Archetype and The Tarot: The Virgin and Strength
For the week of September 17, 2023
Welcome to Witchcraft& Metaphysics! I’m so glad you’re here! For an overview of what I’m doing with these archetypes and tarot cards, please check out this post all about it.
Just a reminder, there’s an easy, fun mini-ritual to download at the end of this post to help deepen your relationship with this week’s archetype and tarot card. This week’s ritual offers a practice for building healthy boundaries. Enjoy!
The Virgin Archetype
First, let’s do away with the notion of the Virgin being about sexual purity. That just feels outdated and patriarchal to me. There seems to be some strong evidence that the original meaning of the word ‘virgin’ was about unmarried women, not necessarily sexually abstinent women. In this sense a virgin was an independent woman not under the power of a husband or other dominant force. As an archetype, The Virgin is a universal energy pattern that applies to people of all genders.
Given that, this unmarried aspect of The Virgin means it is one who is purely themselves. They are un-penetrated in a way that means they do not require another to define themselves. In other words, The Virgin (on the light side) is sovereign and self-contained. They are masters of healthy boundaries, understanding that true intimacy means NOT being entangled in the other. They are able to remain true to themselves, untainted by others or by experience.
On the shadow side, The Virgin takes this to excess. Rather than being self-contained, they are walled-off. They refuse or repress intimacy, with others as well as with themselves. They have become cynical, jaded by life experiences. Instead of putting up boundaries, they have put on armor.
The Virgin calls us to put down our armor and return to innocence. Inherent in this is a willingness to be new and exposed. This kind of vulnerability can be super scary.
Why would we want to make ourselves vulnerable this way? By dropping preconceived ideas and expectations, by letting go of cynicism, we return to a realm of pure possibility. We are not limited by what we think we know and, therefore, can see situations from a different perspective. This different perspective often includes such marvelous things as wonder and gratitude.
Practice kindness with yourself here. It’s important to remember that there is a difference between consciously choosing to return to innocence and putting oneself in harm’s way.
Some things to consider this week:
How do I negotiate boundaries and intimacy? Do I feel like I can have both?
Have I shut out parts of myself that need reclaiming?
Do I feel like I’m always on guard against the past repeating itself?
Strength
In most decks, the Strength card shows a female figure interacting with a beast, usually a lion. Most often, this figure is shown with her hands in the lion’s mouth. Traditional interpretations often have to do with taming or overcoming the beast. But, to me, true strength is not about overpowering or dominating.
I believe this card is a call for us to attune to our inner strength, our inner flow of power. One way we can recognize if we’re in this flow is by noticing whether or not we feel confident. Sometimes we feel confident and sometimes, for any number of reasons, we lose this sense of confidence.
When the Strength card shows up, we are being asked to be aware of these shifts as they happen. Instead of spiraling into a pit of fear or anxiety, we can recognize that we are merely in the unconfident (that IS a word, I looked it up 😄) side of the cycle. We can trust that we will cycle back to the other side, that our sense of confidence will return and we will tap into that flow of inner power once again. We can also ask our guides and Divine powers to help us move through this cycle.
I see it as a sort of undulating dance of becoming the lion—our own inner wildness—and then shrinking back from it before becoming the lion once again. Being aware of this cycle can become a foundation of strength. We can stand firm here, navigating through the flow of life.
How do The Virgin and Strength work together?
With this pair, I see the lion—the inner wildness—breaking The Virgin out of a suit of armor and setting them free to dance in the forest. By letting the armor fall away, while retaining the wisdom gleaned from life experiences, The Virgin can fully return to the undomesticated self.
This week we are being called to celebrate in our own pristine landscape and merge with our inner beast; to return to a sense of fertile, internal Springtime. In this manner, we can shed beliefs that have been blocking us from our inner power and keeping us fastened to the unconfident side of the cycle.
As you tap into this archetype/tarot pair, ask yourself:
Who was I before I armored up?
In what ways am I not letting myself break free from the armor of my experience?
What might be preventing me from connecting with my inner wildness?
I’d love to know how you all do with this! Please leave a comment below or send me an email.
“The Virgin calls us to put down our armor and return to innocence. Inherent in this is a willingness to be new and exposed. This kind of vulnerability can be super scary.”
This was so helpful to read! “Returning to innocence” is what my light team has been trying to teach me, and is usually accompanied by the counsel to approach everything with “beginner’s mind” — staying wide open, allowing unknowing, staying soft. Juxtaposing that with the Strength card — “vulnerability and openness as strength”. This feels like letting the heart lead.
Thank you for this beautiful teaching! 💜🙏
Loved this post! I want to comment here about the word 'virgin'! So here is synchronicity again. When I did my post on the feminine archetypes and wrote about the maiden I purposely did not use the word 'virgin'. I thought about 'virginal' but decided to put that aside too. There were other aspects to focus on, and those words are too misunderstood. So THANK YOU for bringing this into the field. Clarifying what the true meaning of 'virgin' is. So many concepts, ideas, archetypes that we place on each other and then hold the person to behave and act in accordance to them. Such BS!