| Justice | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Other Names |
Themis ("The Scales and Blade") |
|
First Appearance |
Tarot Card Decks |
|
Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
Justice is a Major Arcana tarot card, numbered either VIII or XI, depending on the deck. This card is used in game playing as well as in divination.
The Justice card, as a member of the tarot deck, appears in early tarot, such as the Tarot de Marseilles. It is part of the tarot's Major Arcana, and usually follows the Chariot, as card VIII, although some decks vary from this pattern. The virtue Justice accompanies two of the other cardinal virtues in the Major Arcana: temperance and strength.
The figure on the card holds a scale made of gold in their left hand, symbolizing a balanced decision.
According to A. E. Waite's 1910 book Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the Justice card carries several divinatory associations:
11. JUSTICE.—Equity, rightness, probity, executive; triumph of the deserving side in law. Reversed: Law in all its departments, legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity.
In astrology, the Justice card is associated with the planet Venus and the Libra zodiac sign.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Justice from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910)
Public Domain Game Appearances[]
- Rider–Waite Tarot Deck (1910)
Notes[]
- In "Stardust Crusaders", the third part of Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, every character's "stand" is based on a different tarot card.
- The Basanos are a living Tarot deck created by Meleos while coping from the book of destiny of the endless, it developed a mind of their own and became the enemies of Lucifer during his self-titled series from Vertigo Comics.