Le Jugement - how may it be read?

jmd

Though the image speaks of the last Judgement, there is also a sense that both the figures out of the single coffin (an initiatory one?), as well as the figure within the coffin, are able to see and hear the clarion blasted from the angelic being (who appears cross-eyed from the effort in, for example, the Noblet).

In readings, it may be that here one is called back from a sejourn within, to be called to take part once more in the world.

Alternatively, it may also be a call to wakeup to the spiritual world permeating and veritably forming our very world...
 

firemaiden

(so...jmd, is this what happens when the King of Swords lifts his feet off that vault?)
 

tmgrl2

I think of

Life Review...

the one that flashes before our eyes when we die...

or the one that happens anywhere along the way in life...

As I look at the card, I can't help but see the two figures as "greeters" to the one who just arrived in the tomb.

In the background, mountains.

Oh no, more mountains to climb!

So...a new beginning.

Forgiveness of self or others.

A period of healing.

Revelations

Freedom on the horizon.

terri
 

Moonbow

I usually see this card as a wakeup call, heralding the moving on from the earthly world to the spiritual one. I agree that the card is reminiscent of the Last Judgement, which represented the spiritual and earthly planes as well as hell. The Angel is therefore calling to the people to join him/her in heaven, the judgement being whether they will follow or go the alternate path. But is this a choice for the individual, or are they chosen?

This can be read as following a spiritual life, or advising that there is an opportunity handed out to follow a spiritual path, and that a choice should be taken, or at least notice should be taken of it, not ignored. The fact that the people are praying when the Angel appears makes me feel as though it was of their doing and therefore the choice was theirs alslo. I wonder, if in a reading, this card could simply mean that the querant will receive a message, or that by listening carefully, that things will become clear - regarding a situation.
 

shaveling

Insidious Imagery

In Catholic tradition, at the funeral of a layman, the body is placed with the feet toward the altar, so he is facing the altar, as it were. At a priest's funeral, the head of the corpse is toward the altar so that the body faces the congregation. The edifying explanation I've always heard for this is that at the resurrection, the priest's first glimpse of the returning Lord will not be a direct view, but a reflection in the eyes of his flock.

In this card where the tonsured figure faces the woman and the apparently non-tonsured man, I think of that. One thing it can show is a teacher or spiritual leader or guide being brought face to face with the fruit of his or her labors.

The other thing I see in the card probably isn't there. But I can't get it out of my head. When I see one man and one woman in devotional attitudes before a priest, I think I'm looking at a wedding. As a point for meditation that works, I think. The things the Judgement card says about indivuals, it can also say about our social institutions, even the most fundamental one. But what to do with this in a reading, I don't know.

So I remind myself that none of the books I've seen mention this, and the man and woman are on the wrong sides, as far as my experience of weddings goes. And everybody's naked and hip-deep in a graveyard. So I'm probably making it up. Still:the connections between this card and The Lover, and the picture looking so much like a wedding .... Maybe I'll grow out of it.
 

ncefafn

I've thought about this a lot, and I just don't find that for myself this card is referring to the Day of Judgment referred to in the book of Revelations. This is the raising up of one dead person. Only one person is coming out of the tomb. To me, this is Jesus (or the seeker who has discovered Christ within him/herself) rising from the tomb on the third day, and being greeted by Mary Magdalene and Peter (was it Peter?).

The seeker has died, and his soul has been returned to the All by the Great Alchemist. He has gone to hell, where he has learned that the devil can only hold him as long as the seeker allows himself to be held. When he realizes this, he receives enlightenment that strikes the tower, blows the lid off all of the seeker's old perceptions, and he is liberated. He journeys to the stars, the moon and the sun (which reminds me of the Sumerian myth about one of the great kings who flew to the heavens on the back of an eagle), and then realized that he was one with all of those celestial bodies; that he is fashioned from the same stuff that comprises the heavenly bodies and the earth. After he has made this realization, he then has the duty to return (like a good little boddhisattva) and pass this wisdom along to his fellow human beings (the man and the woman who greet him at the tomb). What's interesting is that the person in the tomb is tonsured, like the kneeling figures in Le Pape. But the seeker has now become the teacher, for the man and the woman who greet him do so with palms in prayer position.

Anyway, that's just my nonsensical rambling for today. Over and out.

Kim
 

Satori

Noblet: Le Iugement

It may be that only one man sees the angel, the others, well the woman seems to see the man, and the third human we don't know what he sees.

This card sort of cracks me up. The angel is cross-eyed...so to me this speaks of not seeing the world quite the way we do. It may be that the angel is bored of blowing that horn again...and the crowd listening well they have other things on their minds too.

This may be about paying more attention to the moment, so that if called upon you know for what purpose you are being summoned!

Or more simply, Someone may be trying to get your attention! (Whether they be of heaven or of earth....or of other realms is to be debated.)
 

Moonbow

Satori said:
Or more simply, Someone may be trying to get your attention! (Whether they be of heaven or of earth....or of other realms is to be debated.)

This is a great way to read this card Satori and particularly the bit about the message possibly being from other realms.

It could also be read as a realisation or idea, but one where there is a deeper sense of needing to follow that idea, as though you have little choice.
 

Lumen

Sorry to disrupt the sleeping post with a completely different interpretation, but to me this card shows healing, rebirth, renewal, return to life, a second chance, and it often appeared to me when I was due to see a doctor.

The couple looking at the subject of the card - the person who has risen from the dead - seem to be in joy, and thanking heaven for his return. The angel is announcing his rebirth, therefore healing. Why is it called Le Jugement? Because in Catholic religion after death you are judged for your earthly actions, if you were a good person you will reincarnate into a higher being. Also it allures to Christ's return from the grave on the Holy Friday, people rejoiced on his return on Saturday of Halleluiah, and he ascends to heaven on Easter Sunday. After all, this is a Marseilles deck, French, therefore it follows Catholic traditions...

Lumen
 

Bernice

The Noblet

It's a shame the great angel is cross-eyed. He also looks rather bored with the whole proceedure, as if it were the umpteenth time of doing it.

The 'droplets' draw my attention, they only appear shaped like this in two other cards, the Sun and the Moon, as though falling up from earth. I'm wondering if it's because a celestial presence was thought to draw forth moisture from the earthly realms. If so, why? Are the Waters of Life about to merge with another realm, perhaps an instinctive response to awareness of contact with something from another level of existence (or experience).....

The fellow in the foreground rising from the tomb seems to have a tonsure (bald patch on top of his head). If he's not priestly, as shaveling suspects, then perhaps he's a good catholic/christian - one who has followed the church rules, therefore the angel specifically calls him forth. .....to a well earned heavenly life?

I've no idea what the other two people are meant to be doing, they look both hopeful and unsure. But as all three humans are naked, maybe they too are 'dead' and are hoping to get the call, but nothing is happening for them.


How it may be read.....
I think it may be that you'll get judged on personal merit and found worthy. If you've 'done right', in whatever the circumstances are, you'll move on to the next level, if not you'll stay put. This meaning might apply to any endeavour or undertaking - or even an ambition.

If the card is reversed or accompanied by 'negative' cards, it could mean that the 'move' is delayed or denied. Or that the person is perhaps stuck in a rut - just not trying, or not doing their best.

Bee :)

Interestingly I just found this. See Ross' post (1) re. Judgment/Fame HERE..
Exerpt from Ross' post: "....The allegory is, that just as the Stars are outshone by the Moon, and the Moon by the Sun, so the World is bigger than the Sun and Fame, shown with the Trumpet, is worth more than the World: so much that when a man is gone, he continues to live through fame, when he has performed glorious acts"