Justice — VIII

Tarot de Marseilles 

Justice, harmony, equity, virtue, honor, virginity, just reward, good intentions, well-meaning actions, advice, self-satisfaction 

The first juicy thing about Justice is that she is not always rendered as card VIII. Sometimes she is placed as card XI, switching places with Strength, which is a more modern placement. 

Traditionally, the decks like the Marsailles Tarot decks have placed the Justice card as the 8th card, and the Strength card as the 11th card in the Major Arcana. The images remained pretty much the same as they are today - just the numbering was different. 

Justice still sat on a throne with a sword in one hand and a pair of scales in the other, while Strength still tamed a child beast and had the semblance of an Ouroboros on top of the head.

Many conjecture that this placement was made in order to confuse people about the true placement. Naturally, with the symbolism present in the cards, Justice would correspond astrologically with Libra, and Strength with Leo. With the traditional placement, the natural order of the astrological signs in the Major Arcana was upset. However, from the numerological point of view, this placement made a lot of sense. 8 is the number of balance and therefore Justice sits just right in this situation. And therefore, it is said that this placement was done more in keeping with numerological system than the astrological system. Strength and Tarot Crds in Tarot

Without making judgment as to which placement is most just, or making argument as to which trump ought to be eight, Justice will be investigated as card VIII in keeping with the traditional arrangement.

The notion that eight is a "number of balance" is somewhat obscured in the Roman numeral numbering system. Written as VIII (5 + 3), it is not at first obvious that 8 is also 4 + 4 which is balanced. However, in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs the number eight was written with four lines above and four lines below, and so this connection is readily apparent.  Transliterated to English it is pronounced  ḫmnw [ḫamanaw]"eight"(m.), ḫmnt [ḫamanat] "eight"(f.)

eight - 8

The Ogdoad [from the ancient Greek rendering όγδοάς "the Eightfold," ḫmnyw in Egyptian] were eight primordial gods/deities worshiped at Hermopolis.

The Ogdoad of Hermopolis, from the temple of Hathor

They stand in a configuration that is representative of the number eight itself. It is a balanced look with four sets of male( frog headed) / female (snake headed) pairs. 

Being primordial they are foundational. In this respect they correspond to Ma'at the ancient Egyptian goddess / concept representing truth, justice, balance, and order with which the world was created, and was in opposition to chaos/injustice (Isfet).

Not only was Ma'at foundational in this sense as a concept, she was also literally the foundation, [she] representing the plinth (we might say "mat") which thrones were set upon. 

Osiris seated on (two goddesses), a st "seat, place," that is, a throne (st / Aset/Isis[Gk.]) placed on a plinth(maa / Ma'at)

As a determinative the plinth hieroglyph (which formed the sound maa) had the meaning "platform; podium, Maat." 

       plinth hiroglyph = phonogram maa, Maat = Maa + t (common feminine gender indication)

Maat was depicted as a woman wearing a crown with a single ostrich feather protruding from it. She is occasionally depicted as a winged goddess. Her totem was a stone platform representing the stable foundation on which order was built and the primeval mound which first emerged from the waters of Nun (chaos [*primeval waters]). Maat, Ancient Egypt online

Ma'at is the foundation (mat) of everything just like the Ogdoad, the eight.

The hearts of the deceased were weighed against the feather of Maat / truth, upon the scales in the Hall of Judgment. 

Weighing of the heart ceremony[detail], Scales of Ma'at, Papyrus from tomb of scribe Hunefer, Thebes, 19th Dynasty, c.1285 BC, British Museum

So the scales have to do with the weighing of the heart which took place following death to determine whether a person would get to continue onto the afterlife, or, be otherwise consumed by Ammit, called the second death.

The eighth astrological house corresponds to the sign of Scorpio [a fixed water sign] whose {modern day} ruler is Pluto [aka, Hades, god of the underworld, god of death and rebirth, transformation, akin to Osiris of the ancient Egyptians who oversaw the weighing of the heart, called the "Judgment of Osiris"].

The 12 Houses - We'Moon

The eighth house is described by some (generally) as the house of death [a change of state, exchange of energy (such as in literal death, the body changes state, i.e., turns back to "dust")], sex [exchange of energy], money [lended and owed; a different type of energy exchange] and taxes.

