Judgement (tarot card)

The Judgment (XX) from the Rider–Waite tarot deck

Judgement (XX), or in some decks spelled Judgment, is a tarot card, part of the Major Arcana suit usually comprising 22 cards.

Card meanings

• Judgement
• Rebirth
• Inner-calling
• Absolution
• Karma
• Causality
• Second chance

Description

The traditional scene is modeled after Christian imagery of the Resurrection and Last Judgment. An angel, possibly Metatron, probably Israfil, is depicted blowing a great trumpet, from which hangs the flag of St. George, which references the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. A group of resurrected people (man, woman, and child) of sallow complexion stand, arms spread, looking up at the angel in awe. The Sleeping Dead are emerging from crypts or graves, calling back to the Book of Revelation chapter 20, where the sea gives up its dead. There are snow-covered mountains in the background indicating a winter theme, similar to The Hermit, as a symbolical ending.

Alternative decks

• In the Thoth tarot deck, Judgement is referred to as The Aeon and includes pictorial representations of Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Harpocrates.

Interpretation

According to A. E. Waite's 1910 book Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the Judgement card is associated with:

Change of position, renewal, outcome. Another account specifies total loss though lawsuit. Reversed: Weakness, pusillanimity, simplicity; also deliberation, decision, sentence.

In Media

In the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stardust Crusaders characters' powers (also known as 'Stands') are named after tarot cards. The Judgement 'stand' belongs to Cameo, a minor antagonist.

In the game Helltaker, the final demon girl the Helltaker finds is Judgement, titled "The High Prosecutor".

In The House of the Dead, each of its bosses in the mainline series are named after the Major Arcana Tarot Cards (excluding The Devil.) The first boss in its second installment (Type-28) is named after the Judgement card.

In the Persona video game series, many characters (or groups of characters) are associated with each of the Major Arcana. In Revelations: Persona Eriko Kirishima represents the Judgement Arcana, while in Persona 5 it is represented by Sae Niijima (as a 'Confidant'). In Persona 3 and Persona 4, the 'Social Links' of the Nyx Annihilation Team and Seekers of Truth (both representing the entire main teams as a whole) respectively represent the Judgement tarot. Many 'Personas' the player can obtain in the series also can be of this arcana.

See also

• Angels in art