Hey, floracora,
I'm glad you picked this one, I find it fascinating, too. I am digging around in the book for the basic stuff on the card, the Celtic-specific and symbolism. I'm pretty sure not everyone has the book, to be able to read these basics forthemselves. .Hopefully, fulgour will have a link with a scan of the card....hint, hint....
However, for starters—
We have here the JUSTICE card for this deck.
Every culture I know of has a spinner/weaver goddess who is in charge of death, fate, destiny, re-birth, initiation, etc. this is Arianrhod, the Welsh version.
The spider is sacred to her. This one looks a lot like a golden orb-weaver, but the wrong color...they weave amazingly large and symmetrical webs, and can get very large, like the palm of your hand. they don't bite, or anything.
The dog is a fairy animal. White animals were generally magical, especially if they had red ears, like this one. Dogs like this ran with Gwyn ap Nudd in the wild hunt, and so were connected the idea of justice being carried out. If the wild hunt ran you down, you were not innocent.
The hazel nuts are for wisdom, but the hazel tree was considered to be wisdom used to create or destroy. I hope somebody know more than I do on this one, because I don't really understand about the "dripping hazel" referred to here. It says, ”It was a leafless tree that was home to Ravens ad Vultures; the sap that it dripped was poisonous. When the hero Fionn used its wood for a battle shield, it gave off fumes that killed thousands.”
The Juniper was a tree of purification (still is) and associated in Europe with the goddesses of truth and Justice. Also, it’s Sacred to “the spirits of divine vengeance sent by the Gods to administer Justice.”
The season is autumn, traditional domain of the dark goddesses. Arianrhod was mistress of Caer Arianrhod, the spiral castle of death, rebirth, and initiation. Her castle is located at the North Star, where souls regenerated. “Her spinning wheel is the wheel of the stars, her threads the threads of life, death, and rebirth.” She carries the knife to cut or change the thread of a person’s life.
It’s hard to explain much more about her function without going into the Pagan view of life, death, fate, destiny, et al. I will say that while the Celts were strong believers in free will, they also believed as strongly in a personal destiny or fate, carried out usually within the context of the tribe. One made choices; one paid for them. Every action, for good or ill, will eventually return to you—times three. (kind of like in physics) (would this be Metaphysical Physics??)
Consequently, to a large extent, Justice came from within yourself, manifesting in your life as the results of your choices—as well as from the Gods or Tribal Justice.
* All Quotes from Book by Anna Franklin, with deck