DAILY TAROT: JUDGEMENT.
Reckoning. Pronouncement of Doom.
XX. JUDGEMENT
This card represents the Gateway of Reckoning that Governs The Interstitial Moment of Transition/Transformation and the Pronouncement of Doom that Follows.
The number is XX (20) and is the 21st Card in the Major Arcana.
HOW TO CONSIDER THE TAROT
For an introduction to this series and an outline of how to appreciate Tarot, in a very different paradigm to what one may be used to, the reader is encouraged to familiarise themself with the following post: How to Appreciate Tarot—a Hermetic guide to Semiotics & Allegory
NUMEROLOGY & NUMBERS
Numerology is the study of numbers. If mathematics is the language and the grammar, geometry is the syntax and poetry, and numbers are the base letters.
PRIMITIVE ABUNDANCE
20 is the smallest primitive abundant number, and the first number to have an abundance of 2, followed by 104.
An abundant number is a number for which the sum of its proper divisors (divisors excluding itself) is greater than the number itself.
A number is considered primitive abundant if it is abundant and none of its proper divisors are abundant.
The abundance of a number is the difference between the sum of its proper divisors and the number itself.
For 20, the proper divisors are 1, 2, 4, 5, and 10. Their sum is 22, which is 2 more than 20, hence an abundance of 2.
In Numerology XX(20) is associated with the concept of arrival and departure, the waiting and preparation before arrival and departure, signifying a time of purification and growth—this is clarified in the next section on Semiotics and deepened by the meme of 20/20 vision.
TETRAHEDRAL NUMBERS
20 is the third relatable tetrahedral number.
A tetrahedral number represents a pattern where balls or dots are arranged in a tetrahedron (a pyramid with a triangular base). It is the three-dimensional equivalent of triangular numbers.
The first 4 Tetrahedral Numbers are 1,4,10 & 20. The base of Tetrahedral 20 is comprised of 4 tiers. The bottom tier is 10, the second tier is 6, the third is 3 and the top is 1. The related numbers embedded in 20 in this model are therefore:
1, 3, 4, 6 & 10
Fire = 1
Air = 3
Water = 6
Earth = 10
The Denotation of the Countersign (XX) is Covenant. The Covenant, ultimately, is to Duality—As Above, So Below. The Triangle is how the Duality is expressed in 2 Dimensions. The Tetrahedron is how Duality is expressed in 3 Dimensions. The Law / Logos is the Sword, and the necessary balance is the Scales. Archetypally this is the Dual Depiction of Law & Justice.
The Triad thus expressed as
Logos, Cosmos & Anthropos (Man)
Will, Consciousness & Energy
Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva
The Trinity.
Each has Dual and polarised expressions that are Causal and Relative to each other:
Active & Passive
Positive & Negative
Masculine & Feminine
Yin & Yang (Converging & Diverging, Impelling & Adducting)
Emanation & Emergence
The Triangle would be Pure Logos. The Depicted Triangle would be Mythos-2D with one-dimensional relativity, The Tetrahedron is the Mythos-3D with 2-dimensional relativity—Individuality.
Nature does not make duplicate copies.
The Duality is Triurnal in Polarity. The Trinity is Dual in Nature and Essence.
A SCORE
20 in archaic notation is called A Score. A score represents 20 years or twenty generations etc. Etymologically a score is a permanent mark, a notation of some kind by which a record of the cycle is kept and remembered.
GEOMETRY & SEMIOTICS
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation, the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning
The number XX(20) is visually associated with the concept of arrival and departure, the waiting and preparation before arrival and departure, signifying a time of purification and growth.
The two Xs mark the opening and closing transitions, birth and death, or Death & Rebirth, indicated in point 7 in the diagram below. The packet of Flow is the result of twin sin curves that intersect to create the helix. One instance of the helix is a packet.
Between one packet and the next along a helix, there is a reversal of all polarities which we call Death, and a secret/invisible inertia from the previous packet with passes through the eye of singularity to move on to spawn the next packet and so on.
XX is the Countersign, that marks:
North Node and South Node of Astrology, that which we are rooted to via emergence and that which we are called towards. (See THE WORLD)
Caput Draconis and Cauda Draconis - The Head and Tail of the Dragon, of Geomancy, which denote the Beginning and Ending of Frames of Enquiry.
