Strength Soul Meditation

I was looking forward to the Strength meditation from Soul Meditations because Strength is my tarot birth card! The number eight has been my favorite number since childhood, and I took it in stride when I learned that this is also my tarot birth card and the house that my Sun sign was in when I was born.  The eight life path resonates strongly with me, and after doing the first eight Soul Meditations I had an idea that this Strength meditation would be a deeply moving and powerful meditation for me...and I wasn't wrong :).  I found the energy of this meditation supportive, inspirational, loving, tender, accepting and serene.  There are many lessons for me to learn from the Strength archetype (yes, my North Node is also in the eight house), and I know I will want to return to this meditation to experience that combined support and challenge that this card so aptly exemplifies. Here is my first meditation with Strength:

I entered the Strength card to find myself in gorgeous, rolling hills.  A delicious smell of grass wafted on a light breeze, rustling through the waving stalks of grass.  Magenta and orange flowers poked up along the packed earth path I walked along.  The air was clean, crisp and gently warm. The woman and lion from the Strength card appeared up along the path at the top of a slightly rising hill.  I walked up to her, intently gazing at the lion- I couldn't take my eyes off of him.  I held my arms out to the woman and felt a very subtle sensation, as if we weren't quite connecting because I wasn't tuned into her vibration.  When she spoke, she told me that my life purpose is to learn the lessons of the Strength card, that I can do this easily if I try and it will bring me and others great joy.  She invited me to experience her serene emotional and mental energy and to interact with the lion, so I entered the body of the woman in the Strength card.

I was so moved and thrilled to touch the lion!   Warmth spread through my heart when I placed my hands on his fur, and a leap like I was on a roller coaster jolted my body.  Tears sprang to my eyes in gratitude, love and abundance.  The lion projected back to me a steadiness and acceptance that I was deserving of the his trust, and should therefore trust myself as well.  He let me touch and stroke him because of the purity of my intention which I easily communicated to him without words.  I did not judge him for being a beast, or try to change him or explain him outside of his actual existence.  He reassured me and encouraged me to find this trust in myself, to get in touch with my worthiness and not spend time judging myself. It was while petting and stroking the lion that I allowed myself to really open up to the energy in this card and felt the lion teach and guide me into acceptance of my own divine Strength.

When I left the woman's body, she placed her hands upon my face and I was overwhelmed by tears from the gentle compassion in her eyes.  Finally we connected and understood each other.  She told me to trust myself and that the sky is the limit on where Strength can take me.  I felt that maybe this included working with animals, perhaps my intuition extends to their realm.  She gave me a stone or a crystal; it could have been amber, obsidian or amethyst- it took no concrete form.  I took this as a sign to study crystals as something that can help me build and maintain my Strength!

Such a touching meditation!  Loved it!  I learned that the Strength is loving and accepting, allowing the world to be just as it is.  This isn't a card that requires action, like the will of The Chariot, but rather asks for surrender.  Strength is inside of you and you need to be willing to break down your inner barriers, your feelings of being undeserving, your mindjudging you unworthy, and let Strength flow out of you.  It cannot be grasped at but rather opened to, so it can emerge from you naturally. We all have this ability within us.