Sometimes we’re guided to view judgment and critique as something really negative. After all, “don’t judge others,” was a universal mom warning. And blessedly, our culture is making overall strides in discouraging negative forms of judgement (this is better than, you know, the days of pitchforks and Inquisitions) — we have, don’t judge your feelings, don’t judge your weight, don’t judge people for the colour of their skin, don’t judge yourself for not liking pumpkin spice lattes, JUDGE NOT LEST YE BE JUDGED ….
This is a good thing too – because so many people and groups are STILL so hell bent on judging and condemning others. Any perusal of comments sections on the web will net you boatloads of haters about anything and everything imaginable. Looking at world news (condemnation of whole groups of worthy people by religious organisations) will be proof enough that we have a ways to go. (And bonus extra credit spiritual growth, the thing that is so hard to do: being mindful of how we judge those doing the negative judging!)
This week, though, it might just be beneficial to judge. Before you come after my P.C. card, this isn’t about the run of the mill negative ego, “you’re wrong and you shouldn’t be doing this” kind of judgement. This isn’t being a meanie and the judgement that we use against ourselves when we weigh an extra 15 pounds, this is positive judgement; measuring our progress, being honest about what we’re not doing completely or correctly, and taking stock of what we do RIGHT.
When it comes to our “getting things done” theme for the month, this piece of guidance can be invaluable. We’re not going to get anywhere by harshing on ourselves or chipping away at our self esteem. Ditching habits that don’t work well (for example procrastination) means accepting everything about yourself, positive and negative. It also means celebrating what you do well, or do right!
Celebrating successes, and reminding yourself about progress you’ve made is essential to making new habits stick. Don’t skip this part. It’s just as important as honestly sizing up whether something is lacking in your efforts. Don’t be modest or shy, the code/key for the week is just being really HONEST with yourself about what you’re doing great at as well as just seeing (without attacking yourself) what still needs to be improved on, and being excited about tackling new tasks.
This week, it’s time for being clear about what we’re doing. For Justice and Judgement to be true and pure, it’s time for seeing things honestly, not in the gauzy half-light of daydreams and wishful thinking or avoiding what is real.
The most important thing, though, is to use this positive judgement energy for the forces of good (getting things done, finding out what to do next, being excited about accomplishments and enthusiastic about more to come) and not in the service of darkness (beating yourself, or others, up — being pessimistic, seeing impossibilities, judging yourself harshly for what you’re doing or not doing).
You will DEFINITELY know this week whether your judgements/measurements laser-beam are poised towards goodness or not. If they are – you’ll feel light, more jazzed up about things than you have been in awhile, more focused on what you can do to improve things. If they’re NOT, you’ll feel little fits and spells of losing faith and hope, feeling overwhelmed and really just not wanting to deal with it all. It will be easy to judge OTHERS harshly and to size people up as not being good enough in that light too. Dissecting people and being the negative “judgemental” has its roots in how we judge ourselves, after all. Measuring UP leaves you energized, judging and focusing on the small stuff leaves you weighted down like that pork chop.
And what if your judgement/measurement energy lands on the side of darkness? What if you’re seeing yourself and others in that shady light of false reality? That’s ok! All is not lost. It’s just a reminder to get back on track. Start by taking another accurate measurement (funny how those measurements get so TOTALLY SKEWED when we’re in pessimism/harsh judgement mode.. nothing is measured accurately and everything will be a whole lot “worse” than it really is) —- see what you’ve done RIGHT and what is working as clearly and in as much detail as possible; really look at the things that are triumphs where you’ve done good deeds. Next, gently measure some realistic areas in which you could make new efforts, or more consistent efforts. You get a do-over to turn that beam to the forces of good! 
About this deck:
The Housewives Tarot by Paul Kepple and Jude Buffum is published by Quirk Publishing. This is really a fun deck which comes in a recipe box style container with 78 cards and a great book. This writing, illustrating duo (graphic designers) have put together one of the cheekiest odes to the Tarot, Mid-Century Modern and 50’s cultural kitsch ever! You get unique spreads (like the “Martini”) and the deck even comes with vintage recipes. Way gone, Daddy-o!
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