A New Beginning...

The tarot card that came up today was "Judgment", which is perfect with today's full moon eclipse, as it speaks of enlightenment that spurs us to decisions that herald a fresh new beginning.

The idea many of us carry about this word, the connotation of it that has been handed down to us, is negative. But it's meaning (at least in the Tarot) actually centers around a positive shift in consciousness, bringing about "great change, restored relationship, and family or group happiness".  Judgment is card XX of the Major Arcana, which begins with card 0, the Fool (possibility) and ends with card XXI, the World (completion), and describes the "Fool's Journey" of enlightenment. 

"Notice the joy and wonder in the six people rising from what appear to be open coffins.  No one is being judged. No one is being sent anywhere.  Instead we see a great rising up, symbolic of change in consciousness, one that may have been building for a long time but seems to happen all of a sudden....  Waite makes clear that the horn does not signify an apocolyptic end of the world but a spiritual transformation." ~Rachel Pollack, The New Tarot Handbook

Judgment, Card XX, from the Rider-Waite Tarot

Divinatory Meanings:
A fresh start. Renewal, especially of a relationship, whether romantic or family, that had seemed dead.  Outer realization of a great change that has already happened internally.  Family or group celebration

In the book, Numerology and the Divine Triangle, the authors suggest even more ancient wisdom behind the meaning of this card. ​

"The key symbols for this card are tooth, fang and serpent....  Wisdom, which is kept silent, destroys the forms of the outer world and reveals the hidden nature of things so that you may absorb the spiritual essence....  The cobra was the sacred symbol of Egypt and India.  Its venom attacks every cell of the body instantly.  The serpent's fang conveys the poison.  The analogy is that wisdom can be like acid which instantly eats away everything false. Therefore, the key word for this card is realization.  Astrologically it is ruled by Vulcan.  When we have gained realization of spiritual things, our personal consciousness is ready to blend with a mental grasp of the real world, where our attitude is the reverse of most people's because we identify ourselves with the One Reality.  Our subconscious minds are dominated by true will.  Our judgment day is the day we have reached our ability to judge the true from the false.  The card represents the call to judgment day.  The angel Gabriel calls those who are ready to hear the truth which shall set them free and give them new life.  Stone coffins, the human body, arise from the deep.  They are black when closed, from the lack of light, or truth.  The three states of consciousness arise:  man, consciousness; woman, subconsciousness; and child, superconsciousness.  In older versions of the Tarot, their arms spell the word lux or light.  They have come into illumination."

"In mythology, Vulcan was thrown from heaven.  He became the keeper of the flame, tending the forges of heaven and earth.  He was also known as the master craftsman.  Despite the lameness resulting from his fall, he traveled frequently between heaven and earth."

"The analogy in the myth represents the fall of our spirit into form, ruled by Saturn.  The spirit's freedom is hampered by the physical body.  The fiery force must be well tended by keeping open the line of communication between the body and spirit."

"Vulcan may eventually be assigned to Virgo, the perfect servant and tender of health, as was Vulcan."

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Judgment, Shadowscapes Tarot

Meaning:  Release and renewal, absolution, the freshness of a new dawn, a new start.  Making a judgment, though it might be harsh and difficult to face; the necessity of hard choices.  Face down those decisions, recognize the need, and forgive.  Reawakening, the mystery of birth and death.  The voice of destiny summons you onward. Hearing that undeniable call and being drawn to act upon it; knowing what must be done.

The description of Judgment in the Shadowscapes Tarot says this....

"Upon the arrival of Judgment Day, an angel sounds the horn to send out the Blast of Truth.  Let all the souls rise to that call then and lay their deeds out to be seen and judged by all.  Let the spirit be cleansed with burning light and fire, to be made pure.  

There comes a time for everyone when an accounting must be held.  It is time to evaluate the phase of life just past, to recognize and to appraise with an unbiased mind and honesty to oneself.  Every action has its result, for good or for ill, to be rewarded or to bear the need for absolution and forgiveness, cleansing and atonement.  And beyond that is the transition on to the next phase, a rebirth and a clean slate to begin again.

Red poppies are a symbol of sleep and death, sometimes an offering to the dead.  Like blood, their color stains the fields, brilliant and beautiful.  From that life-filled expanse of delicately swaying crimson and gold, butterflies take wing to bear the spirits onward in the metamorphosis of the soul.  The wide freedom and endless blue of the beyond awaits."

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For those who are ready, a new reality is right there in front of you for the taking.  Or actually, it's within you waiting to be realized.  

But giving up ideas and beliefs that we don't even know we have, or that we don't realize are our choice to change, or that we perceive as keeping us safe, or that are deeply ingrained as part of our identity, or that we believe get our needs met, is a difficult process.  And so we continue to struggle with the same life issues, never seeing our way beyond them, until one day something happens, and we are born into a new perspective and way of being.

And then the expanse of "the wide freedom and endless blue" opens up right before our eyes and we open to the all of the possibilities of this fresh new beginning.