Door Number 22: Justice

I finished the Justice porta-portal on Tuesday, June 23rd at 4:44 p.m., but I was “told” to post the write-up on June 25th, the day Venus stations direct. This is a commissioned piece, so some of the details remain confidential. The same person who commissioned Door Number 18: Peace of the Blue Irises asked for this portal. I actually had someone else ahead of her, plus another “Dream Guy” commissioned portal, but it felt important to do this one first — even before the ultimate theme presented itself. We had agreed on a different goddess, who may or may not arrive through a different portal.

As we discussed ideas, both the patron and I started having major dreams, synchronicities and feelings about Lady Justice. This was before the protests and riots began, but when they did, it suddenly seemed even more timely to paint this portal now.

In Tarot, Justice sits at number 8 or number 11, depending on the deck. With this as portal number 22, number 11 seemed obvious. I already knew I would include two 11’s on a scroll reminiscent of the Robin Wood Tarot deck: 11:11 is itself a manifestation portal, so that felt like a perfect opportunity. Having master numbers 11 and 22 in a portal also seems potent. Although this is a commissioned piece, it also resonates with both my May 22 birthday and my life path number 11.

Here’s a brief excerpt about master numbers 22 and 11:

“Master number 11 brings higher intuition and spiritual insight, supernatural abilities, increased sensitivity, as well as empathy and natural intelligence. The number eleven is a sign of enormous power – both mental and physical. In addition, this is the first master number from a total of three (11, 22 and 33). This number is the root of all other master numbers.

“The holder of this life path number is considered to be an old soul, not only because of their unique abilities, extreme ability to empathize and understand and respect others, but the main reason is very mature thinking. A child with this master number may only be 12 years old, but their way of thinking may be similar to a person who is sixty years old.”

“The numerology science attributed the master number 22 to the Master Builder. The holders of a master number 22 have the highest chance to turn their dreams into reality, they are efficient and can handle large projects.

“Considered to be the most influential number of all, it can give deep spiritual understanding, facilitating the appliance of knowledge in a practical way, which will eventually lead to success. The master number 22 is considered to serve the world in a practical way.” (More on these master numbers here and here.)

On June 16, “I received a sense that true Justice looks at all the angles, considers all the information on all different levels, including history. I suddenly got an ‘instruction’ to write up all the quotes from my prior portals, in order, and post them on the blog. ‘Read the larger message opening through these doors.’” You can read those quotes here. I share this background because it seems to amplify this small yet mighty portal — the smallest one I’ve painted yet, just 5 x 7″.

As usual, I need to apologize for the photos. These portals are so difficult to photograph! I’ll include different colors and angles to try to give an approximation of what it looks like in person. It’s bright and sunny today, but we had dark skies during and after I finished. Since I wanted to get it to the patron in a timely manner, I didn’t hold onto it until we got sunnier weather, which means some of these photos look less clear than I’d like. I feel like there’s a higher reason for this, though, kind of like I can never photograph our weeping birch when it has active faery sparkles. Some things just don’t (or won’t!) translate to photographs.

Also as usual, this portal directed itself. Not only did it switch themes and content from the original commissioned piece, but the creation process involved deep meditation, dreams and internal shifts within both patron and myself. It aligned with uncanny astrological timing that I could not budge even if I tried. The painting started, paused, restarted and finished at key moments related to Venus, as well as asteroid Astraea, the Greek Star Maiden.

For different reasons, both goddesses are associated with Lady Justice. Venus rules the sign of Libra, represented by the balanced scales of Justice. Astraea the Star Maiden brings a sense of cosmic order. Despite her relatively obscure status in the Greek pantheon, she is the one most personifying Lady Justice. For months before the portal commission, the patron experienced a series of uncanny “star” experiences. She kept finding stars left in mysterious places, seemingly just for her. I discovered the Astraea connections through a synchronous “accident.” When I looked up that asteroid, I thought, “Of COURSE you would be a star maiden and of COURSE you’re Lady Justice. How could it be otherwise?!”

Below, you can just make out the 5-pointed star in her crown, as well as the Milky Way Galaxy behind her:

The Milky Way Galaxy presented its own challenges and perfect synchronicities. I began painting and realized I needed pastels to create her skin tone and the galaxy. Somewhere, I own an old set of oil pastels, but they went missing for this process. The day I realized I needed pastels, my schedule rearranged itself so that I could walk to Hobby Lobby and get some. En route, I passed a group of peaceful protestors and a line of cars honking to show their support. We do not live in downtown Kalamazoo. Having protestors on that corner right at that time when I got “forced” to walk past them to buy pastels to create the galaxy seemed … planned. But not by me.

