To the wrongs that need resistance, to the right that needs assistance, to the future in the distance: Give yourselves.
Carrie Chapman Catt
Back again, having just visited us at the end of August, we get an unmistakable message from the cards that this virtue is currently front and center. Welcome back to Justice.
This profoundly important card represents rightness, fairness, and finding balance in all things.
Justice is one of the three cardinal virtues represented in the Tarot. The others are Temperance and Fortitude/Strength.
Throughout Tarot history, although it may switch numbers with the Strength card (Arthur Waite stirred up ongoing controversy when he changed it from triumph card number 8 to 11), this card is invariably titled “Justice.” And in traditional decks, it is always depicted as a woman with a sword and scales. Occasionally, you will see her with a halo; almost always she is seated on a throne.
Usually the sword is in her right hand; occasionally it is in her left.
In some newer decks, especially those that discard the classical interpretations, you’ll see modernized philosophies and naming conventions. But the fundamental concept of this ancient virtue, by and large, remains.
In some traditional Tarot decks, including the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the Goddess Justitia sits on Her throne without a blindfold so that She may clearly see all the evidence and facts before Her.
Other illustrations show this Goddess blindfolded, as do many modern sculptures in our courthouses. This represents that She is “blind” and adjudicates without prejudice.
Many consider her sword, raised upright (like that of last week’s King of Swords), a nod to the Qabbalah Tree of Life. As explained here, the Three Pillars consist of three columns down which the ten Sephiroth are placed. On the right stands the Pillar of Mercy, which is the column of active, expansive force; on the left is the Pillar of Severity, the column of restraining and defining form; and between them is the Middle Pillar, which is the column of equilibrium.
It is from here that force and form are reconciled into balanced consciousness.
Right On Time
You’d think I’d be used to it after nearly five and a half decades, but it still amazes me how impeccably the Tarot cards can time their visits. Even so, this week is pretty special.
For starters, this coming Saturday, we will be celebrating the New Moon of Libra. Libra is the astrological correspondence of the Justice card. I can only find one other instance of Justice turning up during Libra season (mid-September to mid-October), and that was back in 2019.
I interpret this to mean that All Things Justice are vitally important at this time. Keep reading for more New Moon details.
But simply looking at current events, it seems pretty obvious why. The student uprising in France has turned violent, with the students and police trading accusations of provocation and injustice.
Meanwhile here in the States, this morning, Heather Cox Richardson’s essay listed numerous instances of how the Felon-in-Chief has been thwarting and corrupting our legal system, including the entire mission of the FBI and Department of Justice.
Not to mention the war he started and countless other distractions meant to distract us from his noncompliance with the law ordering full access to the Epstein files.
Plus, with the new session of the United States Supreme Court convening today, one wonders to what extent they are interested in serving Justice at all. What fresh hell are we in store for?
The Libra New Moon
The coming week has a lot of important astrological aspects. Of special note is Saturday’s Libra New Moon.
But first, as our favorite news expert and renowned astrologer Elisabeth Grace reports, at 4:10am ET on Friday, the Moon finally leaves its incredibly long void (37 hours!) and enters Libra. When it does, the focus will shift to fairness, balance, and relationship. You know, all those things Justice cares so much about.
But then, she tells us:
A New Moon in Libra suggests an opportunity to plant seeds in matters of fairness, balance, justice and relationship, with a strong need for appreciation on both sides. Wherever this New Moon falls in your horoscope is the area primed for growth.
The angles of this horoscope are almost exactly the same as the angles of the U.S. Sibley chart. Again! We saw this just last week, in the October 3 Full Moon, which also echoed the Sibley angles. Two consecutive lunations suggest that the United States is unusually sensitized to this lunar cycle. This time, Sun and Moon are in the 10th house, putting leaders, government, public status and the nation’s standing in the world in the spotlight…
Jupiter at 21 Leo is activating the August 12 eclipse, amplifying whatever was seeded—or obscured—then. Jupiter makes things bigger, for better or worse. It also rules this New Moon horoscope and sits on the cusp of the 9th house, putting extra emphasis on courts and legal opinions, publishing and media, collective belief systems, foreign affairs—and perhaps sports.
