XX – Judgement Tarot Card Meaning

for accountability & change

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Tarot Alley uses the Rider Waite type of deck for our meanings, symbols, interpretations, etc.

Judgement represents being accountable to oneself.

The judgement card is not about judging (ourselves or others), it’s about seeing, understanding, and honouring all that you are. The good, the bad, the great, the terrible, and everything in between.

Judgement offers an opportunity to accept all that you have been and start anew. 

Take a look at the Rider-Waite Judgement displayed to the left (or above).

What is your first impression?

Who is the main figure? Who are the people? What are they doing? Where are they? What does the imagery say to you?

There’s no right or wrong answer here, just your interpretation.

Astrology: Pluto
Element: Fire
Numerology: 20 = 2+0=2 (debate, partnership, duality)

Common Symbols

• Something Rising (a person, bird, or other thing rising up) to represent acceptance and letting go
• an Angel to represent a call for change

Keywords & Concepts

Judgement for Personal Growth

The assessments of others cannot impact your true value. The only standard you must meet is being the very best version of yourself you can be. Identify your next steps … and take them. Don’t do this for others; do it for you.

Ask Yourself:

• What is the main thing you need to realize about yourself?
• In what way might the universe be trying to get your attention?
• If you were to reinvent yourself, what would you become?
• In your situation, who needs a wake-up call?
• How would your life change if you put a fear of death or loss aside?
• In what way do you need to be reborn

Interpreting Judgement

Judgement represents a crossroads and a choice. Which path will you take? You can continue on as you have been or you may examine yourself deeply and choose to follow a new path.

Unlike the Death card, where change is inevitable and it’s futile to resist, the Judgement card offers a choice. You can accept the call or not.

The most common reason the Judgement card appears is for forgiveness. You might be holding onto something negative and would be best served by letting it go. This could be an internal struggle requiring self-forgiveness, or it could be external requiring forgiving someone else. 

Not just saying, “I forgive you,” or “I forgive myself” but actually putting in the work to understand what went wrong, how you feel, and how it can be prevented and accepted moving forward.

Reversed Judgement

How you read reversals is a personal choice. You can ignore reversals and read them as if the card is upright (this is what I often choose to do) or you can interpret reversals as variations of what they would mean upright. There are 3 common ways to read reversals: as a negative interpretation, as an opposite interpretation, or as a block on the upright interpretation. Check out How to Read Reversals for more information.

Negative: A negative reversed Judgement suggests both paths of the crossroads are bad options. Navigate carefully and keep your eyes wide open. Also, have you ever considered making your own path?

Opposite: An opposite reversed Judgement means that your choices are not what they seem. Be careful of false options & scams.

Blocked: A blocked reversed Judgement indicates a resistance to looking within. You might not recognize the options in front of you because you’ve blinded yourself.

Examples of Judgement

Specific Interpretations

Specific situations are the general interpretation (from above) used for a specific situation (love, career, etc). There is no need to memorize these (or even look them up) if you understand the general interpretation. However, here are some basic interpretations for some specific situations:

Judgement Tarot Card Meaning