Strength

Upright

The eleventh reflects the eighth: what Justice measures, Strength applies. Kaph is the hand half closed in the act of grasping — a grip that has taken hold and has not clenched. Papus's Force is deliberately not violence; the woman opens the lion's jaws with her hands and no weapon, which is power exercised through mastery rather than against resistance. Force proportioned to its object, which is the only kind that lasts. Divinatory sense: force.

Reversed

The hand closed the rest of the way — force become compulsion, mastery abandoned in favour of pressure because pressure is quicker. Reversed also covers strength held back until the moment for it passed: the grip never taken, and the lion now loose.

Correspondences

Papus's number

11

Hebrew letter

Kaph (כ)

Hieroglyph

The hand half closed, in the act of grasping

Septenary

Second septenary (8–14), the world of Man — fourth term, reflecting Justice: measure carried into application

Divinatory sense

Force

In a Spread

At the commencement, the matter starts with someone applying pressure well. In opposition, a force that cannot be met head-on and must be handled the way the card handles the lion. At equilibrium Strength is the effort holding everything steady, and it is costing whoever is making it. As the result: mastery, and mastery specifically over something that was not going to yield to argument.