Swords and Scales: The Justice Card in the Tarot

(Based on the representations found on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.)

In the ancient Egyptian, Hellenistic, and Roman pantheons, a version of a “sighted” Justice figured prominently as the celestial representative of divine law and order. Alternatively identified as Maat, Themis, Dike, or Iustitia, the personification of Justice, though differing in its mythology, shares the common principles of balance, wisdom, and swiftness in the dispensation of her function.

Throughout the ancient world — and, unquestionably, mirrored throughout the Tarot’s Major Arcana — are reminders that, as much as we hold tremendous powers over manifestation, certain events in our lives are inscribed into our nativity: some things are “bound to happen,” certain circumstances seem “fated,” but the ability with which we transcend our individual, earthly circumstances rest within our mage-like alchemical potential.

The depiction of Justice, even in the ancient world, is resoundingly familiar to us today. The sword and scales are the instruments by which outcomes are achieved: the sword represents decisiveness, the scales the weighing of the merits of a case. Not unlike the karmic themes of the Wheel of Fortune, which remind us that what goes around comes around, Justice is the archetypal embodiment of action in accordance with this cosmic principle: truth and fairness. If we draw this card in a reading, we may be weighing options, confronting a decision, or finding ourselves being uniquely positioned to…