Key 11 – Justice

The foundation of Key 11 Justice is the Law of Equilibrium. The background being guarded by Justice is the same color shown behind both the Magician and Strength. Yellow signifies mental equilibrium and intellect. Of the four elements, yellow represents Air, a symbol for the steel sword of daring, discrimination, and creating forms. Yellow also indicates alchemical Mercury, a place of  super-conscious mental activity. So how do we get past the guardian Justice, who’s brandishing a sword, to enter this glorious space behind her?

Mercury gives us a hint. In order to reach the place behind her, Mercury tells you to take a good look at your sub-conscious mind and how it functions.  It acts in the feminine aspect of receptivity. Receptive to who? To you, to your self-conscious mind.  You do the directing, you determine where you place your attention, and thereby, you send a signal to your sub-conscious mind based on what you’re looking at or thinking about. Then the sub-conscious mind uses that signal to create, and deliver in spades back to you, what you’ve placed your thoughts and attention on. And now you get to live with it!

So, in other words, Mercury is telling you that your gaining unity with the essence of Creation is dependent on where and how you place your attention throughout your day.  Seems simple enough. Pretty straight forward. And this determines exactly what your sub-conscious mind delivers to you in your life, hook, line and sinker. This requires discrimination on your part. And responsibility.

If you figure this out, through trial and error, you will  learn that raising up the signals your sub-conscious mind is receiving from you will then transform your sub-conscious mind, over time, into the Holy Grail. And then your whole life will be lined up with Creation. That’s because it will be taking all of its suggestions directly from the Inner Self rather than the misguided information of the outer world. Have you ever made a difficult situation into a living hell? This will help you leave those events behind. When you gain the equilibrium of all three states of your mind (super-conscious, self-conscious and sub-conscious) you can access the inspiration of spiritual wisdom, that place behind Justice. That’s the place where opposing forces or influences are balanced.

Let’s explore the card a little further to see how this is expressed. Whenever there are two similar items on a card we’re looking at the ideas of duality and polarity. If they’re arranged symmetrically then we’re looking at a suggestion of balance. On this card we see two sets of drapes, both tied back the same way, and two pillars on her throne. We are reminded of the structure on the High Priestess card, but the coloring is quite different on this card. The drapes behind her throne are violet, edged with red, and tied back with red ties. Violet is associated with the planet Jupiter and red with the planet Mars.

We covered Jupiter, and the Hebrew letter Kaph assigned to it, at length on the Wheel of Fortune. It is an indicator of spiritual power, and truth. In mythology Jupiter is the ruler of all the “gods”, who I named on Key 10. The letter Kaph covers the attitude of reconciliation of opposites and difficult situations in order to gain rulership of all the “gods” in your life. So, again, this card’s symbols are discussing attaining balance in your life. But it’s now taking Key 10 a step further.

On this card the violet drapes are barely showing the yellow background, where we’re headed. This tells us that all those “gods,” which manifest as Mother Nature, including all our likes and dislikes, are hiding the super-conscious plane of mental activity. And since we are only looking with our physical eyes, we aren’t going to see the One Identity behind the curtains! But on this card the drapes are beginning to open just a little bit. This is where Mars, the red color on the curtains’ tiebacks, comes in. Red is the color of activity, with courage and strength. Just keep an eye out for the sword!

Let’s say that we are like a farmer or a gardener who plants his seeds in the dirt. He can’t see them, but he applies water and cultivates the soil.  At a certain point little green sprouts appear. Not all of the sprouts are from the seeds that he planted. Possibly the wind and bird droppings have added seeds from unknown sources. He must be diligent to separate these weeds from his crop.

Your sub-conscious mind is like the farmer’s dirt. At first you can’t see the little sprouts, or results in your life, of the seeds or ideas that you have planted in your sub-conscious mind. These are the good things that you wish to have in your life. But the sub-conscious mind is just a recording device, remember the High Priestess, and without discrimination. Anything can “land” in it, just like weeds in the dirt.

When your ideas, or plans, begin to appear in your life, you’re thrilled! But then you look around and find many events appearing in your life, which you don’t think came from you, and that you may not like. The fulfillment center of your sub-conscious mind is perfect. No refunds, no returns. So you can’t blame her. But everything that you gave attention to, and especially with passion and activity, including musical lyrics and dancing, movies, relationships, even what you’re thinking while driving in heavy traffic, is recorded diligently by your receptive, feminine sub-conscious mind. In the Strength card I mentioned that what we think, say, and do throughout the day furnishes the bulk of the impressions received by our sub-conscious. All that manifests, including Mother Nature, is delivered through the sub-conscious mind. That’s the only way it gets here. Go back and look at Key 8. Get to know it inside and out. Your life depends on your relationship with her.

The throne repeats the dual symbolism of the pillars of the High Priestess, though here the pillars are part of the throne. Also different, at the top of each pillar, the lotus buds on the High Priestess have been replaced by pomegranates. The activity on the Justice card now bares fruit. And so the drapes are being pulled apart. You get what you ask for, the caveat being, whether you know how it happened or not!