Where Alpha and Omega represent the Absolute Beginning and The Utmost End which are most real at their conceptual level, that is Logos, which is to say Principle is more fundamental than Expression, and Form is more fundamental than Formation and Manifestation.
The Countersign (XX) represents the Beginning and Ending in the unbroken series of cycles we recognise as Life and Existence in the context of Time.
Alpha and Omega are timeless, i.e. beyond our notions of time and existence, whereas the covenant described by XX is the continuation of Life under the aegis of Divine Law (Law and Justice). See JUSTICE.
ARCHETYPE & FORM
The two invoked archetypes of the JUDGEMENT card are The Angel of Judgement and Revelation. The Archetypal theme is Rapture, Revelation and Judgement.
Implied by these Archetypal themes is less the notion of Transition between cycles and more the notion of Transcendence from one phase or expression to another, which is best understood via the Archetypal theme of the Seed, The Seedling, The Wheat and the Harvest.
Graduation, Assignment, Reset. Apocalypse is best explored Etymologically.
THE ANGEL OF JUDGEMENT
This archetype is associated with transcendental justice, transcending worldly human biases and limitations, and providing a clear, unaltered perspective on action and consequence. The archetype is a personification of the law of Karma and the pronouncement of Logos, the absolute arbiter of Cause & Effect. The Angel of Judgement is associated not with the death of an individual, but a moment at the end of a cycle where each individual is weighed and measured relative to the all. The implication is of the Final Judgement, which is thematically associated with Apocalypse and Rapture, that is the moment at the end of any cycle wherein the cause is locked in and will result in an effect as per the rigours of Fate.
FINAL JUDGMENT
In Archetypal terms, Final Judgement is the moment at the end of any cycle wherein the cause is locked in and will result in an effect as per the rigours of Fate. This is what perpetuates the waveform, this is the essence of Duality in action.
ETYMOLOGY & LANGUAGE
Vertical shallow Etymology finds the nearest root words and leaves it at that. Deep and Wide Etymology reaches down and laterally, to explore the full essence of meaning that is related to the word.
The word Judgement comes from the Anglo-French juger which has partial roots in an earlier Germanic word iugen meaning “examine” or “appraise”. The word judge, in this context, is the application of discernment, in action, of ‘Trial by Law’, to determine Fate/pronounce sentencing. The other root is Latin is iudicem, being a compound of ius “right, law” and discere meaning “to say”.
Both roots share an earlier Proto-Indo-European(PIE) root deik- meaning “to show” or “to pronounce solemnly”, which unites it thematically with Apocalypse and Revelation. Beautifully via the PIE root, Apocalypse and Revelation are associated with both the revelation of what is revealed and the account of it as well as the solemn pronouncements of Final Judgement.
RE-
Many of the words associated with Judgement share the prefix re, a word-forming element meaning “back, back from, back to the original place;” also “again, anew, once more,” also conveying the notion of “undoing” or “reversal”. Revelation, Restoration, Renewal, Retribution, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Reckoning. Reckoning means “a settling of what is due”.
SCORE
20 in archaic notation is called A Score. A score represents 20 years or twenty generations etc. Etymologically a score is a permanent mark, a notation of some kind by which a record of the cycle is kept and remembered.
The origin of the word was on making a physical mark on a piece of wood at certain key increments, to count cattle or yield. The context was in tribes counting their wealth, and paying tribute to Kings under whose law the land was governed. This became the Score, which was accounted for and judged at the end of a season through which a person, a city, a village, a tribe or a family honoured the grace of the throne they lived under.
Equally, score refers to the music notation that defines the fullness of a narrative.
The emergent etymological implication is a complex interplay of assessment metaphorically related to weighing and accounting, which is both inescapably due to the culmination of Revelation and Reckoning, and seminal and essential to cyclical Renewal. These connected ideas are key to our notions of reckoning and regeneration which have to be stored in cultural memory.
These connections imply that Judgement is a fundamental and multifaceted human activity, deeply embedded not only in our legal and ethical systems but also in how we understand and navigate changes and continuities in life and society.
