Bohemian Gothic Tarot

XX JUDGEMENT

Lighter or more conventional meanings

A fresh beginning * A sense of rebirth and new promise * Leaving past mistakes behind, having a second chance * Starting a whole new way of life.

Darker, shadow or more hidden meanings

Anger at being forced to change your life totally * Clinging to old ways, though better things are on offer * Being dragged, "kicking and screaming" to starting anew * A forced move or even an emigration that isn't desired.

The judgement card generally shows a classic (indeed it can be seen in medieval and Renaissance churches all over Europe) scene of the Biblical Judgement in which an archangel with a trumpet calls the dead to arise from their graves for the Day of Judgement. It's an optimistic card that talks of new beginnings, and the possibility of redemption and a new life.

In classic Gothic imagery, however, the idea of a body being reinvigorated and rising from the tomb often takes on an altogether grimmer and earthier form that reminds us more forcefully of the horrors of death and decay. Rather than a joyful resurrection to heaven, those who rise from the grave in Gothic stories are often frightening, lost figures who are profoundly disquieting.

Our card contains elements of both the classic optimism and the Gothic sense of foreboding. The skeletal corpse that rises, throwing off his shroud, looks horrified and, indeed, horrifying. But the quiet angel who watches him is almost sedate - she's calm, peaceful and, one feels, completely in control of the process of resurrection over which she presides.

In a reading, the card suggests that the process of "rebirth" may be frightening or even disturbing, but also that it will be worth it. Whether this is a complete change in your life or a less profound, more limited new beginning, this image tells us that we will be helped by the presence of gentle guidance, even if we don't immediately see it. We don't have to believe literally in ministering angels - help could come from our own inner resources or an outside influence. But some guide will be there. Rather than being afraid of the idea of a whole fresh beginning, we should welcome it as an opportunity for a new and better phase in our life.

Some further ways to consider this card

What do the skeletons represent to you? Will they also revive and live again? If so, what does this tell you about interpreting this card?

The corpse, I repeat, stirred, and now more vigorously than before. The hues of life flushed up with unwonted energy into the countenance -the limbs relaxed - and, save that the eyelids were yet pressed heavily together, and that the bandages and draperies of the grave still imparted their charnel character to the figure, I might have dreamed that Rowena had indeed shaken off, utterly, the fetters of Death.
- Edgar Allan Poe, Ligeia.

Long - long - long - many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it - yet I dared not - oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! - I dared not - I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them - many, many days ago - yet I dared not - I dared not speak! And now - tonight - Ethelred - ha! ha! - the breaking of the hermit's door, and the death-cry of the dragon, and the clangor of the shield! - say, rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of her prison, and her struggles within the coppered archway of the vault! Oh! whither shall I fly? Will she not be here anon? Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart? Madman!" - here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul- "Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!"
- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher", Tales of Mystery and Imagination.