For the introductory article to this series please click here.
This introductory voyage through the Major Arcana reaches Justice which according to the esoteric system of the Golden Dawn is associated with the sign of Libra.
Justice is the Major Arcana
associated with the sign of Libra. In many tarot decks, and in the Rider Waite Tarot, to
which we specifically refer in this article, this card portrays a crowned woman,
or androgynous figure, resolutely sitting on a stone seat, with one foot
protruding from her robe. The woman holds a pair of scales in her left hand and
pointing up with a two-edged sword in her right hand.
The image reminds the Greek Titan
goddess Themis, daughter of Uranus and Gaia (Heaven and Earth),
mother of the Seasons and of Astraea
(“star-maiden”), the last of the immortals to live with humans during the Iron Age.
Themis is traditionally featured as a symbol of justice in court houses and
tribunals. Yet, unlike these social representations the Justice of this trump
is not blindfolded.
This card is about consciously seeing and acknowledging the
truth about ourselves and the world, and making the right choices according to
a deep inner sense of justice rather than to what is considered just in the
consensus reality. A deep sense of justice acknowledges all aspects of reality,
ordinary and non-ordinary, life and death, keeping them in balance, without
either of them prevailing.
The two-edged sword held in the
right hand emphasizes the power of the conscious exercise of choice. Each
choice we make allows us to move on through the healing path. This path is
formed by all the choices we have made in the past, which determine our future
according to the choices we make in the present. Justice may confront us with the
beginning of a new cycle in which a choice is required. This is not a very
popular card since it is devoid of the glamour of most trumps and also because
it challenges us with all the fears related with justice, punishment,
judgments, etc.
In the Aleister
Crowley’s deck the card is called “Adjustment” suggesting a modification, amendment
or balance of one’s own path, as a result of the acknowledgment of something
wider with the wider. Justice, which in traditional Christianity is the most
important of the four Cardinal
virtues, represents the moderation point between selfishness and
selflessness, and plays a pivotal role in adjusting all possibilities of
relationship.
Justice is assigned to Libra, the
seventh sign of the zodiac. The first six signs of the zodiac, Aries through
Virgo, are related with the development of the ego and the individual self.
Their nature is subjective and focused on the relationship with oneself, in
which rapports with the outer world are oriented and understood solely according
to one’s individual intention.
Libra and the Autumn Equinox mark a major shift
and the inauguration of the cycle involving the second six signs of the zodiac.
These signs are focused on the integration with the outer world, and more
esoterically with one’s shadow, the non-ordinary, included death, with the aim
of expanding the edges of the individual conscious self.
Libra is the initiator
of this second half and moves the first step towards the other, which usually
entails the most basic form of human interaction, i.e. partnership or marriage,
which at an esoteric level correspond to a first step into initiatory death.
The major challenge here for Libra is keeping the balance between the
individual self-focused self and the social couple-oriented self, inner and
outer world, conscious and unconscious, life and death, ego and shadow.
Libra shifts the focus from
individual to collective, ordinary to non-ordinary and, while this promotes healing
and expansion of awareness, the risk is to lose the connection with the preceding
inner-focused path and its original intention, due to the excessive attention
given to what emerges in the relationships with others or the non-ordinary.
This stage, when taken too far, is typically followed by a reawakening of the
previous individual’s intention, which usually results in relationships, or the
non-ordinary, being identified as the cause of the preceding loss and a
reversal of the process from collective to individual, non-ordinary to
non-ordinary. The process will then be overturned again once it reaches its
unbalanced climax, and so this continues to go on from one excess to the other,
fomenting the struggle of polarities upon which the ego’s separated reality is
based.
Justice can represent a stern moment
of awareness in the above respect, a firm warning on balance in our relationships
and all aspects of life and, especially, of death. Death is indeed the aspect
that goes most out of balance, since in our consensus reality represents the
major denial and unconsciousness. As a result, Justice often confronts us with
the fear of death, which also includes the incapacity to let go in our
relationships with others and the world, the failure to accept the provisional
state of physical reality and the rejection of what each human being is bound to
face at the end of their journey on this planet.
It is essential to point out here
that a true balance between polarities and worlds can only be pursued through
the direct participation of Spirit, the third polarity, the Core
Multidimensional Identity (CMI). Hence the figure in the card points the sword up
with the right hand, stressing the need to direct one’s conscious attention to
the presence of Spirit, as the essential requirement for maintaining balance.
Justice, and Libra, also operate as gateways
to Death and
Scorpio, the following trump and sign on the voyage through the zodiac. The
card represents all the mediating figures that guard the access to the other
world and to any major process of transformation, such as death, rebirth,
shape-shifting, etc. The model of Maat,
the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice, is specifically exemplified here. It
was Maat that at the time of death weighed the heart of the deceased in the
Great Balance against her ostrich feather. If the heart was found to be heavier
than the feather, the soul was sent back to the third-dimensional realm, the
world of illusion and separation, so as to release the extra weight, while when
the heart was lighter, or of equal weight, the deceased could move to the next
realm. This was inherited by the Christian tradition, where the archangel
Michael also holds in his hands the scale of justice and weighs the souls of
the deceased.
Justice describes the essence of all
ancient mystery schools and esoteric knowledge. It is associated with the truth
and justice that is unchanging, being the same in the beginning of time, in the
present and in the future. It includes any act or state that promotes balance,
co-operation and reciprocity between all apparent polarities and diversities,
between higher and lower realms, life and death, gods and human beings.
Justice
is the acknowledgement and conscious expression of multi-dimensional balance
and harmony. In ancient times there was no separation among dimensions. All the
realms were united and men were gods, and gods were men. When the process of
separation began to take over, ritual practices were introduced in order to
safeguard the connection, at least in certain moments of the day or in specific
places (temples, sacred sites, etc.). Hence, the celebration of rites and spiritual
exercises, the use of particular traditions and customs became a way to
practice Justice. These would, and still, allow a relationship with the ancient
gateway or bridge to other dimensions, although they did, and do, not
necessarily imply the passing beyond. While the allegiance to specific practices
is fundamental and demonstrate one’s will to retrieve the original unity, in
order to truly move beyond we ultimately need to cross the familiar structure
of the bridge and step into the mystery, the sphere of gnosis, i.e. knowledge gained through direct experience.
In tarot readings Justice indicates
a moment in which vigilant awareness is required in order to gain wider
awareness regarding what is happening in one’s life It may indicate that a
certain outcome or situation is the consequence of decisions made in the past,
and that needs to be karmically
accepted, no matter whether it is good or bad. At the same time this can
promote the possibility of changing or correcting a course of action in
consideration of the lessons learned from the past and present. It can also
signify a potential outcome in the above terms for the future. Moreover it can
represent a confrontation with what was disregarded or denied, because
uncomfortable, such as a completion, death, or any situation of release, which
now emerges and call for rebalancing.
© 2010 Franco Santoro, info@astroshamanism.org. All rights reserved.
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