Judgement tarot card meaning: upright, reversed and symbols

Judgement is card XX of the Major Arcana. An angel blows a trumpet from the clouds, and people rise from their graves with their arms open. It is the card of the wake-up call: a moment when you hear something that asks you to rise, review your life and answer. Here is what Judgement means upright and reversed, the symbols in the 1909 card and its history.

At a glance

• Upright keywords: awakening, reckoning, a calling, renewal
• Reversed keywords: self-doubt, a harsh inner critic, ignoring the call
• Number: XX (20) in the Major Arcana
• Element: Fire Later tradition
• Astrology: Pluto Later tradition
• Yes or no: Yes Modern

The element and astrology come from the Golden Dawn system of the 1880s and 1890s, not from the first tarot decks, and the yes or no lean is a modern reading habit. Use them if they help you remember the card, and skip them if they get in the way.

The card: what Pamela Colman Smith drew

The 1909 card shows an angel in the clouds blowing a trumpet, while unclothed figures rise from their tombs below with their arms raised. Waite described how “the great angel is here encompassed by clouds, but he blows his bannered trumpet, and the cross as usual is displayed on the banner”.

The angel and the trumpet

A great angel, often named as Gabriel, sounds a trumpet from the clouds. It is a call that cannot be ignored. Waite asked: “What is that within us which does sound a trumpet and all that is lower in our nature rises in response?”

The banner with the cross

A flag with a red cross on white hangs from the trumpet. The equal-armed cross is a sign of balance, the meeting of opposites.

The rising figures

A man, a woman and a child rise from their tombs with their arms open. Waite pointed out that all the figures are “as one in the wonder, adoration and ecstasy expressed by their attitudes”. They answer the call together.

The mountains and the water

Behind them are icy mountains and the coffins float on water. The old life is cold and finished. Something new is waking.

Upright meaning

Upright, Judgement sounds a call to rise and review. It means awakening, reckoning and honest self-assessment. The past is not erased. It is heard, accepted and answered. Forgiveness may be part of the rising, including forgiveness of yourself.

In a reading, ask what chapter is calling you to account and what new life that accounting makes possible. Judgement often marks a threshold: a vocation claimed, a truth admitted, a second chance taken with open eyes. This is not a cosmic courtroom. It is adult responsibility meeting renewal.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Judgement can mean a harsh inner critic, fear of the call or refusing a needed reckoning. You may be refusing to hear what would free you, or drowning in guilt that no longer teaches anything.

Soften the inner critic until it can tell the truth without crushing you. Answer one clear call instead of replaying every old failure. Self-doubt that blocks awakening needs a reality check, not more verdicts.

Reversals are optional. Many readers never use them and read every card upright, and that is a complete way to read. If you do use them, decide before you shuffle what a reversed card will mean for you, and keep to that choice for the whole reading.

In love, work and spirituality

Love

Upright, owning a pattern and choosing differently, a second chance, a relationship reaching a new stage. Reversed, refusing to repair things out of shame or pride.

Work and money

Answering a calling after honest review, a big decision about your path. Reversed, freezing under an inner voice that says you are never enough.

Spirituality

Awakening that includes responsibility, a strong sense of purpose. Reversed, harsh self-judgment mistaken for spiritual purity.

As feelings

As feelings, Judgement shows someone thinking things over seriously. They may be reviewing the past and deciding what comes next.

Judgement as past, present, future and advice

• Past: A wake-up call that changed your path.
• Present: Something is calling you to review and rise.
• Future: A second chance or a big decision.
• Advice: Answer the call honestly, and forgive what can be forgiven.

A Major Arcana card names a theme, not a sentence passed on your life. When Judgement shows up among mostly Minor cards, give it extra weight: the theme of awakening runs under the whole question. If it keeps coming back over several days, write down what was happening each time. Patterns like that teach you more about the card than any list of keywords.

Is Judgement a yes or a no?

In modern yes or no readings, Judgement leans yes. It is a call to rise and act, so it leans yes, especially for second chances. Tarot is better at showing the shape of a situation than at handing down verdicts, so if the question really matters, turn it into an open question such as “What do I need to know about this?” and draw again.

Affirmation and journal prompts

Affirmation: I answer the call to reckon honestly and rise into what follows.

Reversed affirmation: I quiet the punishing critic and face the reckoning that frees me.

Journal prompts:

• What is calling me right now?
• What part of my past do I need to forgive?
• If I answered the call, what would change?

The history and art behind the card

In the Tarot de Marseille pattern the card is called Le Jugement, the Judgement. Judgement is one of the most stable images in tarot. Waite noted that “this symbol is essentially invariable in all Tarot sets”. From the earliest Italian cards on, it shows angels with trumpets and the dead rising from their graves, based on Christian pictures of the Last Judgment.

Waite himself called the card The Last Judgment, and the Marseille name is Le Jugement. Many English decks use the spelling Judgement, which is also used on this site. Smith made one change: there are more than three figures rising, which Waite said illustrated “the insufficiency of current explanations”.

Waite said the card should stay the Last Judgment “for those who can see no further”, but that people with “inward eyes” would see a card of inner transformation. Modern readers follow that inner reading. The Golden Dawn linked it to the element of fire, and some modern writers add Pluto.

When A. E. Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, he listed these divinatory meanings for the card: “Change of position, renewal, outcome. Another account specifies total loss through lawsuit.” Reversed, he gave: “Weakness, pusillanimity, simplicity; also deliberation, decision, sentence.” Waite himself called the fortune-telling meanings of the trumps “artificial and arbitrary”, and on this site I read the picture first and treat lists like this as history.

In the modern teaching map called the Fool’s Journey, this card belongs to the third stage, seeing through and returning (roughly the Devil to the World): bondage, upheaval, hope, uncertainty, clarity, reckoning and completion. This map is a teaching aid made popular by twentieth-century guidebooks such as Eden Gray’s, not a medieval doctrine. Use it when it helps.

A spread for Judgement

Use this spread when you feel a call to change your life.

1. What is calling me? The summons I keep hearing.
2. What must I review? What in my past needs honest attention.
3. How do I rise? The first step in answering.

Lay the three cards in a row, read each one on its own first, then read them together as a short story. Write one sentence for each position and one small action you will take.

Common questions

Is it Judgement or Judgment?

Both spellings are used. The 1909 deck says Judgement on the card. Waite’s book called it The Last Judgment.

What does Judgement mean in love?

A second chance, honest reflection or a new stage. Reversed, guilt or refusing to repair things.

Judgement with other cards

• With Death: an ending followed by a new calling.
• With The World: a cycle completed after honest review.
• With The Hermit: reflection that leads to awakening.

Related cards

• Death: the ending that comes before the rising
• The World: the next and final card: completion
• Justice: fairness, where Judgement is awakening

Keep learning

Judgement is part of the lesson The Devil to the World in my free Tarot for Beginners course. To keep walking the Major Arcana, read the card before it, The Sun or the card after it, The World, or go back to all the card meanings. For every card with keywords, affirmations and examples, see my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot. If you would like a printable cheat sheet for all 78 cards, my 45-page Tarot Workbook is on Etsy.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), Part II and Part III, section 3.
• Pamela Colman Smith and A. E. Waite, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot (London: Rider, 1909).
• Nicolas Conver, Tarot de Marseille (Marseille, 1760).
• Eden Gray, A Complete Guide to the Tarot (New York: Crown, 1970), epilogue “The Fool’s Journey”.
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, entry for Judgement.