Tarot Working, Judgment

Judgment

I had some trepidation about sitting with Judgment that I can’t quite put my finger on. I’m not sure what made me nervous before I started but I persevered and here is a record of my session.

I used the same opening as all the last cards and soon I felt a tingling sensation across my scalp on the back of my head. This was the sign of the arrival of the spirit.

I asked, “how can I use your energy in my life?” The angel in the image on the card seemed to spread its wings and the angel says, “flight”. The wings seem to keep extending until they have encircled me and further to encircle and embrace the world. Then they suddenly shrink down until they appear like ears on the angel’s head and the angel says, “listening deeply”.

I ask, “what are the lessons you can teach me?” A wave of goose bumps shiver across my left thigh and the angel says, “moving beyond the flesh.”

At this point my phone rings. We all freeze. When it finishes the angel smiles at me.

I ask, “are you Gabriel?” At this the angel gets a rather serious expression on its face and says, “among others”.

I ask, “what is the purpose of your trumpet?” Again I get the shiver across my leg but the vibration seems to leave my leg and expand and turn in to the vibration of a note played on the trumpet. The vibration spreads and soon it is vibrating all creation. And the angel says, “penetrate to the core”.

I ask, “what is you connection to The Lovers?” [the tarot card]. Around me the room seems to grow a little darker and the angel says, “I bring the lovers to their end”.

I ask, “what is your connection to Temperance?” [the tarot card]. The angel shines with a divine light and says something that I don’t catch. Then it starts to play the trumpet but I can’t hear anything. Then, quite apart from the figures down below I see a man appear next to the angel on its right. On the angel’s left flames appear. The angel says, “I am the other side of Temperance.” The angel puts its hand to its ear as if listening for something.

I ask, “who are the figures below?” At this I get a vision of people on the earth falling dead and their spirits rising from their bodies and ascending to heaven. The angel says, “they are the graves of the conscious and the unconscious.” Then the angel points to the figure in the card image that resembles a corpse. The corpse’s head is a swirl and the angel says, “this gate is the same as my gate,” and the angel also points to the ring of clouds from which it emerges which now resembles the same swirling shape that is the head of the corpse.

I ask, “are they alive or dead?” The angel says, “they are yet unconscious. They are distracted by the flesh. They have lain like insect larvae, developing in the grave. They emerge transformed.”

I ask, “how can I recognize your call?” The angel says, “all will hear it. There is no hiding from it.”

I ask, “what is your connection to the Underworld?” The angel says, “I pass between. All I call forth are obliged to come.” I see a vision of a dark figure on a subterranean cliff blowing a clarion as ranks of soldiers march below. Then the angel points to the flag attached to the trumpet and says, “the cross, it is the crossroads.”

Then the man in the grave at the bottom of the card starts to say something; he raises his hand slightly and opens his mouth to speak. He appears to be ready to argue and question the angel. The woman looks at him fearfully. The angel will not let him speak. The man wants to plead his case but Judgment is beyond placating.

Too late. The decision has already been made and the actions here are repercussions of that decision.

The woman is hiding something in her hand. It is a small stone, a jewel. She mistakes it for her heart. The corpse, who has nothing, is a direct conduit to God. The corpse’s head becomes the opening of the angel’s trumpet and the Will of God comes echoing out like music.

Then I see the light of the angel grow so intense that it sweeps across the earth, scorching the hills like a burning scythe. It reminds me of a similar vision I had with the Death card so I ask, “what is your connection to Death?” the angel says, “we both work the gate. Where Death recedes I expand.” And I understand Death as receptive and inward moving and Judgment as active and outward moving.

At this I decide it’s time to wrap this session up. I thank Judgement for speaking to me. I ask that Judgement be my ally and to be at peace and then I end the session.