Justice in a tarot reading describes the balance of Integrity with Kindness

It very often comes up in a tarot reading when legal matters are at hand and we are hoping that Justice will be on our side. It is one of those cards that says ‘you will receive Justice if it is Just’.

I had a dilemma that was really worrying me.  I had no idea how to handle a tricky situation with a friend and I pulled Justice.

 In a general sense Justice is about finding BALANCE.   While she holds up the sword of truth in one hand she also holds the scales of compassion and fairness in the other.  Her advice was this is a moment to find the balance between ‘speaking your’ truth and kindness. You are being told do the ‘right’ thing.

Justice holding her sword of truth in one hand and the scales of balance in the other.

i always think of Portia in the merchant of Venice and her speech to the court.

‘The Quality of Mercy is not strained it droppeth as gentle rain from the heaven upon the place beneath’.

Justice, fairness, sit easily on her shoulders.  She has a power as she faces us fully sitting between two columns, a crown on her head and clothed in magnificent gold and red.

To me this card describes a way of keeping our integrity intact and being true to ourselves and also able be honourable, see both sides, and not judge perhaps.

I was feeling the need for Justice. I wanted to be able to have my say, to tell the truth (my version) in order for my actions to be justified. I wanted the other person to acknowledge how her behaviour complicated the situation, and that it was done with mischief. I knew however that going down that road that would not lead to a happy resolution.

Receiving the Justice card made me consider my ‘need’ for Justice. It took me a while but eventually I realised holding onto my integrity didn’t mean I needed the other person to endorse it. And that in a friendship you choose your moments carefully when you feel it is required to hold up your swords of truth! 

Quite often when the major arcana card Justice appears in a tarot reading, it reflects legal matters and the question will I get justice?

I always answer is YES, if it’s just.

 It also appears when the querent is wondering ‘Will I get my Just desserts?’  ‘Is life Just’?. I always talk about balance, because life is not always fair. 

As luck would have it, while writing this, and pondering how to embody Justice. I heard ‘If’ on the radio.  It struck me as the quintessential poem that describes JUSTICE. Here is ‘If’ written by Rudgard Kipling for his son.

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! 

Listening to this poem has given me a new depth of understanding about the qualities of the Justice tarot card.  I think it’s going to become a favourite.  I love the essential quality of humbleness that Kipling attributes to being a man.  Just as Shakespeare says ‘the quality of mercy is not strained’, it sounds as if being tolerant is easy because he’s not too proud to be compassionate and fair.

I remember the first time Justice appeared in a tarot reading. In answer to whether my dog, Trumpet would be returned to me.  He had been pet napped by his previous owner.  Another complicated story.  When I pulled Justice, my teacher said, you will get him back if it’s right for him.  I remember feeling so comforted as I interpreted it as Trumpet has Justice on his side and therefore whatever happens it will be right for him.  Three months later he did come back to me, and stayed for another thirteen years, until he departed at 16 years old last August.

You can understand why the wisdom and healing I receive from the Tarot has made it become my greatest teacher and friend.

Do come for a tarot reading with me in person in Battersea or online.