There are two Grand Trines—one in Fire and one in Air. Grand Trines can suggest an impressive degree of self-sufficiency: Fire generates its own enthusiasm and momentum; Air generates its own ideas and narratives. Neither needs anything from anyone else. Grand Trines can be defenses against relationship—as they act as if they are laws unto themselves. Note the irony in a horoscope for a Libra New Moon, whose whole raison d’être is relationship.
But wait! There’s more! Elisabeth tells us:
The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon is “Two Men Placed Under Arrest.” “Arrest” may mean locked up—or simply stopped in your tracks. Bill Herbst’s interpretation boils down to this: desire runs up against the rules. Two people acting on desire encounter social restraints; intimacy can loosen inhibitions, sometimes constructively and sometimes dangerously. Note, however, that the Symbol does not tell us whether the rules ultimately prevail. The law itself could be bent, suspended, ignored—or used in ways we did not anticipate.
We worked with this Symbol in April 2012. Sabian Symbol guru Blain Bovee offered plenty to watch for: taking a time out; bending the pillars of law, values and mores; operating outside the rules in an innovative or slightly defiant way; a story with holes in it; a story told from opposing sides; arresting beauty—or an event that brings activity to a halt while things are sorted out.
It would seem that this week’s astrology is overflowing with references to Justice. Both the skies and the cards seem to be emphasizing, “Pay attention! Pay attention!”
Rectification and Reparation
When we consider the concept of justice, we often think first of law and order, societal rules, and making criminals pay for their deeds. True. But this is only an echo of a deeper Spiritual Justice. This card is about rectification to make things right.
These days, we take for granted that we are being systematically lied to—by advertising, the government, and other big-money interests. Not to mention the normalization (and even jokes) regarding the steady stream of dishonesty coming from the White House occupant.
We turn a blind eye to corporations that are destroying the ecosystem, bankrupting families, and debasing the financial and governmental institutions that were originally meant to serve us. Looking at you with tears in my eyes, EPA and Department of Education (for starters).
We may feel helpless as the rich and seemingly untouchable gleefully unravel the laws and protections for our people and our planet while cashing in on their wickedness. The combination of power and ignorance is truly reaching a tipping point.
But as our ally and guardian, the Tarot Justice card reminds us that sooner or later, rectification will come. Eventually, Life will sort itself out, and “business as usual” will eventually have to deal with the aftermath of its actions.
Whether you believe in a Deity or not, there is no escape from the ultimate arbiter: the laws of science and material reality.
The Justice card reminds us that Nature always adjusts, and the consequences of every action eventually come around. Ignorance is no excuse. Despite how it sometimes looks, we are all, eventually, accountable.
In our warp-speed, often sloppily tweetable world, the notions of depth, prudence, and painstaking diligence may be ridiculed and increasingly rare.
But they are required for fairness and impartiality.
Although some people may have enormous charisma, sexual allure, or tantalizing offers of fame and fortune, such influence is seldom a match for our personal inner compass of right and wrong—our most intimate sense of Justice. Studies indicate that even very young children have an advanced sense of moral reasoning.
When the rich, famous, or powerful engage in (or fail to repudiate) racism, sexual harassment and assault, deliberately encourage ignorance, hate speech, and promote fear-mongering, they may enjoy temporary power and notoriety. This can even look like success or triumph.
But there is always, ultimately, a price. And those who know but remain silent are likely to be judged as collaborators in that wrongdoing and be held accountable.
Just ask the rest of the fraternity brothers at Cornell.
Resistance and Assistance
Every day, it is in our hands alone to choose whether to support and reinforce the deadly nonsense that currently passes for normal or else to unmask it, scrub it out, and then demand its atonement.
Every person reading this is the ultimate champion, or else passive saboteur, of what is right, fair, and good.
Are you facing an important choice at this time? Are there legal matters you need to take care of? What declaration or verdict might be waiting for your decision now? Consider carefully the evidence before you. Gather the facts. Hear all sides of the story.
Think it over as carefully as you can, for it is likely to have long-term effects that will return to you, one way or another.
Do not act until you are quite sure you have considered all possible repercussions in terms of what is right and wrong or how it will affect others.
It is time to do what’s necessary, no matter how challenging, to restore equilibrium. Unite with what is noble and righteous, knowing that eventually, what goes around comes around.
Whether we like it or not, Justice will out.
The sacred New Year at Samhain now approaches in just a few weeks. Let us resolve then to give ourselves with our whole hearts to a more just and equitable future for all.