This house is about rebirth, regeneration and the transformation of energy. Joint financial matters also come under the eighth house. (To the ancients, money is a form of concentrated energy.) The financial dealings in this house do not include earned income (that would be covered by the second house), but do cover money you lend and also owe others. Prizes, gifts, inheritances, tax payments and refunds, bonuses, commissions, royalties, child support, alimony, mortgages, credit, loans, and venture capitol are the kinds of transactions ruled by the eight house. Astrology Zone, by Susan Miller

So, perhaps we could say, the house of depths and the deep in keeping with its water element. 

Death is the great equalizer.

All share a common destiny - the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them Ecclesiastes 9:2, NIV

The person who is wicked "weighs" the same as the righteous in this respect. And the rich "weigh" the same as the poor in this respect as well, "For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."Gen. 3:19 

Only later, after death, at the weighing of the heart ceremony, where justice is meted out by Ma'at, do the wicked come to a separate end than the the good/just (those whose hearts balance against the feather of Ma'at).

The Halloween Tarot (art Kippling West), by Karen Lee: Justice, fairness, equality. Achieve balance through elimination of excess baggage, ill-conceived ideas, and misdirected efforts. 

The scales have to do with equalizing. Why is it that the scales stand for justice? The two scales [i.e., the pans of the balance] connected by the beam indicate without bias the relationship between two things or quantities of things and achieve balance when the two sides weigh the same, regardless of their form, or apparent shape and size. The scales do not lie in this respect. So if we want to know how to determine equal or particular quantities of a thing we can use the scales as a tool for meting this out justly.

Justice is from

mid-12c., "the exercise of authority in vindication of a right by assigning reward or punishment;" also "quality of being fair and just; moral soundness and conformity to truth," from Old French justice "justice, legal rights, jurisdiction" (11c.), from Latin iustitia "righteousness, equity," from iustus "upright, just" (see just (adj.)).

Just (adj.) is from Latin ius "a right," especially, "a legal right, law". 

There are manmade laws, which can change, and there are laws which cannot change such as the laws of nature. One such law is known as Paschal's law / Principle. According to Paschal's law, any force applied to a confined fluid is transmitted uniformly in all directions throughout the fluid regardless of the shape of the container. This law allows for machines such as the hydraulic press. 

Liquid seeks its own level, i.e., balance

Because force is transmitted uniformly throughout a fluid, liquids generally right themselves, that is, liquids seek their own level (from Latin libella dim. of libra "balance, scale, unit of weight"). Juice is liquid. So juice is just. 

And juice is ultimately from the same Latin word, ius [as is "justice"], however it is said to be from ius meaning "broth, sauce, juice, soup." Juice is from ius. Justice is from ius. 

Juice = ius = Justice

So it seems oddly fitting that a Magic 8 Ball is filled with a liquid (juice) to tell what's up.

Magic 8 Ball, "Signs Point to Yes," photo by Julie O.

Eight is said to be from Old English eatha, æhta, from Proto-Germanic *akhto (also the source of German acht) "eight."

However, the German interjection achtung, meaning "attention! watch out!" has this word "eight" in it. Achtung is said to be from:

German acht (n.)  meaning "attention, care, heed, consideration," achten (v.) "pay attention to, regard, esteem, respect,"from Old High German ahton "pay attention to," a general Germanic word akin to Old English eathian "to estimate, esteem, consider, praise," but with no living native descendants in English.

So Achtung, a German word, with the German word for eight (8) in it (acht), comes from a word, i.e., ahton, meaning "pay attention to," which itself is a word "akin" to the Old English word eathian, which itself also has a variation the Old English word for eight (8), i.e., eatha, in it. 

achtung : acht :: ethian : eatha

This attention can also mean something like danger, calling to mind the "power of a lord or master, jurisdiction," and the dominant, like the judges, Dan (dayyan), of the Pentateuch, which is a noun from the verb din "to judge." To Din / Dan "judge" is to put one in a position of imminent jeopardy; Danger.

And Achtung! which means something like Attention! itself sounds similar to the English interjection Action! (which is the cue given to start acting).

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more; it is a tale

Told by and idiot, full of sound and fury . . . 

