This rather important archetype represents our ideas of what strength is. As you can see, the archetype is correctly represented as strength in both the old and new decks. The only difference between old and new is how strength is conceived. As represented in the old tarot, strength is really more about control and force. You are strong when you are able to control your emotions. You are strong when you are able to control your impulses. You are strong when you have purified your soul and tamed the savage beast. In other words, you are strong when you dominate, either yourself or others.

This archetype, this old book interpretation of strength, has been a very influential archetype and when linked to the energies of the old Fool card, constitutes (along with The Hierophant) The System “keystones.” When strength is defined as domination, all manner of nonsense concepts, ideas, and horrid actions, become possible. Everything from “sophisticated” justifications of colonization and slavery to elaborate psychological theories about the essential nature of repression (e.g., Sigmund Freud) become possible when strength is domination.