CARD XI.

JUSTICE.

When I possessed the keys, read the book and understood the symbols, I was permitted to lift the curtain of the Temple and enter. its inner sanctum. And there I beheld a Woman with a crown of gold and a purple mantle. She held a sword in one hand and scales in the other. I trembled with awe at her appearance, which was deep and mysterious, and drew me like an abyss.

"You see Truth," said the voice. "On these scales everything is weighed. This sword is always raised to guard justice, and nothing can escape it.

"But why do you avert your eyes from the scales and the sword? They will remove the last illusions. How could you live on earth without these illusions?

"You wished to see Truth and now you behold it! But remember what happens to the mortal who beholds a Goddess!"