Judgement

The Meaning of the Judgement

Major Arcana Tarot Card in Readings

The Tarot Judgement card meaning in a nutshell:

Ultimate judgment,
whether we welcome it or not.

Archetype:
Result - final outcome.
 The picture on the Tarot Judgement card makes no secret of
what judgment it refers to: the Last Judgment, when all the
people who ever lived are awakened and sent either to
Heaven or to Hell for eternity. Ultimate justice. Sublime
reward for the good and terrible punishment for the bad.
This moment is also the one of the end of the world as we
know it. At such a cost, is it really justice we want?

       To countless Christians through the past two thousand

years, the idea of divine judgment had wonderful appeal,
since so many of them were constantly victims of injustice. It
started already by their savior being crucified and many of
his disciples meeting similar fates. And the first generation of
Christians in Rome was hunted down by the forces of a
vicious Emperor. They dreamed of the Last Judgment and
prayed that it was near.

       The Tarot Judgement (spelled with an archaic 'e' in the

middle) card, then, signals the promise of justice being done,
eventually. The villains will be revealed and the righteous
ones will be rewarded. At a cost.

       Tarot Judgement is final and irrevocable. That's dire in

itself. So, is it really what we want? And are we that sure of
being innocent and the others are the only guilty ones? If we
call for the Judgement implied by the Tarot card, it will come,
and it will strike according to its own elevated perception.
The outcome is never certain, no matter how we might have
convinced ourselves of the opposite. So, it's a moment of fear
for the good and the bad alike.

       The Tarot Judgement card has sort of a twin in that

of Justice, which seems just as clear about the right and the
wrong of things, but at closer inspection reveals the
complexity of it all. But Justice of that Tarot card is not
definite, since it's of the world. The Tarot's version of
Judgement, though, is forever. There may be a reason for the
people's legal system preferring the principle of justice to that
of judgment.
       Judgment Day is a spectacular vision, which has inspired
many artists through the centuries, especially in the long
period when the church was their richest and most frequent
client. Here are some of the paintings on the theme. Click on
them to see larger images - and you want to do that, because
these are scenes surpassing anything Hollywood manages
even with the biggest budget.

The Last Judgment, by Stefan Lochner c. 1435. This painting is

made in a style that is quite Medieval, where the sizes of the figures
indicate their importance. Notice that the entrance to Paradise looks
very much like a church, whereas the entrance to the lower regions
is more like a castle of a worldly ruler.

The Last Judgment, by Hans Memling 1473. In this triptych, the

separation of souls is done in the middle. The entrance to Paradise
is through the cathedral to the left, but the way to Hell is simply to
be thrown into the fire on the right. The style of the painting is still
quite Medieval, with a limited depth of perspective and sizes
according to importance. Christ, with the marks of his crucifixion,
is heading the event, almost as if involved in vengeance.

The Last Judgment, by Michelangelo 1541. This is part of

Michelangelo's decoration of the Sistine Chapel. Here, Christ acts
on his own, involved in the actual deed, with Mary as a grieving
witness. He's not significantly bigger than the other, but holds
center stage. It's not altogether clear who goes to heaven and who
to Hell. Everyone seems to suffer. Michelangelo focuses on the
tragedy of it all, whatever justice might dictate.

A Vision of the Last Judgment, by William Blake 1808. Blake's

image is that of the spectacle in itself, regardless of right and
wrong. Christ at the top is like a statue, passive as if as much a
victim as everybody else. At the left, people go up towards Heaven,
at the left they go down towards Hell. The whole picture becomes a
clockwise circular movement. Who's to say what's right or wrong?
Blake just marvels at the glory of it all.

The Judgement Card as a Person

When the Tarot Judgement card relates to a person, which is
not that often, it means that he or she is very judgmental and
not inclined to change his or her mind about it. In the eyes of
somebody with that characteristic, few people pass. You are
not likely to be an exception, no matter how hard you try. But
if you do, you're approved for good.

The Judgement Card as an Event

When the Tarot Judgement card relates to an event, as it most
often does, it means that a final judgment will arrive and
there is nothing anyone can do about it. The solution to
whatever situation arrives, and it has almost nothing to do
with the actions of those involved. It just happens, as if there
was never any alternative. Opposing it is futile.

The Judgement Card as You

If the Tarot Judgement card has a position in the divination
spread that refers to you, which is rare, you are indeed the
one making the final decision on the matter at hand. Still, it's
not that you have much of a choice. You may even decide
against your own will. It's just that you must do what the
situation calls for. There is no other way. So, although you
have the final say, it's like you have no say at all. You just
know what decision has to be made.

Judgement According to
A. E. Waite
The Meaning of the Judgement Tarot Card in
Divination
 Here is what the occultist Arthur Edward Waite, co-creator
of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, had to say about the
Judgement Major Arcana card in divination.

The Judgement Tarot Card

20. The Last judgment [Judgement]. I have spoken of this
symbol already, the form of which is essentially invariable,
even in the Etteilla set. An angel sounds his trumpet per
sepulchra regionum, and the dead arise.
       It matters little that Etteilla omits the angel, or that Dr.
Papus substitutes a ridiculous figure, which is, however, in
consonance with the general motive of that Tarot set which
accompanies his latest work.

       Before rejecting the transparent interpretation of the

symbolism which is conveyed by the name of the card and by
the picture which it presents to the eye, we should feel very
sure of our ground. On the surface, at least, it is and can be
only the resurrection of that triad - father, mother, child-
whom we have met with already in the eighth card.

       M. Bourgeat hazards the suggestion that esoterically it is

the symbol of evolution - of which it carries none of the signs.
Others say that it signifies renewal, which is obvious enough;
that it is the triad of human life; that it is the "generative force
of the earth... and eternal life."

       Court de Gebelin makes himself impossible as usual, and

points out that if the grave-stones were removed it could be
accepted as a symbol of creation.

Inner Symbolism of the Tarot Judgement Card

I have said that this symbol is essentially invariable in all
Tarot sets, or at least the variations do not alter its character.
The great angel is here encompassed by clouds, but he blows
his bannered trumpet, and the cross as usual is displayed on
the banner. The dead are rising from their tombs - a woman
on the right, a man on the left hand, and between them their
child, whose back is turned.
       But in this card there are more than three who are
restored, and it has been thought worth while to make this
variation as illustrating the insufficiency of current
explanations. It should be noted that all the figures are as one
in the wonder, adoration and ecstacy expressed by their
attitudes.

       It is the card which registers the accomplishment of the

great work of transformation in answer to the summons of
the Supernal - which summons is heard and answered from
within.

       Herein is the intimation of a significance which cannot

well be carried further in the present place. What is that
within us which does sound a trumpet and all that is lower in
our nature rises in response - almost in a moment, almost in
the twinkling of an eye?

       Let the card continue to depict, for those who can see no
further, the Last judgment and the resurrection in the natural
body; but let those who have inward eyes look and discover
therewith.

       They will understand that it has been called truly in the
past a card of eternal life, and for this reason it may be
compared with that which passes under the name of
Temperance.

Divinatory Meaning of the Tarot Judgement Card

Change of position, renewal, outcome. Another account
specifies total loss though lawsuit.

Reversed: Weakness, pusillanimity, simplicity; also

deliberation, decision, sentence.