Who judges who—and
for what? Did you pass the test? Did you break the law? What happens when we
leave this earthly plane? Several traditional Tarot decks depict people rising
from their coffins with an angel blowing a trumpet. This is obviously a
Christian theme of being judged worthy of eternal life or being condemned to an
eternal hell. According to the New Testament, where to go depends upon what is
written about the person in the “book of life.” (See
Rev. 20:12, hmm! 2012, and the Judgment
card is number 20; more to be paranoid about.) This implies a final
divine judgment based on an examination of one’s life and it comes with
blessings or punishment. It denotes both redemption and resurrection in heaven,
or a trip to hell. In this context, God or the Messiah, redeems the righteous
and punishes the wicked. For a lot of people those concepts don’t work anymore.
Some are making their own heaven or hell right here and now. In contemporary
thought, most of us reflect on our lives through a process of self-examination
and self-monitoring. Robert Nozick says, “The understanding gained in examining
a life itself comes to permeate that life and direct its course. To live an
examined life is to make a self-portrait.” (The Examined Life, Simon and Schuster,
1989, p. 12)
One must come to
a point sometime in life (usually when we are much older) when we contemplate
fragments of memories of our past experiences. We look at old albums of faded
photographs, travel itineraries, souvenirs and trinkets, tokens gathered along
the way. We reminisce on fun adventures and try to forget the bad encounters,
mistakes and blunders. We are always working on transcending the errors and
limitations of our past, and in so doing, sometimes we are our own worst
critic, but eventually there is recompense.
Some of the
world’s greatest paintings are of the “Last judgment” depicting people in
heaven or hell, painted during the Renaissance in the cathedrals of Europe . We think of Michelangelo’s fresco of enormous
figures on the end wall of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Padua , Italy Alte Pinakothek
Museum in Munich
Moustafa Gadalla in his book “Egyptian
Cosmology,” (Bastet Publishing, 1997, p.141)
says, “Ancient Egyptians expressed their metaphysical beliefs in story form.” Their
religion was based on the correct way to transcend this earthly existence. Hieroglyphs
of an afterlife were like a mystery play where complex rituals for judging the
dead were portrayed in temple carvings and written in the Book of the Dead,
actually called “Coming Forth by Day: The great Awakening.” Their writings and
bas relief’s expressed the belief in an afterlife where their transfigured
spirits traveled to the stars. “…this, the purified one shall come forth by day
after his burial.” (Wallis Budge, Dover Publications
Reprint, from1895, p. 177) In the journey, a person’s soul was sent to
the Hall of Judgment of Maat where the heart against was weighed against a
feather. If the heart weighed more than the feather this meant the deceased was
weighed down by guilt. If it balanced, the soul became a star for eternity. The
person would then be judged by 42 judges. (42?
In Douglas Adams “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,” the computer’s answer was
42, “The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything”!)
In the pyramid at
Saqqara , archeologists discovered the
sculpture of the Pharaoh, Zoser, in a cubicle placed at a 17ยบ angle aimed at
the circumpolar stars – perhaps this was a repository for his earthly life
while his Ba (spirit) shot out of the pyramid toward the stars. In Tarot of
Cosmic Consciousness, I have painted a pyramid with a little pentagonal window
from which symbolic “souls” are escaping—celestial travelers on their way to
the stars or a spiritual plane. The main theme of the Judgment card is
resurrection and transformation where salvation and the belief of eternal life allay
fears of doubt and despair.
So what does this
mean in a Tarot reading? This implies judgment of one’s conscience and is a
warning to get busy preventing any impending doom. It’s a time for repentance
or confession in asking for forgiveness for misdeeds, crimes, and mistreatment
of others. Think of how you can make amends and express your remorse in order
to bring about healing of difficult situations. Remind yourself as Vickie Noble
says, that when “…people begin speaking and acting from their hearts to protest
world destruction and work toward peace, Judgment is being felt.” (MotherPeace,”
HarperCollins, 1983, p. 140). This means getting down (underworld) to
the deeper meaning of life and working on the rehabilitation of inappropriate
behavior, and finding the best way to express love and compassion for others
and all earthly things. Then it can be an uplifting card of promise for a
bright future.
