Strength

A woman gently closes a lion’s jaw. The card is the principle that real strength is regulation, not force — staying with what is intense, soothing what is afraid, befriending what is wild in you. Power that does not need to prove itself is the most lasting kind.

Self-doubt, brittleness, white-knuckling instead of regulating. Or the opposite: aggression mistaken for strength.

Past: a fear you have already mastered. Present: meet the situation with patience, not pressure. Future: an outcome that proves your steadiness. In a relationship spread: a partner who soothes rather than escalates. As a yes/no: yes, slowly.