Mysteries of the Tarot Revealed

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》Content Warning 《

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The following contains mature subject matter and may not be suitable for younger viewers.

Note: In this article, “Lust” refers not to carnal desire but rather to the symbolic, transformative force as seen in esoteric Tarot traditions - particularly in the Thoth deck.

It represents divine ion, the union of opposites, and the fearless embrace of life’s power.

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She who once tamed the Lion with gentle grace now rides it in ecstasy, not to conquer but to become its flame.

With what began as restraint is transmuted into fiery purpose.

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》 The STRENGTH of LUST《

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Mysteries of the Tarot Revealed

by prophetiesdemerlin

In the traditional Tarot of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the eighth trump (Major Arcana) card is Strength - a serene woman closing the jaws of a lion with infinite patience and tender control.

Her white robe and the infinity symbol above her head suggest a type of spiritual mastery, an inner calm that subdues primal forces through grace alone.

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This image, published in 1909 under the guidance of Arthur Edward Waite and artist Pamela Colman Smith, followed the Golden Dawn’s established pattern - Strength as the taming of ion by virtue. It was a portrait of moral endurance, of the soul’s ability to coax the animal within into quiet obedience.

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》 The Book of THOTH 《

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In 1944, Aleister Crowley released “The Book of Thoth”, along with his five year in the making Thoth Tarot deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris. In this deck, the eighth card had moved to the eleventh position and its name had changed from Strength to Lust.

The serene maiden was now a scarlet woman astride a many headed beast, overflowing with ion power and radiant fiery will. This was not mere endurance but exaltation - an ecstatic embrace of the animal self.

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Crowley believed the virtue of strength was noble but too ive and restrictive for the age of Thelema and the coming New Aeon. In his system, Lust meant more than desire; it was the alchemical drive toward union with divine purpose through ecstatic surrender.

Lust was not a vice but a sacrament.

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》 Why Switch Strength & Justice? 《

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Originally, in decks like the Tarot de Marseille, Strength “was” the eleventh trump, aligned with the astrological sign Leo and the Hebrew letter Teth.

When Waite created the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, he swapped Strength and Justice, placing Strength at 8 and Justice at 11. This was likely as a symbolic choice or as some have claimed, to obscure deeper teachings as he was known to often do.

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Crowley, however, restored the original order in his Thoth deck, returning Strength to its rightful place as the eleventh card and renaming it Lust - thus reaffirming its connection to Leo and Teth as well as reinterpreting its meaning as transformative, rather than restraint or force.

The name change was more than just astrological or numerological - it was also philosophical.

Crowley saw the next step of spiritual evolution not in the suppression of instinct but in the marriage of self and shadow.

Lust was the sacred fire that did not destroy but transformed.

The beast was no longer something to tame but to ride boldly into the sun with eyes wide and heart ablaze.

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BONUS

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TAROT ESOTERICA / RUNIC [studies] X OVER

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LUST / STRENGTH : URUZ (ᚢ)

The second rune of the Elder Futhark Runic System is Uruz (pronounced “Oo-rooz” in Proto Germanic), meaning “aurochs” (a wild ox, symbolizing primal strength and endurance) and was originally used as the “u” sound in Old Norse.

While there is no concrete connection between the Tarot and Runes; Uruz is commonly associated with Strength (or The Chariot) in the tarot deck, as both symbols represent physical and spiritual power, resilience, and overcoming challenges through inner strength.

For more about URUZ Click Here!

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》 A Word From BABYLON 《

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”Lust implies not only Strength but the joy of Strength exercised. It is vigor and the rapture of Vigor.

There’s in this card a divine drunkenness or ecstasy. The Woman is shown as more than a little drunk, and more than a little mad, and the lion also is aflame with Lust.

This card portrays the will of the Aeon. In the background are the bloodless images of the saints, on whom the image travels, for their whole life has been absorbed into the Holy Grail.

Seven are the heads of the Beast whereon she rideth. The head of an Angel: the head of a Saint: the head of a Poet: the head of an Adulterous Woman: the head of a Man of Valour: the head of a Satyr: and the head of a Lion Serpent.

Seven letters hath Her Holiest name and it’s BABYLON.

The Lion-Serpent begets the Gods! Thy throne, the rampant Beast, our Lady Babylon.”

     - The Book of Thoth, Crowley

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Well, you must understand the feeling of it. Now how do you feel if you see nice chocolates & there, you get them & how good they taste. That is a picture of how you feel about those chocolates.”

     - Lady Frida Harris, Illustrator of the THOTH Tarot

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》sources 《

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The Book of Thoth by Aleister Crowley. O.T.O., 1944. Full text available at sacred-texts.com.

Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo DuQuette. Weiser Books, 2003.

The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages by Paul Foster Case. Macoy Publishing, 1947. Public domain version available at archive.org.

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite. Rider & Co., 1910. Full text available at sacred-texts.com.

The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy by Robert Wang. Samuel Weiser, 1983.

A History of the Occult Tarot, 1870–1970 by Ronald Decker and Michael Dummett. Duckworth, 2002.