VIII. La Giustizia - Justice

[fire cat pickles]

File:Minchiate card deck - Florence - Trumps - 08 - La Giustizia.jpg

A. Baragioli (editor) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 

For me Justice is usually about balanced scales and the notion that "Justice is blind". But in this version, Justice is not blind and the scales are not balanced.  This then puts my focus on the sword even though she isn't looking at it. Maybe she has to mete out justice with her sword because the scales of justice have become upended and she has to regain control. The unbalanced scales certainly appear to have her attention, yet she hasn't lost control over the sword that she has hefted in her hand.

 

The Williams card tells a different story. It is my go-to Minchiate:

 

 

She is more graceful. The scales are balanced, obviously. It would be a completely interpretation if I were to use this deck: In a reading, a card falling on the left to this card could mean a more severe consequence; a card falling to the right of this card could mean a more gentle solution to a problem, for instance.

 

The Justice card from the Etruria is similar to the Fiorentine:

 

 

 

With the Etruria and the Fiorentine, cards on either side might be read in a similar way, with cards being interpreted as attended by sword or scales. The sword has a negative connotation and the scales has a positive one.

[Fluffy]

What interesting observations Firecatpickles, I like the Williams' minchi, but don't own it.  For me the justice in the legal, medieval term is not always "fair", I would say that nobility, rich merchants etc received better "justice" than your average working man.  I also note that most of the minchiates are not actually named justice, although this is implied by the image itself.  I think that on the etruria she appears to be looking at the the scale which is weighed down and her sword is raised ready to strike.  

 

In interpreting this card I would suggest, that whilst perhaps something looks equally balanced or should be fair and equal, this is not always the case and one needs to "cut through" to the truth in order obtain Justice.  As a reversal perhaps "things are not balanced in your favour".

 

What do you think?

 

Fluffy

xx

[fire cat pickles]

I don't use reversals with the Minchiate or with TdM decks but  I do use the elemental dignities, which can weaken the card—a kind of reversal.

 

You're right about the Justice as a virtue in that this wasn't an expectation for peasants.  They were expected to obey and little else. There is loads of documentation from that era where punishment did not fit the crime, at least from our perspective. But it was a different time back then, too.

 

Only the upper classes were expected to understand the nuances of the allegory of Justice.