Pimp My Artwork 064: Justice
Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 3:16AM 
Strange things happened when painting Justice. I was supposed to be working on Strength and yet something strange was in the air. There was another card that needed to be made.
I had become completely obsessed with pictures of Kate Black. This is something I do when I'm about to paint someone, but the odd thing was I was supposed to be painting another card. But still, I was obsessed. I liked her profile picture on that odd little social network we all seem to be obsessed with. I also became obsessed with skittles commercials which was not like me at all. I don't watch commercials or eat candy.
The next day I was modeling and thinking and meditating and all of a sudden I was hit with thoughts and feelings about Trayvon Martin. I knew this because they were not my own, fear, anger, sadness. Saying things that I wouldn't normally say. Then I got hit with images of James Byrd who was dragged to death years ago in Texas by white supremacists. While the two cases were not related, there was a common theme. The emotions came flooding in. For me it's a portal, a message telling me what I'm supposed to be doing.
I couldn't understand why all this was coming to me, the skittles and obsessively looking at my friends images, the visions, and emotions and then it occurred to me. I was supposed to paint the Justice card. Sometimes the cards come at you like that. The energy is right and it needs to be delivered. I started to feel feverish. I was getting images for the card, how it was supposed to look, Kate Black, black hoodie, I kept getting the message to check Kate's pictures again. That the one I needed was there. I started to walk fast, almost running to the subway. It's something that happens from time to time when i know I have to do something. My body gets feverish, my face gets flushed and I have walk, run, just to get my heart to stop pounding and my stomach to stop swirling. I got on the subway, waiting for the train I saw an empty bench. I sat down. A black hoodie was hanging off of it. I said, "Okay I get it." I couldn't figure out why I kept getting the message about the picture. When I got home I found out. Kate's was wearing a black hoodie in her profile picture. The next day would mark "Wear your hoodie to work day".
Sometimes the cards smack you in the head and beat you down until you paint them. Justice calls on us to bring balance to our lives, physically, spiritually, and mentally. She is objective about her decisions and treats each case fairly balancing them on her scale. Justice is ruled by Libra her sword is double-edged signifying impartiality. The blade is in the ground signifying the logical thinking used to dispense justice. Her hands are bandaged showing that justice sometimes gives a good fight. She balances the scales in her hand showing the balance of logic and intuition.
The crow indicates law and truth. For years crows have been the secret law keepers. Where there is question you will find crow. In order to find Justice you must find truth. I always believed Kate would make a great Justice card. She has been right in the front lines of Occupy Wall Street as well at the Million Hoodie March, Sex Workers Rights, Human Rights, and on and on and on. Justice couldn't have found a better
spokesperson.
As usual this beautiful specimen was taken by Jim Shirey. Who has a new website by the way. Take a look, you'll spend hours in the magic.
Jim Shirey, Kate Black, tarot in Pimp My Artwork 