I ended up getting non-oil pastels, since I’m painting with acrylics, but the oddities did not end with the journey to purchase them. This portal includes three different media: acrylic paint, pastels, and colored Sharpie’s. What?! At first I found this combo weird, but then I realized it represented the broader considerations for justice.

There’s the sharp sword of justice that cuts both ways — the Sharpie’s.

There’s the pastel element that almost faded out of view when I “fixed” it with spray. The Milky Way Galaxy was much more prominent before I sprayed it, but due to the combo of paint and pastels, the pastels faded into the background — just like the stars and planets do. We don’t always see their influence, but they come through whether or not we see them.

Then there’s the acrylic reality — the paint that covers and colors our daily lives.

All three work together, and I added Rune Hagal (the white six-pointed star to her left) to reflect this coming together of all things in order to birth a new reality. I’ve written before on the difference between the Hagalaz Rune and Rune Hagal. They have a similar root and some overlap, but I call Rune Hagal the “create a new universe” Rune. Whereas Hagalaz summons a kind of cosmic hailstorm, Rune Hagal brings all the disparate Runes/Elements together to form something new. For this reason, Rune Hagal is sometimes called “The Mother Rune.” You can see it also echoed on the clasp holding Lady Justice’s cloak.

In addition to being a Star Maiden personifying Lady Justice, Astraea is also the goddess of innocence. Venus is the goddess of love, money, beauty, grace, and the arts. Painting this portal during the tail end of Venus Retrograde in the dual sign of Gemini included the sense of Love as a primary force of the Universe. I didn’t plan it this way, but a subtle triple goddess energy comes through this portal — maiden, mother … and love goddess rather than crone.

Because of the small size and canvas board nature of this portal, we agreed that I would code the back of it with a prayer or mantra. The patron’s final selection also brings together different groups, themes, perspectives and cosmic awareness. She chose a Cherokee Prayer and asked me to write it in both English and Cherokee:

You can’t really tell in the photo, but I did the Runes in both purple and black, together, in order to harmonize both English and Cherokee, symbolically bringing Justice for all.

Like me, this patron has some major Celtic heritage, so this informed how I painted the goddess. I gave her extra long hair because that felt right, but after painting it, I realized this also connects with the Native American idea of hair as spiritual receptors. Extra sensory awareness flows through her strands, and as texture, I added Runes symbolizing “flow” to enhance the effect. This photo below shows the hair closer to the color it appears in person:

Both hair and scales have gold paint — the scales almost entirely gold, with Sharpie’d Runes for karmic balance —

and the hair with gold highlights. Her sword also flashes and shines in different light:

You can just make out some of the Runic coding down her inner sleeve and above the Justice ribbon. In English that would read: “Highest Good of All.” I thought I would include some other Runes in her cloak, but this portal is loaded with NOD (aka Naid or Nauthiz) Runes, summoning karmic balance and a peaceful untangling of sticky karmic situations.

Every portal “door” I paint is either an actual door, or it contains a door, window or some other kind of portal. In this case, Lady Justice sits between two pillars and an archway. I wish I had photographed the Milky Way as it looked when I first drew it, but having drawn it and sprayed it twice, I realized this is the way it wanted to present. As with any kind of Justice, it’s enough to know that larger, hidden forces are in effect. We might not be able to see all the details, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Every portal I paint also includes a quote, usually, but not always related to a door. Sometimes it’s a gate, sometimes it talks about an “entry point” or “opening.” In this case, the quote refers to what comes through:

“The universe and the light of the stars come through me.” ~ Rumi

I’ve had Rumi on the brain, and so has the person commissioning doorway number 24. My Dream Guys, who really direct all the portals literally told me to “Read Rumi” if I ever doubt. While searching for possible portal quotes, I came across this one among many. It was the first that occurred to me, and I knew the patron would choose it because of the stars. I sent many options, but of course, this is the one we both knew to use.

Since completing the portal at 4:44 on June 23, 2020, I’ve had several indicators of the portal already “working.” These effects always occur on different levels. A commissioned piece includes coding specific to the patron, but from the start, this 10+ year Divine Doorways project has linked in eerie ways to the collective. I’m curious to see what else transpires from the coding and creation of this portal. I never know how much just synchronizes of its own cosmic timing, and the Collective Unconscious, and how much arises from the specific intentions, processing and coding that goes into each portal creation.

I recently wrote to a friend: I don’t think we will ever totally figure out the Mystery. I’d be disappointed if I did. 🙂

That pretty much sums things up from my end. I do hope and intend that Justice prevails on all levels, including personal, karmic, universal and poetic. This creation is my offering to the patron and to that collective wish. Thank you for continuing to walk this path.