November 27, 2010 - Judgement

When a Major Arcana card comes up in a reading, you're supposed to pay attention.  It means that whatever is happening is transformational, life-changing, important for your path.  Since I don't always articulate questions when I pull a card (of course there is always the unstated, I'm realizing more and more, things left unspoken but not, it seems, unvisited), it gives me a bit of wiggle room when trying to figure it out.  At least that's what I tell myself.

The scene depicted on the Judgement card is Judgement Day.  The angel of the Lord is calling forth the dead.  Those that are worthy will rise to heaven and those that are not ....  Well, let's just say most organized religions urge you not to be found unworthy.  I never quite know how I feel when this card comes up.  Sometimes judgment is necessary.  You have to commit yourself and decide.  Sometimes we are judged, fairly and unfairly.  It is a card of salvation.  The past is forgiven and you receive your just rewards.  It would be nice if we made it through life without mistakes, without hurting people, without being less than what we are and what we can be.  It's nice to know that we can be forgiven those trespasses and have our fresh start.

So what does it mean when this card comes up in a reading  Well, it can mean a day of reckoning is at hand.  It may also mean that all the waffling has to stop; that a decision needs to be made and stuck with.  I'm big on waffling.  I don't end things well, especially when I don't want things to end.  Sometimes though you do have to end things.  I keep wondering if Judgement shows up to remind me of the things that are lingering, the ones I haven't taken care of.  Another aspect of the card is salvation and redemption.  It could mean that it's time for a fresh start and that a fresh start is possible.  It could signal a time of renewed hope as well as a time to discover joy.  That would be nice, the renewed hope and discovering joy part.

In the Jane Austen Tarot, this card depicts the characters of Jane Austen's novel, Emma - Emma and Mr. Knightley; Mrs. Weston; Mr. Woodhouse; and Harriet Smith.  By the end of the book, each of these characters is ready for transformation, for the next level in his or her development.  George Knightley and Emma are deeply in love and engaged to be married; Mr. Woodhouse, a man who dreads change, is contemplating accepting it for his daughter's sake and his own.  Harriet Smith, a young woman of unknown parentage, has fallen in love multiple times and fallen out of it just as easily, and at last finds herself back where she started, with a proposal from Robert Martin.  Mrs. Weston, Emma's old governess, has married a gentleman and is expecting her first child.  Her life has changed and is going to change again from wife to mother.

What I like about the pairing of this novel and the card is how it demonstrates something critical about this card.  Transformation requires action of us.  Each of these characters had to make a choice, a judgment, and then act on it.  Fate didn't drop a happy ending in his or her lap.  Each of them had to act, to know what he or she wanted, and work towards it, trusting it would come.  This is the lesson I am taking from the Judgement card today.