DOOM
Doom comes from an Old English root word dōm word meaning “judgement”, derived from a PIE word meaning “to put in place” as in “to correct”.
Judgement refers to the pronouncement of Doom.
Doomsday is a time or event of existential crisis, the Day of Judgement on which the Doom is Pronounced.
To be pronounced means both to be spoken or said verbally, but also to be made clear or revealed non-verbally as in when a surface is cleaned or uncovered the shape of it, or the grain in the stone becomes more pronounced.
Pronounce comes from the Latin roots pro meaning “forth” and nuntius meaning “messenger” from the PIE nue- “to shout, call out”.
APOCALYPSE
Apocalypse comes from the Greek apokalyptein meaning to “uncover, disclose, reveal”, which is translated into English as Revelation, both Apocalypse and Revelation although meaning to reveal or uncover are persistently associated with the Day of Judgement, Doomsday and the Ending of the World.
EMERGENT SYNOPSIS
The invisible barycentre of all these words is around the notion of apocalypse, the uncovering, revealing the pronouncement of inevitable scoring of what has been which is how what will be is determined.
APPEARANCE & ARRANGEMENT
The card JUDGEMENT depicts a dramatic scene dominated centrally by a winged angel emerging from clouds, the Archangel Michael, blowing a golden trumpet, from which hangs a white flag bearing an orange cross. The angel is surrounded by expansive white clouds, suggesting a celestial environment and a divine presence. Below the angel, six corpse-white men, women, and children with varied expressions of awe and reverence rise from their coffins afloat on an ocean.
The figures are arranged with their arms spread wide or raised towards the angel, capturing a moment of final reckoning. Their postures and expressions convey a mix of receiving, supplication and elation, appealing for mercy, redemption and grace.
The background portrays the early morning sky above, a ridge of peaks in the far distance on the horizon and below that a colourless landscape.
EGREGORE & ESSENCE
Egregore is an esoteric concept representing an emergent archetypal thought form that arises from collective thoughts.
The card JUDGEMENT represents Reckoning: Reconciliation and Return, the Fulfilment of the Design in the context of a Cycle.
The serpent if it wants to become the dragon must eat itself.
Francis Bacon
A Reconciliation of the karmic ledger, a Return to originality, and a Restoration of potential to empower a new cycle are necessary for both the Transcendence of the Soul making passage through the World and the Regeneration of the World.
THE UNFOLDING
In the Judeo Christian Mythos the world began with The Word, and endings of Cycles are the Heralding of New Beginnings. The Word of God (Supreme Logos & Supreme Personality) is heralded by the breaking of seals and the sounding trumpets.
The open coffin lids represent the breaking of the seals, which in the Revelation of St John the Divine symbolises a prelude to monumental events that reshape the World. Each seal when broken is as the seal on a scroll of pronouncement, a phase of revelation and transformation, by which souls and the World they inhabit are aligned to the Will of God and the overarching Cosmic Design.
The Orange cross on the White banner affixed to the golden Trumpet represents the absolute covenant of Duality: The Balance of Yin with Yang, the Balance of Giving with Receiving, Masculine & Feminine, Ebb & Flow, Emanation and Emergence etc. This is the Covenant with Life.
The landscape of the card JUDGEMENT is devoid of Colour which depicts Vitality. The implication is that Life as a resource of Energy, Attention and Time has achieved an entropic end state—in which potential can no longer be pursued.
The wave function has collapsed. Time and therefore existence is quantum, measured in packets—packets within packets, cycles within cycles, ad infinitum. But even so, the doorways between cycles are of two kinds, either minor increments, between one cycle and the next or major increments, quantum leaps, or significant transcendence—the way sleep is akin to but different from death. The way the foetus grows in the womb, but must eventually face the ‘Judgement’ of Birth, the proof of fitness, ripeness and readiness, in order to belong to Life.
The unfolding as depicted on the card JUDGEMENT thus captures a moment of cosmic and individual reckoning but also points towards the cyclical nature of existence where every end is a precursor to a new beginning.
The central theme is a profound one, being that where Time is Present, Giving and Receiving must honour the limits of the other, and the Design and Purpose inherent in Life is about Fulfilment of Purpose, through iteration and transcendence.
