Fenestra Tarot Study Group - Justice

Fenestra: Justice

Let´s just get the ball rolling!
I read somewhere that the first printing is already nearly sold out. So I bet we´ll soon have others to join us here.
I can start. Here goes..


Justice:

She´s very androgynous like most people in this deck. She´s beautiful, serene and benign, but also quite stern. A no-nonsense kind of a gal. She´s standing in a Palace, between two big stone pilars. What is behind the curtain? There seems to be just a wall, so why is there a curtain? This could be the same Palace where the High Pirestess also sits.
The scales she holds are in balance, and she quite clearly intends to keep them that way. She looks absolutelly trustworthy and reliable.
Her sword points down to the earth. Why? It looks heavy and she´s resting her arm perhaps? I usually prefer Justice to hold her sword pointing upwards (like in Morgan-Greer), but in this card it looks ok the way it is. It makes me think that it is okay to be physically weak and yet you can mentally be the stongest of all.
I like the way she´s dressed. It´s feminine but not too much so. Her dress is a funny combination of very practical working clothes and two seremonious flowing fabrics (blue and red) that she´s wearing maybe just for this picture.
Her slipper is beautiful. It´s Oriental in style, and there is something in that slipper that suggests a good sense of humor. This Lady might like to join the Fool when she´s off duty!

OK, Justice... I love what you have written about her, hemera.

To me she looks stern, nothing will get in the way between her and justice! It contrasts very much with the shoes, it does look like it that after everything has been balanced, she likes to go out and play!

It looks like she is stepping on her shawl thing - Perhaps if she took a step she might trip over. I guess this reminds us that finding balance can be very delicate matter.

It is intersting that the sword is pointing downwards. I think this makes her seem a bit more relaxed, leaning on her sword. Maybe we need tools to help us keep balance?

The leaves in her hair remind me of those thingys (can't think of the word) that symbolises peace. So keeping justice is also a way of keeping peace.

She is also androgynous, both masculine and feminine. I think this is another way of symbolising balance.

Anyway, these are my first impressions of Justice.

I like your idea of the head thingy! Peace is needed for Justice, yes!!

Would you like to take the next card and start a thread for it?

The wreath on her head looks like a laurel wreath.. I think it was worn as a sign of authority. Ceasar wore one and so did his cohorts or officers or whatever they were. I think it also means victory. I'm not very well-versed in that era, but if memory serves me, those are a couple of meanings.

I get more of a feeling that this is a man. His hair and face seem more masculne to me and other men in the deck also have flowing "skirts". I've noticed on his left arm there is a white "sleeve" between his forearm and his elbow. It almost seems like it could be a bandage. Perhaps it's just another layer of clothing, but his right arm doesn't have the white sleeve. Could it be that he's been in battle? He's bandaged up his arm and lowered his sword because he is in need of rest, or perhaps, due to the whimsical outfit he's wearing, he's in need of fun to balance out the battle he's just finished?

This figure appears more masculine to me, too.

I don't like that the sword is pointed downward and touching the stone base. Seems to me a sword in this inverted position symbolized defeat during medieval times. Maybe with Justice being ruled by the airy sign of Libra, this indicates some sort of grounding. That the rulings made by Justice are as practical as they are rational.

~Val

Hi ,
I recieved these cards yesterday. They are beautiful!!!
Justice shows that balance can be quite tricky. This person looks to me like he´s having a hard time trying to keep everything balanced.
I see him as trying to put the sword in an upright position. Again trying to do two things at once can be hard. Balancing the scales and trying to keep the sword upright.
He want´s to restore balance to the situation with out the aid of the sword.

The figure is standing in an elegant pose that reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of Balinese dancers. His/her weight is on the standing leg but the sword is necessary for balance. This makes me think that it is all about balance. Keeping things in balance.

A red cloth and a blue cloth flow off the figure. This suggests that it is important to consider more than one side or point of view. Look at the red side and the blue side. They can exist together.

As Hemera pointed out there is a curtain in the background and we can't see what is behind it. It is important to have the concept of fairness and Justice because you don't know every eventuality, you don't know what will come out from behind the curtain and upset your balance.

Edited to add: I've never liked the Justice card before in any deck. Because this one is in motion it really shows that process of keeping balance and this speaks to me much more than the idea of Justice as an abstract principle. I got this as my card for the day the day after writing this, along with another, and it made more sense to see it as balance rather than the more moralistic concept of Justice.

Is this a woman? It looks to me more like an Egyptian page/court type of lad.....however....looking closely there might just be 'bumps on the chest'.....so who knows....maybe we se what we want to see as to the gender.

The scales and the sword are the balance and justice of the card....and yes, the curtain is there to let you see that there might just be something unexpected to deal with....something not settled that needs attention...while the pillars denote the legal, courtroom appearance....

He/she is neither smiling nor angry......echoing the scales that are perfectly level.

We start off level....and it is up to us to regain the balance if we upset it.

Ang x

I also thought this one was a man, but then my immediate thought was then that Justice is a concept where being neither one nor the other gender, simply being there to give out 'justice' regardless of what sex, background etc, was acutally quite appropriate.

Following on from this I noticed that this Justice has a laurel wreath and what look like Turkish court slippers on. Certainly, all of his clothes don't seem to match. Perhaps again, Justice has taken elements from different places - roman laurels, a knight's surcoat and the slippers - it makes me think of people having disussions in teahouses or holding long conversations about important things, listening to each other; in order to have the most measured approach to life.

The sword... hmm.. I like the counterpoise of the sword pointed downwards when the scales are raised upwards, in the same way that I like the fact that you can see Justice's eyes, which are very level (like the scales), and looking straight at you. This is a very Mona Lisa face - the eyes follow you - you can't get away! Holding a sword loosely like this is seems to show that Justice 'could' use it if s/he wanted to, but at the moment chooses not to.

It's interesting to me that I drew this card for the first time in my daily draw on a day when my mother and I had to make quite a big descision about doing 'what was right'.