Excerpt from Meditation on the
Eighth Major Arcanum of the Tarot
JUSTICE
______________
LA JUSTICE
The Son and the Spirit — this is all that is
granted to us. With respect to absolute
unity or the Father, no one has been able
to see him nor will see him in this world,
if this is not within the octenary — which
is, in fact, the only way whereby one could
attain to him.
(Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, Des nombres)
Quis custodiat custodes? (Who will guard
the guards? ... The fundamental problem
of jurisprudence)
Dear Unknown Friend,
The seventh Arcanum taught us how inner equilibrium is attained; the teaching of the eighth Arcanum is how this equilibrium, once reached, is maintained; and the ninth Arcanum shows us the method or way which opens up to he who knows how to attain and maintain equilibrium. In other words, the seventh Arcanum tells us how to attain equilibrium (or health), the eighth Arcanum shows us the "mechanism" of microcosmic and macrocosmic equilibrium and the ninth Arcanum teaches us the "way of peace" or the "middle way" — that of balanced spiritual development — which is proper to Hermeticism, taken as the synthesis of mysticism, gnosis, magic and science.
The Card of the eighth Arcanum represents a woman seated on a yellow seat between two pillars, dressed in a red tunic and covered with a blue mantle. She holds a yellow sword and a yellow balance in her hands. On her head she wears a three-part tiara mounted by a crown.
Now, the totality of the Card evokes the idea of law interposed between the free action of the individual will and the essence of being. Man can act from his own free will — law reacts to his action through visible and invisible effects. But behind this reaction is found the essential ground of ultimate reality (the ens realissimum of St. Thomas Aquinas), which confers universality, regularity and immutability to the reactions of law. Law is interposed between the freedom of man and the freedom of God. She is seated between two pillars: that of will (Jachin) and that of providence (Boaz). She does not act; she can only react. This is why she is represented as a woman and not as a man. The crown which she wears indicates that she derives her dignity and mission from above — from the supreme Being, from providence. The balance and the sword that she holds in her hands indicate what she guards (equilibrium) and how she guards it (the sanction of equilibrium) in the domain of the free will of individuals. Thus she says: "I am seated on the seat which is between the individual will of beings and the universal will of the supreme Being. I am the guardian of equilibrium between the individual and the universal. I have the power to re-establish it each time that it is violated. I am order, health, harmony, justice."
It is the balance which indicates equilibrium — or order, health, harmony and justice — and it is the sword which signifies the power to re-establish it each time that the individual will sins against the universal will.
This is the general meaning of the Card which, so to say, captures our attention from the very beginning of our meditation on the eighth Arcanum. Yet the general meaning — although many consider it as the goal of their efforts towards knowledge — is only the antechamber to the Hermetic meaning. For this latter does not lie in the generality obtained by the method of abstraction, but rather in the depth obtained by the method of penetration. The general answers obtained by means of abstraction are, in reality, only so many questions and tasks assigned for penetration. Because the more a general idea is abstract, the more superficial it is. The most general and most abstract idea which exists in philosophy is that of the "Absolute" (cf. Hegel), but it is at the same time the most superficial idea in the world. In signifying all, it expresses nothing. You can certainly die — and even live — for God, but you would never die as a martyr for the Absolute. Because to die for the Absolute amounts to dying for nothing. The idea of the Absolute is only a shadow of shadows, whilst the living God is the prototype of prototypes ... the prototype of prototypes, this means to say: the universal Father.
One of the meanings of the first commandment — "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exodus xx, 3) — is that one should not substitute an intellectual abstraction of God for the spiritual reality of God. One therefore sins against the
first commandment when one substitutes for the fiery, luminous and vibrant Being of life the abstractions of a "principle" or "idea" be it the "First Cause", or the "Absolute" which are, truth to tell, only mentally "graven images" or mental idols created by the human intellect.
Therefore, let us not sin against the first commandment and let us not substitute mentally graven images or abstract ideas for the reality of justice. But, on the other hand, let us also not embrace the cause of intellectual iconoclasts who want to see only idols in every concept and abstract idea. For all concepts and abstract ideas can become icons or "sacred images" when one considers them not as the end, but rather as the beginning of the way of knowledge of spiritual reality. In the domain of the intellectual life, hypotheses do not play the role of idols, but rather that of sacred images. Because no one accepts a hypothesis as absolute truth, just as no one worships a sacred image as absolute reality. Yet hypotheses are fruitful in that they lead us to the truth, in guiding us to it within the totality of our experience — just as icons or sacred images are also fruitful in leading us to experience the spiritual reality that they represent. An icon is the beginning of the way to spiritual reality; it does not replace it — as in idolatry — but gives an impulse and direction towards it. Similarly, a concept or abstract idea does not replace spiritual reality, but rather gives an impulse and direction towards it. Therefore, let us avoid the Scylla of idolatry and the Charybdis of the intellectual iconoclastic attitude, and let us take abstract ideas as hypotheses leading to the truth, and images or symbols as our guides to reality. Let us therefore not commit the error of wanting to "explain" a symbol by reducing it to a few general abstract ideas. Let us also avoid the error of wanting to "concretise" an abstract idea by clothing it in the form of an allegory. Rather, let us seek practical spiritual experience of reality and the truth by means of concrete images as well as abstract ideas. For the Tarot is a system or organism of spiritual exercises; in the first place it is practical. If this were not so, it would be hardly worthwhile to occupy oneself with it.
Therefore, let us take the Arcanum "Justice" as an invitation towards an effort of consciousness with the intention of arriving at an experience of the reality it represents and an understanding of the truth that it expresses. First of all, the fact may be stated that it is in the domain of judgement that the reality and truth of justice manifests itself Because to pronounce judgement with respect to anything whatsoever amounts to an action having as its aim the finding of justice. It is not only the judges at tribunals who judge; everyone judges in the degree to which he thinks. All of us, in so far as we are thinking beings, are judges. Because every problem, every question that we try to resolve, gives way in reality to a session for our inner tribunal, where the "pros and cons" are confronted and weighed before judgement is pronounced. We are all judges, good or bad; we are also, and we exercise the functions of a judge almost unceasingly from morning 'til night. The commandment — "Thou shalt not judge" (Matthew vii, 1) — would therefore amount to the renunciation of thought. For to think is to judge. "True" and "false", "beautiful" and "ugly", "good" and "bad" are judgments that we pronounce many
times each day. Nevertheless, it is one thing to judge and another thing to condemn. One judges phenomena and actions, but one cannot judge beings as such. Because to do so would exceed the competence of the judgement of thought. Therefore one should not judge beings, because they are inaccessible to the judgement of thought which is founded only on phenomenal experience. Thus, negative judgement concerning beings, or their condemnation, is in reality impossible. And it is in this sense that there is a ground for understanding the Christian commandment: "Thou shalt not judge" i.e. do not judge beings, do not condemn. For he who condemns assumes a function of which he is not capable. He lies in presenting as truth and justice a judgement which is devoid of any foundation. It is therefore better to say to one's neighbour, "You are acting like a madman", since whoever says, "You are mad", deserves to be punished by the fire of hell (cf. Matthew v, 22).
Therefore, one has to know the extent of one's knowledge and ignorance when one makes a judgement. And one is always ignorant of the noumenal being (or the soul) of another. This is why no human judgement has bearing on the soul.