Half of Evolution is the arc of transformation, the other half is the governing nature and physics of what Creation and Life can sustain. Everything that is created has limits, and it must either transition or decay, it must either transform or recede, it must either transcend or regress. Each step is the threshold to the next step.
Judgement from an allegorical perspective is associated with the deeds and virtue of people, either the soul measured on the scales of Anubis at the end of a Life or measured by the weighing of the soul against the commandments and covenants of God in the final moment of Rapture and the Ending of the World.
These are archetypal motifs that apply just as well to anything and everything in Life.
Everything is subject to the laws which allow for and sustain existence and which sustain Life. As such everything must align with nature, as nature must align with the Logos of Physics. That which does not align with Life is consumed and reassigned. At the most fundamental physical scale, we regard this principle in Thermodynamics, the extreme of which we call Entropy. In the realm of Biology, Species that cannot achieve harmony with their environments will die out, either by harming their host and thereby harming themselves or simply by harming themselves. Runaway processes in physics either are swallowed in the vacuum of spacetime.
The Realm of Biological Life is wholly reliant on the Realm of Chemical Existence with its laws and nature, which is reliant in terms of the Realm of Physics which governs all Energy and Matter relatively.
The card JUDGEMENT depicts this dynamic in allegorical form, with visual cues reminiscent of the Day of Judgement synonymous with the Revelation of St John the Divine of the Christian mythos which accounts for the ending of the cycle of the Creation of the world, that was destroyed once by Flood/Deluge.
In this scene, the waters are calm, and the skies are clear, but colour and vitality have been depleted. The souls of all who lived are made equal under the Law. Here any notion of Law or Virtue is not moralistic or ethical given that morals and ethics evolve, but rather where all parts are considered for how they played their part in the design of the Divine, regardless of what worldly rulership and authority claimed.
Death is part of Life and is what ensures and enables regeneration, renewal and emergence. Judgement from this perspective is the filter that ensures, in time, the Covenant of Life is maintained.
THE CHRISTIAN MYTHOS
The core failing of the Christian Mythos is the notion that Death is an ending and that the ending of a cycle is final and eternal. The Fate of the Caterpillar is utter disappearance, but its Destiny is Transcendence.
The Finality of the Final Judgement is limited in context to the Cycle of existence it marks the ending of. Our perennial invitation is Transformation and Transcendence.
This is the deeper meaning of Judgement.
To the Pilgrim, whose destination is transformation, all roads lead home.
SYMMETRY & SEQUENCE
Within the deck, there are symmetries and connections between the cards, defined by their appearance in sequence, their numerical allocation and/or thematically by the relationship of their symbols, archetypes and other essentialities.
There are three cards that depict angels/angelic beings in the Major Arcana. Each of the cards THE LOVER, TEMPERANCE and JUDGEMENT share a relationship via this unique motif, and each of the cards represents one of the named Archangels: Raphael, Gabriel and Michael.
This demonstrates the notion of Temperance, which is the Harmony of Duality between Form & Flow, between Giving & Receiving, as the moderating principle between the path of Desire represented by THE LOVERS and the implications of Cause and Effect, represented by the JUDGEMENT card.
THE LOVERS represent the Path of Desire, Temperance the mechanics of the World (Giving & Receiving) and JUDGEMENT represents the Countersign, the Covenant under which the Path of Desire can be followed and the mechanics of existence upheld absolutely.
A relationship exists between JUSTICE, JUDGEMENT and THE WORLD.
ALCHEMY
Alchemy explores the transformative and mystical processes that turn the base into the sublime, symbolizing the journey from raw essence to spiritual enlightenment. In the context of Tarot, it offers a complimentary framework for interpreting the profound alchemical symbolism embedded within the cards, revealing deeper layers of meaning through the interplay of elemental and metaphysical transformations.
In the paradigm of Alchemy, Justice is the fact of cause and effect, the divine principle of duality of action emergent from Logos and fundamental to Natural Law is governed and ordered.
Judgement alludes to the notion that the quintessence of anything, including a person, is defined by how they stand in relation to Law and Justice, their mind is defined by their temperance, the ability to be still, to flow, and their mastery of their nature.
To know one’s Devil is to know one’s God.
