Anna K.: Strength (XI)

Beautiful young maiden kneeling beside a lioness (not lion) whose mouth is open and teeth are bared (impressive fangs at that). The lioness's paw in on the girl's leg. The girl has her right hand on the lioness's cheek and holds the collar/chain in her left. The girl is smiling. There is absolutely no sense of threat: they are comfortable with each other, and the girl feels completely safe.
It looks like they are on a ledge without a lot of room.
The young woman is dressed in a long white robe with silver adornment (like the lioness's silver chain). They have the same color hair, which is also the color of the bright full sun behind them. They look so similar that they might be aspects of each other.
The lioness's claws are very prominent, as are her sharp, long fangs. The potential for her to be dangerous is clear, yet she is not a danger to the woman. Or is she? Can we assume that?

My thoughts go in 2 directions in terms of the meaning(s) of this card. Both of them, I believe, are traditional meanings for the RW Strength card.
1) The clear emphasis is on feminine/yin strength as opposed to masculine/yang strength. It's the strength that comes from gentleness, softness, patience, kindness and empathy. It's taming through love. There's no coercion at all. She makes the lion WANT to be close to her; she earns its trust. The lion is compliant by free choice, not by fear. So, if you focus on the woman, the card is about this kind of power, imo.
2) However, the focus of this card (different than RW) is much more on the RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN them. I've always had the understanding that an animal portrayed in this kind of way represents the person's instinctual nature (i.e. instinctual needs). Specifically, sexuality and aggression: passion. So the meaning would be about a harmonious relationship between a person and their instincts/passions. They don't repress or avoid their animal nature; they interact with that part of themselves and are comfortable with it. Their instincts are 'tamed', domesticated, under the control of the conscious mind. So this is about consciously relating to your passions/instincts, as opposed to unconsciously relating to them (which would be the Devil card, where you 'act out' your passions and don't have access to a Higher Self part of you that would be able to exercise restraint and use good judgment.
Kind of a Freudian interpretation: Freud used the image of horse and rider to portray a similar thing: the rider (conscious mind) being in control of the horse (animal nature, instincts, passions), and that being as it should be.

forgot something

I meant to come back to the fact that the lioness is CHAINED. Clearly, decisively chained. I'm not sure I understand that (in fact I'm sure that I don't!) but I know it's meaningful. The woman holds the chain at the lioness's collar. On the ground, the end of the chain is just there, not attached to anything. Maybe it's another image of 'soft' control rather than 'hard' control. The chain COULD be attached to something and the lion COULD be controlled that way, but with the woman that isn't necessary.

Also, the lion's expression is that of a snarl, but because of the context, it looks like the cat is just communicating with the woman, talking to her. Or yawning in pleasure as the woman scratches her cheek. But I think the lioness is talking to the woman, and the woman is listening and understanding empathically, and that's the essence of the relationship they have.
(I think I'm really done now).

Something I noticed is that the lion has its claws unsheathed. Normally, the claws of cats don't show unless they're on the attack. Sometimes they knead, though, so maybe that's what's happening.