Which tarot card is Leo?

Why Strength carries Leo

The lion is on the card. This is the least subtle attribution in the deck, and the numbering controversy exists largely because of it: the Golden Dawn swapped Strength and Justice specifically so the trump sequence would run in zodiacal order, putting the lion card at Leo's position.

What makes the card worth reading carefully is that it is not about overpowering the lion. The woman in the RWS image is closing - or opening - the animal's jaws with her bare hands, wearing flowers rather than armour, with the same lemniscate above her head that The Magician wears. The strength in question is the kind that does not need to be demonstrated.

The Sun rules Leo, and the card carries the solar reading: warmth as a form of power, and courage that comes from being at ease rather than from suppression. Set it beside The Chariot, the other card about control, and the contrast is the lesson - The Chariot holds a direction, Strength holds an instinct.

The difficult register

The Leo shadow is performance: strength that has to be seen to count, or a gentleness that is really a demand for admiration.

The three Leo decans and their cards

Leo spans thirty degrees, divided into three decans of ten. Each has its own planetary ruler under the Chaldean order and its own pip card from the Suit of Wands — which is how a Minor Arcana card can be placed against a stretch of the calendar.

The Leo court cards

Leo is fire, so its court belongs to the Suit of Wands — quick, warm and impatient.