Truth and others
Justice is blind. I find the image of Justice blindfolded is the most honest dispenser of truth. She cannot use her sight to discern the truth but instead must evaluate the information available and render her verdict from there. It illustrates the challenges in being honest with others. The Justice card is given the sign of Libra and represents the balance between Venus and Saturn or Love and Limitation.

I had a client recently bring up their desire to be more honest with the people around them. We spent some time talking about what they meant by that and it came out there were a couple of hidden desires at play. The first was a desire to tell people what this client really felt about them and their actions. The unspoken goal behind this desire to speak ‘honestly’ here was to encourage the people involved to be more in line with what my client wanted them to be like. The tone of the conversation also carried with it the idea that a more accurate way to describe the telling of truth being addressed is ‘brutal honesty.’ My experience of this kind of honesty is that when leveled against those around us it is usually very damaging. The banner of brutal honesty functions to give permission for al kinds of criticism, which usually are untempered by compassion. I know when people start to lay all my faults out in front of me it is rare that I take up that challenge with grace. Instead I, like most people, either withdraw or react in kind.

Criticisms leveled at others under the guise of honesty speak to the Saturnian side of the Justice card. Saturn governs that side of Justice that is can be too cold, calculating or driven by the rules. It is not a question of whether these attempts at honesty are true or not that determines their success it’s the motivation. When we speak without kindness and compassion we can rest assured that it is not the other persons best interests we have in mind but our own.

The second desire of my client was to feel more connected with those around them. The hoped for impact of speaking the truth was not generally to push everyone away, though it might accomplish just that. It was to make people be more able to fulfill the need of my client. It was a call for Love and connection with others. In fact you might say that this person was reaching out looking for others to see their Truth and to interact with them around what was truest and most core to them.

Here we have the other side of the Justice card playing out – the side governed by Venus. We all crave love and connection with others. Being seen by others is often both a desire and a fear. We want to be appreciated yet we fear rejection.

In the Justice card we have two polarities playing out against each other creating the balance. Grab your Justice card and meditate on the fine point of balance found in this card. Keep in mind that if someone tells us only things to make us feel good we know on some level that it is not true and if someone only blasts us with the Truth we won’t stay around too long.