I’ve got another tarot talk episode for you today, we are talking about the 8th card in the tarot… but we can’t do that without talking about the 11th card. That’s because not every deck with have the same card in the 8th or 11th position. The Justice and Strength card’s positions in the high arcana were swapped by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The inspiration for the change was to better align the Tarot with astrological correspondences.
Originally the 8th card was Justice, so let’s talk about her first
Justice
- Represents truth harmony and Justice
- Goddess of Justice/ Greek Themis/ Egyptian Matt
- Idea of blind justice, she is often blindfolded (like Themis) choosing based on the heart not on what is seen. Introspection of the heart when deciding your path or making a decision
- Decisions … ones that relate to paperwork of an official nature, such as school, business transactions, real estate sales, actual court cases and legal proceedings
- Scales of justice and the astrology sign of Libra
- The themes of the card align nicely with the 11th house in astrology. That is why the Golden Dawn moved Justice to the 11th position of the deck.
Strength
- Feminine strength
- Empower vs power over
- Fortitude of our heart and soul, that flame that lives inside us and burns brightest when we need hope
- She subdues the lion and rules it not with force and power over, but with the strength, she radiates by standing solid in empowerment
- This card asks us to look at our strength … not our brute force but the fortitude of our heart and soul.
- Can highlight our relationship with power and leadership and asks us to look at our ideas around power dynamics
- Corresponding to the astrological sign of Leo
The 8th card starts the second set of lessons our Fool faces as they journey through the High Arcana. In many initiatory paths, each set of 7 reflects the themes of each initiation. We want to keep this in mind when we are looking at the divination meanings of these cards. Both represent an aspect of divine feminine energy. Justice highlights wisdom and the ability to see the truth, not with our eyes but with our knowledge or intuition. Strength is the outward expression of feminine strength, leading from a place of love and inspiring loyalty. The aspects of the Goddess we meet in the High Priestess and Empress teach us lessons about our internal or personal world. Where Justice and Strength ask us questions about how we express ourselves in our community. What type of leader are we, how do we make decisions, are we guided by love and truth or ego and power?
I only talk about 2 decks in this episode… I know that’s rare for me lol
The Golden Dawn Tarot – art had been credited to Monia Mathers, but creation has been credited to a mix mash of esoteric figures, including Eliphas Levi, Kenneth MacKenzie, William Westcott,
Thoth Tarot – created by Crowley art by Freida Harris
The art in the Golden Dawn Tarot for these 2 cards is similar to the Tarot De Marseille. Justice sits on a throne between 2 pillars, wearing an Egyptian headdress holding scales and a sword, feet resting on a dog. The Golden Dawn drew teachings from hermetic and kabbalistic texts, we can see the idea of having your heart weighed against a feather and judged. We have seen the symbolic pillars and throne many times now so can apply their meaning to this card as we have the others. I find it interesting they placed a dog at the feet of Justice, especially with the Egyptian theme of the card, Anubis the jackal-headed God is the Egyptian God lord of the dead who presides over embalming and funeral rites.
Crowley’s justice card is steely grey in colour, highlighting the element of air. Ruler of the sign of Libra and corresponding to our thoughts. The geometry of the scales is the most prominent feature. Like most cards in the Thoth deck, it has a beautiful layout of sacred geometry. One must look into the scales to see Justice standing blindfolded holding a sword. The card has also been renamed “adjustments”
The Golden Dawns Strength card simply shows a woman draped in golden and purple cloth with a Lion at her side. Its a very understated card especially for a deck that layers meanings on each card, including Hebrew letters, tree of life, planetary correspondences and astrology.
In contrast, the Thoth Tarot has the card re-named “Lust” and depicts a woman riding a lion. She is underneath the earth and reaching up through the crust of Gaia to the sky, drawing down power and creating life. This picture of feminine power goes beyond traditional decks and glorifies feminine passion and creation. Many contemporary decks hint at Crowley’s idea of changing the lion in the card to a panther or other large cat associated with feminine beauty power and sexuality.
Today’s episode is a Tarot Talk and has a YouTube companion video, you can use this link to pop over to that video
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Jodi Anne 