VIII: Adjustment - And Justice for All...

This card is all blues and greens.  It is full of shapes balancing on one another.  There are balanced waves emanating from the corner spheres.  Alpha and Omega are balanced on the mighty scales.  The Lady of Justice stands poised, on pointed toes, and the very center - holding a great sword.

Face it, everywhere one looks on this card, one will find balance.  Justice is the balancing of both sides of a story, it is looking inward in order to ignore the outside influences - just as The Lady is looking inward.

The Fool is finally learning to maintain balance consciously.  Controlling the Chariot's opposites requires strength, but the armor is still there, keeping the inside and outside separated.  Can he not control them without taking extraordinary steps to keep out the influences of the very things he must balance?  Standing en pointe while holding a large sword and balancing the beginning and the end requires an ability to be conscious of the outer world while still ignoring its influences.

Finding balance in my life has been a journey in itself, and so far, this Fool's Journey through the Thoth has been mirroring that quest for balance.  I think back on when I thought I had balance, but it was so easily disturbed! As I grew more aware of my surroundings, I found there was so much more to take into account.  Those things I thought written in stone, were not.  Learning to go beyond the distractions of my own mind and prejudices, and beyond the distractions of the external world, is difficult, but something definitely worth learning.

Why, did Mr. Crowley, in all his wisdom, rename this card "Adjustment?"  Well, I would assume that getting to the point where this card sits would require a great deal of Adjustment - attitude adjustment, paradigm adjustment, etc.   Being emotional about something, having passion for a cause, can blind a person to the other side of the coin.  Being willing to set that passion aside and to view each side equally is not that easy!

 “Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.”

(Eleanor Roosevelt)