Justice: All’s Fair in Love and War

Many of the Tarot cards have a secret God or Goddess associated with them, which can give us extra insight into applying them to our lives. You can get a lot more out of tarot by studying ancient myths and legends, from ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece in particular. When the cards were developed in 15th Century Italy, the Renaissance was drawing on a lot of fervent imagination of these ancient “golden ages”.

Justice is seen as the ancient Egyptian goddess Ma’at. She weighed the heart of the deceased in the afterlife, against a feather of truth. If your deeds had not weighed your soul down, you could pass, otherwise you were fed to a “great devourer”! So this card weighs our actions up, and calls us to account. When it appears, a “measure” is being applied, and we must take notice – it will not go away, we must face up to it. In ancient Egypt, Ma’at ruled over the gods themselves, nothing was above her power and the divine laws she represented.

So this card is one which means that fairness and measure will be applied in the situation, no matter what is being said or done – or what people think they deserve. It may be fatalistic, but “what will be, will be”, if this is the only card in play.

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