Strength is the 8th card in the Major Arcana.  It symbolizes inner strength and fortitude; the ability to see things through no matter how difficult it becomes.  It also represents the triumph of inner spirit and will over our more aggressive, instinctive impulses; out soul over our more animal nature if you will. 

I love the image on the Wheel of Change Strength card - a beautiful, nude brown-skinned woman racing forward on a sleek, golden gorgeous lioness.  The woman has spiral tattoos on her right butt cheek and shoulder blade.  A snake spirals its way along her right calf.  Her dark hair is braided and adorned with jewelry and she wears rings in her nose and ears.  She holds a banner in her left hand with two banners - a white one decorated with the 4 phases of the Moon and the other golden decorated with the zodiacal glyph for the Sun.  A swarm of bees form a lemniscate above her head.  Behind her we see a green hill with yellow bushes growing on it.  At the top of the hill we see a bonfire.  Three rays of sunlight pour down on the hillside.  Giraffes peacefully graze nearby.  A body of water is visible beyond the hillside.  And the tip of another lioness' tail is visible just in front of the one the woman rides.

The Wheel of Change Book says:  When this card comes up in your reading, pay attention to what you have passion for and use this passion to further your life.  This is a card of enormous courage, vitality, and power to achieve anything within your imagining.  The power you have is not a power over others but a power from within, a strength you have that is really your own.  You do not need to hold it over others, but if you use this inner strength calmly, many others, by example, may discover this most powerful strength.  This is also a card of initiation; just as the new woman is initiated into womanhood when her menstruation comes, you are initiated into something new and special when this card comes up in your reading.  It is a good time to begin something new that you love and have a passion for.  Like the blooming gorse, you will blossom into something bright and lovely.  It is a special time for love and sexuality or for the passions that arise from anything truly moving.  You are moving away from the control of others and can make your own decisions.

The Motherpeace Strength card shows a nude, red haired woman sitting on a grassy plain holding a glowing sphere in her left hand while her right pets a white rabbit.  She is surrounded by all manner of wild creature - a raccoon, scorpion, wolf and birds.  A full moon illuminates the sky overhead.  In the distance a tree spreads its branches out like an umbrella obscuring some of the lunar light.  There is a sense of peace and frolicking beneath the moonlight - as thought this is a magic time where the usual hierarchies of the animal kingdom are in abeyance.

Well how appropriate that one of my totems is on the card - the bee.  These cards speak of a comfort with one's animal, wild nature and with one's tamer, more civilized nature.  A blending of our lunar and our solar sides; our left and right brains.  Both women seem at ease and without fear.  They are able to control or communicate with the animals simply by using body language.  They seem to be one with the animals around them, joined in their goal and their destination.  There is an energy and excitement visible in the Wheel of Change Strength card.  The Motherpeace image is a bit calmer and less intense but no less powerful. 

I have a special affinity for Strength (being a Leo Sun) and these cards show one of my favorite interpretations.  This card embodies the solar side of female nature.  This is that wild, untamed, physical side which revels in the warmth of the Sun on our bodies.  This is that part of us that wants everything out in the open, revealing all facets of herself and not caring whether others approve.  At the same time she represents the inner strength, fortitude and ability to proceed along her journey, no matter how challenging it may become.  This is the physical embodiment of the oft-touted "woman who runs with the wolves".  I want to be this woman, riding forward with joy and excitement, confident that I can overcome whatever obstacles are in my way and in my ability to maintain my connection with the lioness and the natural world around me.  Can't you just hear strains of Helen Reddy's I Am Woman "I am woman hear me roar in numbers to great to ignore"