Justice, the eleventh card of the Major Arcana, is the Daughter of the Lords of Truth and the Ruler of the Balance. At Mabon, the Autumn Equinox, she stands most clearly before us, for this is the moment when day and night are equal, and the year pauses in perfect equilibrium before descending into winter.
The Symbols of Justice
Across tarot traditions, Justice appears as a seated figure with sword and scales in the Rider Waite Smith, as Adjustment in the Thoth deck, as goddess figures in feminist and Pagan-inspired decks, and as surreal visions in the Dalí tarot. Each portrayal shares her core essence: she is balance, clarity, and accountability.
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Sword: truth and discernment, able to cut through illusion.
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Scales: weighing action and consequence, cause and effect.
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Throne or Pillars: structure, order, and stability.
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Red, green, or blue robes: life force, harmony, and clarity.
In Thoth’s Adjustment, she is not static but poised in dance, wings extended, scales in balance. This teaches that justice is a living act of equilibration, not a fixed state.
The Sacred Number Eleven
Justice is most often numbered XI, paired with Strength at VIII in the Rider Waite Smith. Eleven is a master number of illumination, awakening, and higher perception. It contains the doubled energy of one, the force of will, refined and elevated toward truth.
In older decks, Justice was placed at VIII, linked to cycles, karma, and cause-and-effect. Whether as Eight or Eleven, her presence teaches accountability and right relationship.
Esoteric Correspondences
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Title: XI Justice, Daughter of the Lords of Truth, Ruler of the Balance
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Astrological Dignity: Libra, cardinal air. Ruled by Venus, with Saturn exalted
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Hebrew Letter: ל, Lamed, meaning “ox-goad” (work, discipline). Value: 30
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Sephirothic Path: Path 22 on the Tree of Life, joining Geburah (5, Severity/Strength, Mars) to Tiphareth (6, Beauty, Sun)
These correspondences deepen her themes:
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Libra brings balance, harmony, and the relational air element.
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Venus and Saturn bring the meeting of love and law, beauty and discipline, mercy and severity.
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Lamed, the ox-goad, shows that balance requires work and correction.
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Path 22 reminds us that Justice mediates between the rigor of Geburah and the harmony of Tiphareth, holding severity and beauty in tension until balance is restored.
Themes of Justice
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Truth and clarity
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Balance and equilibration
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Cause and effect, karma, timing
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Love (Venus) meeting law (Saturn)
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Impartiality and fairness
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Music and structure as “air in form”
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The dance of constant adjustment
Justice is not only about judgment after the fact. She is about ongoing course correction, pruning when necessary, and adapting continuously so that truth may be lived.
Justice in Readings
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Upright: truth, fairness, accountability, clarity, cause and effect.
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Reversed: dishonesty, denial, imbalance, injustice, refusal to see truth.
Justice does not punish. She reveals. She holds a mirror to our actions and invites us to align with what is true.
Justice at Mabon
At the Autumn Equinox, we experience Justice’s lesson in the turning of the year. Day and night are equal. Summer’s warmth yields to autumn’s coolness. The harvest is gathered and weighed. What we planted earlier in the year has ripened, for good or ill, and now we see the truth of our actions.
Justice at Mabon is the reckoning of the harvest. What do you celebrate? What do you regret? What must be cut away, like overgrowth in a garden, so that balance may be restored?
A Pagan Lens
Pagans may see Justice as Ma’at, weighing the heart against the feather, or as Themis, goddess of divine order. She is found in the cycles of balance between light and dark. At Mabon, she is the balance of the equinox itself. Her teaching is that balance is not rigid equality but harmony, where all things find their rightful place.
A Druidic Lens
For Druids, Justice is woven into the order of nature. She is the balance of sky, sea, and land. She is the oak’s strength and the stream’s clarity. She is sovereignty, which demands responsibility, reciprocity, and truth. Justice reminds Druids that right relationship with the land, ancestors, and community requires continuous adjustment, like the dance of the Thoth Adjustment card.
To live her way is to live truthfully, to align with rhythm, and to honor the reciprocity of all life.
Summary: Seasonal Correspondences
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Mabon (Autumn Equinox): Justice’s strongest alignment, the balance of light and dark.
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Libra Season: her astrological home, cardinal air seeking harmony.
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Winter Solstice: another time of weighing and release, when we discern what cannot be carried into the new year.
Seasonal Meditation with Justice
Find a quiet space and imagine yourself at the edge of a field at sunset. Justice appears before you, holding her scales. On one side she asks you to place the fruits of your year: your successes, joys, and harvests. On the other, place what has been neglected, what weighs heavily, or what you are ready to release.
The scales shift and find balance. Justice does not judge but shows you the truth. She offers you her sword. With it you may cut away what no longer serves. See it fall to the ground and sink into the soil as compost, feeding the future.
When you open your eyes, breathe into the balance that remains. You carry her gift of truth and harmony into the turning year.
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