Shams of Tabrez
KABBALAH & JUDAIC MYSTICISM
GEMATRIA & ALEF-BET
The card JUDGEMENT is related to both 20 and 21. Its number is XX(20) and it is the 21st card.
The 20th and 21st letters of the Hebrew Alef-Bet are Resh(ר) and Shin(ש) which carry the esoteric meanings of See (to Understand) and Approve (Under the Law), respectively. The Seeing is as per Conscious Perception and Reason, and the Approval is as per a signed and counter-signed covenant. Incidentally, the final letter Tav(ת) means “Mark” or “Musical note” or “sign that resounds eternally” which was once represented by the letter ‘X’.
Implied is the conscious witness and counter signature on the Contract of Life.
Shin(ש) conveys a context when encountered in the beginning of a word, representing the Torah, which itself means “The Law”. The Implied meaning is our ultimate fundamental Choice to live under the Law, a covenant that must be renewed when the world and ourselves are undergoing transformation and renewal.
Resh(ר) phonetically contains Shin(ש), the letter of Choice under Law. The implication is that, from a Kabbalistic paradigm, to Understand, is to govern one’s own Reason by Choice where Choice is an expression of Will and to accept the nature of Law and Justice, Cause & Effect, Giving & Receiving. These terms are best understood archetypally, not literally.
The number 20 is associated with the Hebrew letter Kaf(כ). Kaf is the 11th letter. Card XI in the Tarot is JUSTICE.
The 11th Letter in the Hebrew Alef-bet is Kaf(כ), meaning “Cup”. 11=10+1
Alef(א) is 1. Yud(י) is 10.
Alef(1) means “The Unutterable Silence of God prior to the Beginning.”
Yud(10) means “The Point of Emanation”.
Kaf (11) carries the enfolded implicit meaning of the cup of Receiving, the silent polarity of the spoken emanation (Word).
SEPHIRA & THE KABBALISTIC TREE OF LIFE
Midway up the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, are Gevurah (Severity) and Chesed (Mercy). The branch connecting them is assigned to the Hebrew letter Nun(נ) meaning Faith.
Gevurah is translated as Severity, Judgement or Discernment and Chesed as Mercy, Grace or Compassion, implying the two aspects of Law & Justice.
Judgement is a related but separate notion to Law & Justice, that of reckoning and pronouncement of That which must follow at the Completion of one cycle and the Transcendence to the next.
These two form the pillars of Justice & Law, both severe and merciful. The branches leading to these stations are Kaf(כ) and Yud(י), and are part of the pillars.
Leading up from these two, are Tazdi(צ) meaning ”Justice” or “The Lawgiver of a Generation” and Peh() meaning “Mouth”, which lead to Binah and Chokmah meaning Understanding and Wisdom respectively.
In Kabbalistic terms, a Generation is a cycle of Emanation, Mouth is where the Word originates.
TIKKUN
Completion in the Kabbalistic paradigm means something specific. In Kabbalistic terminology, the concept of “Tikkun” is related to the idea of completion. Tikkun translates to “repair” or “restoring” and refers to the spiritual process of correcting or perfecting something, which is central to the Kabbalistic view of the universe and the human soul's purpose within it.
The notion of completion in Kabbalah, through Tikkun, is not merely about reaching an endpoint but about restoring and elevating creation to its intended state of perfection and unity with the divine.
The implication is that Judgement is a necessary gateway to the pathway of Completion as the Soul ascends ever towards Perfection of the Upper Light.
The serious student will need to reflect on this and revisit this passage many times, in the context of the related Etymology, Semiotics and Archetypal implications, there is much here that is fundamental to Kabbalah and to Life.
HERMETIC LAWS & CONCEPTS
Consider the visual scene of the card JUDGEMENT. The featureless landscape without hue or vitality, without spectrum, without polarity, regarded therefore ‘out of time’. Above this neutralised moment beyond moments, the Angel sounding the pronouncement of Logos.
The key Hermetic Principles represented in this card:
The Ideal and Logos of the All. (The Mind/Reason of the All).
Duality and Correspondence. Law & Justice are the dual universal intermediary between past and future, between what has been and what will be, between every microcosm and its macrocosm.
