Justice

The 11th Key

Colour: Emerald Green
Sound: F Sharp
Sign: Libra (Cardinal Air)
SIMPLE LETTER: Work

This is Path between Beauty and Severity. The activity of Justice is continuously at work in the greater Universe and the individual Soul.

The Soul weighs itself on the scales in the left hand and then makes the necessary adjustments wielding the sword on the right. The sword has two edges, one which destroys and one which consecrates by conferring knighthood. Justice is therefore a regulator of energy.

To illustrate by way of an example. As we drive a car down the road, Justice is what is correcting the wheel in either direction to keep it centered. This purposeful equilibriating function occurs in our bodies and our Personalities. It works through reason and natural force. Therefore, if we do not decide for ourselves to bring something into balance, it will be decided for us. If we deprive our bodies of sleep, we will eventually be forced to rest or simply collapse. No constant extreme of behavior can be tolerated if we are to operate effectively in our environment.

It is a path where whatever necessary is done to bring an organism into equilibrium. A process which may not always be pleasant. Justice is therefore also associated with karma in that it is an action of continuous adjustment. Crowley named this card Adjustment and described it with the following 'by equilibrium and self-sacrifice is the Gate'. We learn often slowly and painfully how to analyze and rebalance ourselves as necessary for different situations. Perfect balance is a formula so precise that the Egyptians symbolized its delicacy as a human soul weighed against a feather.

There is a special relationship between Justice and the Fool created by Lamed, meaning ox goad and Aleph meaning ox, attributed to the Fool. Justice maintains the balance of the tree so that the outpouring energy of the Fool operates within the confines of a natural pattern. He is the ruler of balance. Without lamed aleph could not function. Another important factor to consider is that Justice is the twenty second path, a number which is also the totality of all the paths on the tree. It is therefore the amalgam of all the paths which are self-focused.

To this card is attributed Libra and the ruler of Libra is Venus. This shows us that behind Justice stands the Empress, the primary path of Venus. Just as Lamed refers to all the twenty-two Paths, Venus refers to all the Sephiroth. It is the only planet whose symbol encompasses every Sephiroth on the tee of life. Implying that love is the ultimate power of the Universe. Remember that the Sephiroth are objective whilst the Paths are subjective. Here they are complementary conditions, and one cannot exist without the other.