From the Tarot de St. Croix, Strength; from the Archetype Cards, Hero/Heroine:
To find our way to courage requires us to face the lion,
but to stand by our courage requires us to be the lion.
—James Ricklef
My inner lion wants to protect me and help me reach my full potential. Unfortunately, it gets triggered by fear and often reacts with roars and rage, neither of which has been beneficial to me or my relationships. To face my lion means to see clearly what scares me, find the courage to accept what is real, and search for sane ways to deal with it. But that lion can come in useful when I need to be the Heroine - taking on my own challenges or working to right an injustice. But it means not letting fear or anger color my vision, seeing what I believe to be true rather than the truth itself. Authentic compassion can let me stand up and work for what is right without the trail of destruction often left by the motivational factors of anger and fear.
Unlike self-righteous anger, which hates the “bad ones” on behalf of the “good ones,” confrontational compassion protects all by challenging all differently—those suffering injustices and those inflicting them. —John Makransky
