La Tempérance (14)

Naked, blue-gray figures rise from coffins as above them a bright-haired angel blows his trumpet and holds a banner with a red cross. The six figures who are raised from the dead by the angel’s trumpet are two women, two men, and two young children. Their tombs float in a sea, and at the horizon line, three distant trees eek above the water line as above them are billowing clouds and a blue sky. The angel’s wings are made of thick, red, muscly feathers. His trumpet is a call to awaken the dead, and the red cross is a symbol of peace and of healing.

It is dire to picture an oceanic landscape spattered with floating human tombs, and yet, when we consider human history, that is precisely what it is. With all the wars, humanity has undergone intense and prolonged suffering. The deserving do not always win, and often the innocent are forced to surrender. But how do we determine who is deserving, and what if we determine this too late? What if wrongs could be righted and the sea could be cleaned up - what happens then? Also, isn’t this an impossible dream? What is done is done, and no one really rises from the dead, do they?

The Judgement card, also referred to as The Last Judgement, is a powerful card depicting a miraculous scene - people who were dead are now coming back to life. And what brings them back to life? Music. When the angel blows his horn the dead are summoned, but not all of the dead, only the ones who are judged worthy of such a gift. The ones brought back to life are so happy and grateful for this chance, but they are also vulnerable and bewildered. They are rootless and will have to find their way back to land, shivering in their cold, blue skin as blood repopulates the frozen veins. With this second chance at life, they are infinitely grateful to the spiritual power that revivified them.

Even though they may have died unjust deaths, the people depicted are not thinking about revenge. Having been down in the dungeon of the underworld, they are purely astonished at the miracle of life and thankful to the heavens for manifesting it.