Justice’s crown, her authority, resembles the letter Shin, which is one of the three Hebrew Mother letters.  Shin resembles three flames rising up from a fiery base. It symbolizes the element fire, which signifies the white wand of Will Power. The sound of the letter, “shh!” is used universally when someone wants to create silence. Thus the letter Shin reminds us of the four injunctions of the Masters: Know, Will, Dare and Be Silent.

This takes us to the idea that serpents are recognized by the Ancient Teachings as symbols of wisdom. They are silent, subtle creatures. Jesus told his disciples to be wise as serpents, the ancient doctrine of silence. The Great Secret cannot be told because it is only through experience that it may be realized. Her crown represents the Serpent Power, the Kundalini released from the base of our spine and moved up to our crown. Through the raising of the Kundalini we can overcome the limitations of 3-dimensional understanding of experience. We are opening our 5 spiritual senses. This is how we enter  the space behind Justice.

The shape of the Hebrew letter Lamed is that of a serpent. Lamed represents inner discipline and self-regulation. As a verb it means “to teach.” As a noun it means “ox-goad.”  There is a symbol of an ox-goad in the lower right hand corner of the card. We must have meaning in our lives. If we stray from that, Lamed the ox-goad brings us back. The scales also symbolize this principle of balance, and maintaining balance. Teth in the Strength card represents a coiled serpent. Here Lamed is the same snake, uncoiled and active. There is a lot of red on this card.

On the front of her crown we have a red circle within a white square. Red for activity and white for purity. A circle represents the Creator. So we have Holy activity manifesting through purity of thought. Her crown is an expression of her authority. On a larger scale we see on the Wheel of Fortune the circles of life surrounded by the four fixed signs, representing the four elements of manifestation.

Both the symbol on Justice’s  breast and the handle of her sword are in the form of a T-cross.  The cross on her dress is indigo, the color of the planet Saturn. The handle of the sword is gold, the metal of the Sun. Saturn signifies limitation, the creation of form. The Sun expresses radiating light, the illumination. So here we have the use of limitation and restriction in combination with the radiating power of the Sun. This is the underlying essence of Mother Nature.

The wrap over her shoulders and the overall color of her crown are green. Green reminds us of the Empress, Venus and love and the sub-conscious. Justice is in harmony with Mother Nature. Green is the color of the sign Libra. Beneath her wrap is a red robe. Here we have a message that all of her activity supports and exalts love. Red is the color of the planet Mars, reminding us of the conscious plane of mental activity.

Both her throne and the platform upon which she rests are made of gray colored stone.  Gray is the combination of white and black. Once again here’s a reference to balance and equilibrium as the foundation of Justice. The word stone in Hebrew is spelled EBEN. In Cabala it symbolizes that the Father and Son are one. So Justice is resting upon that knowing.

Justice is holding a sword, a symbol of discrimination, also a great pruning device! We are always being improved by the activity of Justice. Mother Nature controls everything, including the bodies in which we live.  You wish to make a change in your environment and the body in which you live? Pay attention to how you work with your subconscious mind. Take a look at the Strength card. Your suggestions must be subtle, like you’re speaking to a lover. Work and action are the key words here. Venus rules Libra, so we are seeing the Empress at work. The Empress is the Mother of Ideas. The zodiacal sign Libra is also attributed to Lamed, the Hebrew letter of this card. Libra means scales, indicating balance.

Venus is connected with creative imagination. The Tarot calls imagination into action. Imagination builds faith. True imagination – not mere fantasy – rests on the firm foundation of science. Faith is a prime requisite for the accomplishment of the Great Work because faith builds confidence. Read the works and stories about Jesus, Buddha and other great avatars and teachers.

The whole point is that your joy and your life depend on no one but you. This is responsibility. All of the cards in the Tarot Major Arcana are filled with responsibility. Stuff happens. The choice is yours as to how you will deal with it. Sometimes the choices are limited and really tough. But it’s on you. When obstacles are in your way, you are not happy. That’s the same as being ill. You can forget what’s happening in the last row of the Tarot Tableau if you are not well. The Justice Key teaches that the way to cultivate health is by being very careful. Use your tools. You’re the Magician. This means that you have to eliminate anything that runs counter to the laws of Nature. If you don’t want to eliminate that which is counter to Life in your life, the Book of Formation tells us that the Laws of Life will have you at their mercy! It takes daring to stay in the game!

The Cabala doesn’t tell you to abstain from the joys of living. The point is to get the most out of life. Go about your daily tasks earnestly, no matter how trivial they may seem. Go about your work in a poised, quiet manner. Teach your body the meaning of balance. I started taking yoga to help me with breathing and balance. But it ended up really helping me to quiet my mind. One breath, one movement. Doing something physical is a potent suggestion to your sub-conscious mind that you wish it to set to work to bring your whole organism into balance. Fear not. Banish the mood of haste. Take a walk. We do live forever, so get out and enjoy it!