Justice as Intentions: To Do What Is Fair, Whatever That Costs

Written by Chaya the Medium.

Justice as intentions is a plan weighed on the scales before it was made. Here is what I would read in it, upright and reversed.

If you want the short answer, I would read Justice as intentions that are fair, considered and accountable. In an intentions position the card suggests the person means to treat you according to what has actually happened between you: to be honest, to balance the account, to do the right thing even when it is not the warm thing. The intention is principled. Whether it favours you depends on the record.

This is the figure with the scales and the sword. They intend to weigh. They intend to act on the weighing, and the sword is for carrying it out.

Justice upright as intentions

Tina Gong's Justice guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with fairness, truth, cause and effect and law. When the card lands in a position that asks what someone intends toward you, I read those meanings as the shape of their plan rather than as a promise about what they will do. Feelings and intentions are different questions; Justice as feelings covers the first, and this page covers the second. The Major Arcana overview at Biddy Tarot is a useful second reference.

Upright, I read Justice as a person whose intention toward you is to be fair: to acknowledge what you have given, to answer for what they have done, to make a decision that matches the evidence. If you have been good to them, they intend to be good to you. If you have not, they intend to be honest about that too.

What I would not read into it is mercy or passion. Justice intends what is deserved. The card is honest that this may not be what is wanted.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm the verdict favours you, that the person's idea of fairness matches yours, or that fairness leaves room for the kind of forgiveness you may be hoping for. No card lets a reader see another person's plans. What a card can do is describe the kind of intention that fits the person's behaviour, and give you something to check against what they actually do.

Justice reversed as intentions

Reversed, Justice as intentions describes fairness distorted: a plan to settle a score, to blame, to hold you to a standard the person does not meet, or to avoid accountability altogether. It can also describe someone whose intentions toward you are shaped by a grievance that does not match what actually happened.

In your own question, ask whether the person holds something against you that does not fit the facts, or whether they are blaming you to avoid looking at themselves. A reversed card as intentions is a prompt to compare what is said with what is done, not a diagnosis of bad faith.

Justice as an ex's intentions

Asked about an ex, Justice as intentions can suggest they have reached a fair assessment of the relationship and intend to act on it. If the ending was handled well, that may include a settled goodwill. If it was not, the record is being kept, and the intention follows the record. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

Justice as a new person's intentions

For someone new, this card describes a careful, fair-minded intention: they mean to treat you as you treat them, and to decide about you on the evidence. It rewards honesty and consistency. It does not reward charm.

What their intentions look like in action

Look for fairness in practice: they keep agreements, they apologise when wrong, they expect the same from you. A Justice intention is visible in how the person handles a disagreement. If they are fair when it costs them, the card is upright.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, what the record between you actually shows, and whether you would be happy to be judged on it. The third note is the uncomfortable one and the useful one.

For comparison, the King of Swords as intentions and the Emperor as intentions describe different intentions. The Justice card meaning page covers the card in full, and Justice as a person and Justice as a yes or no cover the other questions people most often ask of it. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.