Learn the Tarot: Judgement Meaning
Learn the Major Arcana with That Oracle Guy Patrick. Together we’ll dive into the meanings, symbolism, and history behind each card — with affirmations, journaling prompts, and theme songs to help ground the lessons into your daily life. The Wisdom of the Major Arcana is yours to claim.
#20 Judgement, Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck
Meeting Judgement:
The Fool had walked through sunlight. He had felt joy, truth, and belonging under The Sun.
But now — a horn sounds.
He pauses. It’s not a sound heard with the ears — it’s a resonance felt in the bones. A cosmic call — unmistakable, divine, and deeply personal.
He looks up.
From the sky, an angel appears, blowing a golden trumpet. Below, figures rise from coffins — not afraid, but awakened. They are naked, arms outstretched, answering the call to remember who they truly are.
The Fool watches in awe. These people are not being punished or praised — they are being summoned to their truth.
He hears his name.
Not his given name, but his soul’s name. The one he almost forgot.
And as the trumpet continues, the Fool realizes: this is not the end.
This is resurrection.
Keywords for Judgement:
Awakening
Rebirth
Redemption
Accountability
Higher calling
Integration
Transformation
Spiritual evaluation
Associations:
The Element: Fire (illumination, warmth, growth, passion, will)
The Planet: The Sun (authenticity, confidence, joy)
Card Symbolism:
Archangel Gabriel: Divine messenger. Represents spiritual awakening and higher guidance. Gabriel’s horn is the call to rise into purpose.
The Trumpet with a White Flag and Red Cross: The red cross is a symbol of resurrection and universal healing — a fusion of earthly and divine will.
The Rising Dead: Symbolize rebirth, redemption, and readiness to evolve. They’ve stripped the old identity to be reanimated by spirit.
Open Coffins: Represent freedom from the past, old roles, traumas, and identities that no longer serve the soul’s truth.
Outstretched Arms: A gesture of surrender and embrace of one’s divine self. Acceptance of both past and future.
Mountain Range in the Background: Represents the unchanging spiritual truth — the sacred grounding beyond death and rebirth.
The Sky: Pure and blue, signaling clarity and divine vision after long journeys through confusion.
Nudity of the Figures: Symbolizes vulnerability, transparency, and spiritual innocence. Nothing is hidden from divine judgment — nor does it need to be.
Roman Numeral XX: 2 + 0 = 2, linking it back to duality, reflection, and the High Priestess. But here, it’s not mystery — it’s truth revealed.
Upright Meaning:
When Judgment appears upright, it is a calling. You are being asked to reflect deeply — not from shame, but from honesty. Something within you is rising: a truth, a purpose, a self you buried or forgot.
This card marks a time of spiritual reckoning and emotional integration. You’ve walked through fire, and now you’re being invited to rise renewed. Not as who you were — but as who you really are.
It is the moment of rebirth, the final gateway before the World card’s wholeness.
In Jungian terms, this is the ego merging with the Self — shadow and light fully integrated.
Reversed Meaning:
Reversed, Judgment suggests resistance to the call. You may be clinging to past versions of yourself, or fearing what change might require. There may be guilt or fear that blocks transformation.
This card asks: Are you willing to evolve? Or are you still bargaining with who you used to be?
Reversed, it can also show internalized shame, especially spiritual or emotional — as if you fear you're “not enough” to rise. But you are. Always. The past does not need to define you — you can forgive yourself for who you had to be when you were in survival mode. Guilt, shame, doubt: it’s all in the past.
You are forgiven. You are reborn. You don’t even need to ask for forgiveness, you always are. Now it the time to leave it all behind you and rise up, a brand new person.
Journal Prompts for Judgement:
What part of me is ready to be reborn? What truth am I hearing, even if quietly?
What past choices or identities am I ready to release — without shame?
What would it mean to fully forgive myself?
Where am I being called — and what is one step I can take to move in that direction?
Affirmations:
“I answer the call of my highest self with courage and trust.”
“My past does not define me; I am free to rise in truth.”
“Every experience has shaped me — and I now step into full alignment.”
Theme Song:
A Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash, 2002
About The Author
Patrick is an evolutionary tarot reader specializing in deep, transformative tarot sessions that empower clients to gain clarity, break limiting patterns, and navigate life with confidence. As a lifelong believer that there are no coincidences, he knows firsthand the power of tarot and oracle cards as a north star for your personal growth.
Ready to experience a deeper tarot journey? Book a reading today or explore more articles and resources at: ThatOracleGuy.com
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