I WILL BE WORKING USING THE RIDER WAITE TAROT DECK AS A BASIS FOR THIS EXPLORATION.

Following the completion of a journey with The Sun, Judgement is largely about rebirth as we can see from the bodies bursting from their coffins under the Angel. This is a happy card, although the name may not lend itself to that conclusion.

Firstly on this card we can see the bodies rising from their coffins, naked with their arms outstretched. These figures are ready for the judgement of the higher power. Many people associate this card with the final judgement and suggest we must examine how we are living. They suggest these figures are there ready to be judged. I take a different view. The angel is there to bestow on the figures the knowledge and access to a Higher realm that they have been searching for through the whole Major Arcana. Rather than identifying the angel with Gabriel, God’s messenger, I identify him as Michael, who brings light and as such is sounding the trumpet to awaken our souls and shower us with knowledge and purpose. In this image, I see the people as shedding their worldly needs and ego (hence their nakedness) and accepting the gifts from the angel. They are surrounded by water (symbolic of intuition) and from the trumpet of the angel is a flag bearing a cross. While many associate this with the Christian cross, I see the crossroads of Hecate. As such, this is not a card of us being let into Heaven, but of finding Heaven by becoming enlightened and raising our vibrations as we have seen The Fool do throughout the whole Major Arcana. Of course, there are many accounts to disagree with this, but I find it to be the most coherent and the natural step of The Fool’s journey.

As my interpretation of this card is quite different, so is how I believe it affects a reading. I find that when we meet Judgement in a reading, it is about shedding ego and going into a new reality. After you see through the illusions of the world we live in, you cannot exist in it the same way. This is a card of seeking the truth and finding a reward when you find it. This is a card, for me, about being in tune with your higher self and living towards your divine purpose. This is the purpose of life, to align ourselves with the Higher Being, whoever that being may be to you. Judgement is the joy we find when we successfully do this. This card is a small prompt to follow your path, or discover your path if you don’t know what it is already. Find the truth in the world and do whatever you can to rise above the illusions which you see before you.

When Judgement appears reversed I take it as a sign that you may be lost or confused as to what your divine purpose in life is. It is difficult to understand what it is we are meant to do in life, many people never find out. You may be happy with the rhythms of the world and happy to be stuck in an illusion, but a reversed Judgement suggests this is not the state in which you are the most happy. Go and seek out what makes your heart happy, have your own slice of Eat, Pray, Love and you will be on the right path. Get rid of what no longer serves you and streamline your life.