Vibration and emanation. The Virtue of Justice resonates with Justice & Law, but also the Voice or the Word of Law. Vibration is what enlivens potential into actuality. Just as creation was initiated by The Word (Logos), transcendence is subject to the Pronouncement of Logos.
The Angel of Judgement is Genderless in its neutrality relative to all the other Laws while embodying essential masculine and feminine principles of Severity and Mercy.
Cadence, Periodicity and Cyclic nature of Justice & Law, implied by Cause & Effect expressed as the Law of Rhythm. Judgement is the interstitial gateway that sustains the Law of Rhythm in alignment with Cause & Effect.
The Cause-and-Effect principle is fundamental to the instantiation of existence, and universality of Law and Justice.
Hermetics informs us of a model of existence that is inseparable from a causality which is itself beyond cause, describing the fundamental gradient of power that defines the whole of existence and all causality in its entirety, from Unity to Void and everything in between, and all presided over by Supreme Reason, a coherent and intelligible order, which the mind can comprehend and align with. Within this notion is captured Will and Consciousness.
Hermetics informs us of the duality inherent in that model and the notion of Movement and Rhythm by which that model is instantiated, implying that the means by which the Singularity is Expressed as Duality and The Measureless is Measured, is Time. This, the limits and boundaries of Time give us the fundamental relationship between the Quantum and the Atomic—in which are reconciled the Potential with the Deterministic.
What comes to pass at the interplay between Dualities, and at the expiry of relative Singularities, Atoms, Particles, Cycles and Worlds is Judgement, at all relative scales and ‘cosms’ of order. Judgement is simply the Pronouncement of Divine Will.
ASTROLOGY
In most cases, the Hellenistic astrological insights covered cannot be divorced from the mythological context with which it shares archetypal relevance.
In the context of Hellenistic Astrology the moment of Judgement, the reckoning is associated with Saturn and Pluto.
Traditionally the card JUDGEMENT is associated with Pluto, but given the interstitial nature of the card JUDGEMENT, and the themes of culmination and transcendence, Saturn is invoked.
Saturn and Pluto are two of the most potent planets in astrology, each carrying deep and transformative energies that shape life events, personal growth, and societal changes. They are considered both as Transpersonal planets, whose orbits around the sun and therefore rate of transit through the zodiac are so long they are understood to exert influences that extend beyond the bounds of a single human life, and can span a full generation.
SATURN
Saturn is the Roman name for Kronos, the Chronokrator or Lord of Time, symbolising aging, maturing, testing and the setting and keeping of boundaries and limits. Saturn's influence highlights the aspect of judgement as an ultimate reckoning—a time when the past deeds are assessed, and their full consequences come to bear. This aligns with Saturn’s role as the enforcer of cosmic justice and the arbiter of time, where all things must come to completion as per the divine or natural law.
PLUTO
Pluto, although a more recent addition to astrological practice given its discovery in the 20th century, is deeply connected to transformation, the subconscious, power dynamics, and rebirth. It represents profound change, often through intense and irrevocable transformations that are both destructive and renewing. This is an echo of the Greek mythology of Pluto (Hades) as the ruler of the underworld, dealing with themes of death and rebirth, overseeing the realm where souls are sorted after life. This dual aspect of Pluto emphasizes its role in deep psychological transformation and the cyclical nature of life and death.
MYTHOS & LOGOS
In the context of Hellenistic Astrology the moment of Judgement, the reckoning is associated with Saturn and Pluto. Here we explore the archetypal natures of Saturn and Pluto as Kronos and Hades or Plouton.
KRONOS
Kronos is the Titan, son of Ouranos, who castrates and deposes his father, banishing him from the world to establish the Second Order, the Age of Titans. Kronos is armed with his great Scythe, the leveller of time, called harpe literally meaning sickle.
This iconic sickle is often depicted as a curved blade, symbolizing Kronos’s role as a harvester of time and lives, making way for new growth by clearing out the old. His act of overthrowing his father, Ouranos, sets a precedent in myth for the recurring theme of the old order being replaced by the new—a cycle that continues when Kronos himself is overthrown by his son, Zeus.
When Kronos’s son Zeus deposes him to establish the Third Order, the Age of Olympus, it is learned that no other can wield the scythe for it is too great.
