The Justice Card

Card number 11 in the Major Arcana.

This card comes up for me on a rather regular basis and although it is a “positive” card, I admit I really struggled with my relationship with it.

I mean there are the obvious meanings – truth, justice, balance, legal matters, etc. – but I always felt there was a deeper significance for me personally. I just wasn’t clear on what that was.

 

My sun sign is Libra. Also 11 appears somewhere in my numerology – I just can’t remember where!

The Justice Card is my sun, a huge part of my essence, path, and purpose, so why have I felt like I don’t quite get it?

 

Balance is complicated. We live on Planet Earth, in the realm of the physical (a very important part of our learning and purpose here), in a realm where the idealism of fairness struggles to exist.

My mom told me this over and over as a child: “life isn’t fair. In the way that she meant it, in reaction to trauma, in reaction to trying to get a “misbehaving” child to just be quiet, it didn’t really hit the mark of Truth, however, she was right.

Life on Planet Earth is not about fairness – and perhaps here lies the rub of my struggle with Libra and Justice.

 

In astrology, having your sun in Libra means that the star is in it’s fall. That means that the shining sun feels somewhat disrespected in this placement – it’s not the most comfortable here and it’s a place for coming into potential for growth, and clearer understanding.

My particular placement of my Libra sun shines on the area of my life dedicated to community and friendships – my social relationships. Knowing all of this, it does not surprise me that I was bullied most of my childhood and adolescence and have spent a lot of my own personal growth coming to terms with how to be in relationship with others in a way that does not include self abandonment nor protective distancing.

 

Here lies the challenge of Justice: How can we stand for fairness and balance in a world that does not particularly care for these values?

 

One of my deepest learnings in coming to terms with the truth of this all is starting to open the door to the alternative possibilities. You see, in this dichotomous justice type thinking, we tend to focus on trying to balance and bring fairness to polarities, rather than accepting all of the polarities including everything in between.

It’s not about Good vs. Evil. They both are part of our experience here in the physical dimension. However, our experience on this planet does not stop there!

 

It is not just about dare/light, right/wrong, black/white. All of the perspectives are valid – even the ones we don’t agree with. Especially the ones we don’t agree with.

 

Darkness and evil exist. They are part of our experience. Ignoring them does not make them go away. In fact, dark seeds live in each and every one of us – they are part of the complexity of the experience of being here. We make choices – some of these choices are driven by our conciousness. Most of our choices are driven by our biology. The more connected and willing we are to accept and integrate our own darkness, the more we become aware of our biological decisions. The more access we have to our own intelligence and conciousness.

I also want to be clear – I am not in any way saying that the conscious choice is somehow “better” than the unconscious choice. There is no right/wrong here. You get to chose. All are valid.

 

That means accepting things – and people – as they are.

 

This has been a huge lesson for me. Letting other people have their own experience without my need to interfere, to “make better”, to “help”. My wanting to change you is my way of trying to manipulate and control you. We can sugar coat it however we want, but in the end the truth is simple: I don’t know what’s best for you. Only you know what is best for you – your own personal “right/wrong”. I can support you in your embodiment of your you-ness, but I must be clear that my trying to change the reality that is you is just manipulation on my part – often to try to ease my own inner disharmony.

 

Relationships.

 

They are messy. They are necessary.

For me, they are my own personal path in more deeply understanding the Justice Card.

Image from The Light Seer’s Tarot