**A tarot scrying exercise: Strength**</p>

I walked down the wooden path until I came across a series of doors, all unique and randomly scattered throughout the landscape. There were tiny hobbit sized doors and huge steel locked doors, oak doors, etc, all covered in strange symbols and artwork. It reminded me of the Tim Burton-esce holiday portals carved into the trees like in The Nightmare before xmas. How will I know which one to choose? I continued walking until I found a rather plain door inscribed with the roman numeral VIII. The was nothing beautiful about the door, but It felt heavy and solid and right.

I heard obnoxious cheering in the backround, like the voice of a sportscaster on a slightly out of tune radio... Will she pick door number 8? Whispering. Score! Ladies and gentleman we have a winner!

On the other side I found myself in a sunlit field, with tall grasses blowing in rhythmic waves. They looked alive. Far off I could see a woman sitting with her back to me. She was surrounded by the brightest of white lights imaginable and the symbol of infinity rotated above her head. As I got closer, I could see she held the head of a huge lioness in her lap, purring with its eyes glazed over in ecstacy. The lion was gigantic, and I could feel the vibrations from its purr affecting the very air itself. Even the grasses around us changed direction and pulsed within its rhythm. Suddenly the purring stopped and the lioness looked up. I felt myself shiver. I SMELL FEAR.

The woman looked at me unconcerned, as if she had been expecting me. The lioness lept to its feet, teeth beared, ears back. The birds stopped their chattering and the wind slowed. My initial thought was to grab a weapon, but a voice immediately intervened NO! THERE WILL BE NO WEAPONS HERE . I dropped to my knees and lowered my head. I could hear a low gutteral growl as the beast walked around me and sniffed me. I smelled musk and the coppery sweet scent of blood. With a single claw, she reached out and ripped a precise slice down my left arm. Riiiiiiiip. There was searing heat but no pain. Drip... Drip... Drip....

The woman bellowed a command in a language unknown to me and in a flash the cat was back at her feet. Golden eyes stared back in distrust, but the awful growling stopped. She cooed to it and stroked its magnificant fur until it was again curled like a kitten. The great cat panted, and with a single finger she closed the lion's mouth.

The symbol above her head rotated faster and faster until it became a huge becon of light, washing out the entire vision. When I brought my hand away from my eyes, she and the lion were gone.