HADES/PLOUTON
When Zeus and his siblings and allies depose the Titans, Hades is established as the God of the Underworld. The Underworld, Tartarus, is the Realm beyond Life and cycles of Time where Souls are sorted according to their engagements with Life and the Fate of the World. In this sense, Fate has two ‘cosms’ or orders of context: the Fate of the World and the Fate of the Soul when it leaves the World. Hades is the Keeper of the second order of Fate.
Plouton was another name associated with Hades, an epithet to which was ascribed a different aspect of what was considered the domain of the Underworld, which was all that was unseen and invisible from the world, but also the Cthonic, that which dwelt and originated ‘below’. Pluton was associated with the gold and gems and the powerful tectonic forces that could rise up from the ‘Fundament of the Earth’ and then could also be swallowed up by the same.
Hades is the husband of Persephone, the Goddess of Spring and Renewal, who dwells with him in the Underworld for a season every year, during which the World endures Winter. Renewal emerges from the realm of Hades. The implication is that that which dies, is folded into the Underworld and judged accordingly, and that same Underworld is the source from which Renewal emerges. This narrative underscores not only the inevitable link between death and rebirth but also highlights the role of the Underworld as a place of not just end but also a crucial point of transition and renewal.
INNER REFLECTION
We do not run out of time, we run out of cycles.
In the presence of the card JUDGEMENT, we are brought into an audience with the understanding that a moment comes where Potential is utterly spent. Emergence is the pathway of existence and of Life, and along that pathway are branches and forks, like the growth of a tree from root to crown, but then also a less visible pathway from fruit to seed, to separation and exile, breaking open, and finally maturation and harvest.
The seed is the transitioning of Life from the Fruit. The Separation, falling from the tree and being swallowed up by the earth is another transition, as is the breaking open of the seed and the sprouting. Each stage is Life itself, travelling along an invisible pathway, disappearing from one ‘World’ to Emerge in the next.
Similarly, wheat is sown in the field, the stalks grow tall in the sun over summer to be harvested towards Autumn, right at its crowing glory. The ripe stalks of wheat then lie seemingly forgotten for a while, then threshed to separate the husk from the kernel, then ground into flour, then kneaded into dough and then placed into the transforming fire of the oven. At each stage of transition and transformation there is an ending of one way, one world of being, to make room for the next.
Not every wheat stalk grows equally tall in the sun, but every sheaf is counted.
To understand the journey of the seed and the seedling, the journey of wheat from sowing to harvesting, threshing and then to the utter fulfilment of purpose as bread, is to begin to understand the grand arc of Life and the archetypal idea of Judgement and then also Covenant.
What would a seedling understand of the tree it might become or a tree of the forest it could birth? What could a caterpillar ever comprehend of its future life as a Butterfly?
We are reminded that all changes, all endings, and all forms of disappearance have some purpose and are part of a necessity. Whatever we see in the world that may seem unjust, is simply a lack of perspective in which we are blind to the other half of the context. The Invitation to Faith then, is to Understand the Law and abide by the Law. This then the Covenant of Eternal Life.
When you see a pendulum reach the zenith of its swing to the right, as it is arrested, that potential of the swing to the left is what is recorded in the moment of Judgement. The principle by which the Laws of Physics thus prevail and action engenders equal or opposite reaction is Justice, precisely. The Pronouncement of Motion is half defined by the sin curve of the Pendulum over time which we see as Kinetic energy, and the other in the interstitial hanging moment of Stillness between cycles which is potential energy. Judgement is the translation between the two, precisely.
Judgement is the reckoning and pronouncement of Karma. The parts and the whole suffer a shared Karma and a shared Dharma, degrees of shared Law of Cause and Effect and also some shared purpose which is the whole of Relativity.
The Big Bang itself was simply the most profound pronouncement of which Science is aware.
The title image depicts a motif of the trumpet, the clarion wordless pronouncement of Judgement to which everything yields, by which everything is measured and counted.
If you are interested in joining me for an integrated exploration of your own Archetypes, Symbolism, Mythos, Totems and Astrology via the Hermetic lens, and have an appetite for something deeper and more mature, schedule a call.