Macbeth; Act V, scene V

One use of the word action is "a charge or other process in a law court" (such as a class action). As a noun action comes from:

mid-14thc., accioun, "cause or grounds for a lawsuit," from Anglo-French accioun, action (12c.) "action; lawsuit, case," from Latin actionem (nominative of actio) "a putting in motion; preforming, a doing; public acts, official conduct; lawsuit, legal action, noun of action from past participle stem agere "to do" (from PIE root *ag- "to dive, draw out or forth, move").

So linguistically there does seem to be some connection between these words denoting attention / action and the number eight, and therefore some connection between the German acht as "attention, care, heed, consideration" and acht as "eight."

We also have the notion of attention or taking heed connected to eight in the form of the eight ball in billiards, because, if the eight ball is played at the wrong time it can cause the player to lose the game of Eight Ball. 

Magic 8 Ball, photo by Julie O.

One version of pool is the game of Eight Ball, in which the numbered balls must be pocketed in numerical order except for the eight ball. . . If the cue ball accidentally hits the eighth ball or the black ball, that is a foul shot. . . If the eight ball is pocketed, the game is lost. Grammarist-Behind the Eight Ball

Perhaps we could say the the eight ball being black is representative of death, and being pocketed is representative of dying and traveling to the hall of Osiris for the meting out of justice. We wouldn't want "the game" of life to end prematurely before the good work is accomplished.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.

And now the prize awaits me–– the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7-8

However, when the 8 Ball is played at the right time, that is, when all the other balls have already been pocketed, it is beneficial to sink it. 

The 8 Ball represents the idea of chance because it can refer to both good and bad luck. It is also associated with having a sense of balance. Like the yin and yang, the 8 ball reminds people to take the good with the bad. Grammarist-Behind the Eight Ball

When we use the word "attention" in English it may be in the form of a caution, warning or danger sign. There are laws about what one aught to do, but when danger is involved the call to attention or caution is for one's own good. There are consequences to actions following from the various laws of nature. For example when a rock becomes loose on a mountainside it rolls down (sometimes onto the road), or when a metal container is holding a hot liquid the container will be hot even if it doesn't look hot. If the laws of nature are not heeded one can easily become injured or even . . . killed . . . dead . . . the end. These laws just are and can never be changed. In this way they judge and are just. 

Thoth Tarot Deck, Alister Crowley: ADJUSTMENT or traditionally Justice. 

We learn a lot about the world by measuring / (Ma'at-ing) / weighing / balancing) outcomes against these laws. We might say this is a type of adjustment or calibration. For example, we can measure temperature against the point at which water freezes (32° F / 0°C), and we measure the velocity of a falling object against the force of gravity over a period of time (v=g*t). These constants form one arm of the balance so to speak. It's all relative. If you have anything, you can measure something else against it, and that measuring, i.e., Ma'at-ing makes a platform / foundation for meaning and functioning in an otherwise chaotic cacophony of infinity and infinite potential. Or we might say, the mating (pairing of two things) is creative. 

8 is shemoneh / shemonah in Hebrew from shaman "fat, lusty, plenteous." We might say that the earth is "fat, lusty, plenteous".  . .  that is, round, fecund, abundant, Gaia "earth" is the quintessential shaman. Shaman meaning, "a priest or priestess who uses magic for the purpose of curing the sick, divining the hidden, controlling events." Isn't that exactly why we are incarnated upon her body? To be cured, to be enlightened, to be formed / created anew? She is the great "pool" table / plinth / foundation; 71% covered by water. She is the Earth ball (Eatha "eight" [Old English] ball), our magic carpet (mat) / primordial foundation (Ma'at) carrying us, flying us, rolling us, through space.

The 8 (Eight) Ball  – The Acht (Old High German Ahto "eight") Ball  – The Oct (from PIE *Okto(u) "eight") Ball

There is this aw sound in the origin of eight, like the "aw" in aught (n.) which element is said to be from Proto-Germanic *aiwi- "ever," extended form of PIE root *aiw- "vital force, life; long life, eternity." 

So this aw can have the meaning of eternity, Ewigkeit , which is infinity, which, in fact is represented by a sideways 8! 

Achtung!!