Justice
Major arcanumAlso: Major Arcanum 11
Upright
Consequences catch up with causes - symmetrically, and without exceptions
Consequence, balance, truth, contracts, responsibility
Reversed
A decision made on convenience rather than on merit
Bias, evasion, unfairness, the convenient decision
What the card means
Upright
Consequences catch up with causes, symmetrically and without exceptions. The card is not about reward or punishment but about accuracy: what was put in is what it weighs. Often literal - a court, a contract, a document.
Reversed
A decision made on convenience rather than on merit. Or a consequence being dodged, which does not remove it but compounds it. And sometimes plainly: you were treated unfairly, and that needs saying.
Love and relationships
Upright
A relationship where two people reckon with each other. The conversation that makes things clear. Sometimes the legal side: marriage, divorce, what is jointly owned.
Reversed
Double standards. Or a tally kept silently and produced later in full.
Work and business
Upright
A contract, an audit, a review - and all of them likelier to favour you if you have been straight. A good time to sign and to pin down terms.
Reversed
A decision made not on merit but because it suited somebody. Or you are going round a rule you will have to come back to.
Money
Upright
A reckoning to finish: tax, debts, exact figures. What comes in is exactly what was earned.
Reversed
Underpayment, delay, a condition in small print. Check the papers rather than the promises.
The card's advice
Look at it without yourself at the centre. What you put on the scales is what you are getting; if the result is wrong, what changes is the contribution, not the scales. And finish the paperwork.
As the card of the day
A day for documents, agreements and straight conversations. Good for putting obligations in order. Poor for promising more than you have.
What is depicted
A figure with a sword in the right hand and scales in the left, seated between two pillars. The sword points straight up - the decision is already made; the scales are still. One foot shows from under the robe: justice does move.
Zodiac sign and correspondences
Libra - what is weighed before it is named.
Yes or no
Yes
If you are right on the merits; the card answers to fact, not to preference.
With other cards
- Justice + The Hierophant — the rule and its letter; both against improvising.
- Justice + Seven of Swords — cleverness with the consequences arriving behind it.
- Justice + Wheel of Fortune — a turn and a reckoning: what arrives, arrives earned.
- Arcana
- Major arcanum
- Number
- XI
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