Tell me about Temperance

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 05 Jun 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Feisty Kat	05 Jun 2002
When I see the Temperance card I always think of the Temperance movment. Which to would give it the meaning of denial because of society morals but that doesn't ring true. So tell me about this card in your opinion. B*B--Feisty Kat

HOLMES	05 Jun 2002
to get to my limited of the temperance card i took the meanings of several books and looked for corlation ? umm things that popped up the same in the books and i took those meanings and my favouirte tower designed and put my own meaning into it which lead me to understand it as the balancer. though some may related it you must temper the sword before you complete it what in the world does that mean ? beats me i never studied sword making so strive to understand it in your own way so you use it better in your readings, use the book meanings as a skelton and your unuition as the meat. allow me to elborate on the balancer. when your four halvs of yourself are not in balance ie. your past, present, future, and spirit intentions (which means if you focus too much on your past, or you future you loose the moment of your present and your spirit) i.e.physical, emotional, spiritual , and mental will lead to disease, i was always told i was too high up in the spiritual and not enough in the personal growth so i been striving to bring the two halfs into balance. which is hard when you been thinking too much about one thing. example your front half of the body, to your back half of your body, to your right half of your body to the left hand of your body. if someone is out of balance try to birng it back into balance or disease begins. that is how i understand the temperance card though and i will be interested to see how others see it

Geenius at Wrok	05 Jun 2002
Ah, Temperance . . . to the mind of this Confucian thinker, the representation of the Golden Mean. Simply expressed: "To go too far is as bad as to fall short." A couple of other articulations of the concept: The Master said, "If substance overwhelms style, you get crudeness; if style overwhelms substance, you get pretentiousness. When style and substance are in proportion, then you get the noble person." The Way of Higher Learning is to illuminate brilliant virtue, to renew the people, to stop where the good is greatest. Once you know where to stop, you'll have stability. Once you're stable, you can calm yourself. Once you're calm, you can be at ease. Once you're at ease, you can think things over. Once you think things over, you can grasp them. Things have their roots and branches; affairs have their ends and beginnings. If you know what comes before and what comes after, you'll be near to the Way.

zorya	05 Jun 2002
i see temperance as a blending of two or more parts (or opposites) and creating something greater then the sum of the two. it's a kind of blending and balancing. creating harmony. acting in moderation.

SharonElizabeth	05 Jun 2002
The name of the card is from the process of tempering steel. The steel is exposed to extreme heat then extreme cold, which refines it and makes it stronger and of better quality. And that the card was given this name because in part it represented those extremes of life, extreme happiness, profound sadness, and those extremes are what creates a persons strength and quality of character. If you think about it, it's a very happy looking card in between two scary looking cards, Death, and the Tower. So if you think in the context of the fools journey, he's experienceing the extremes of death and the tower, and in middle of all of that he finds some happiness, some balance. Balance is another theme in this card, striking some type balance between those extremems of life. Another idea is that of combination. The figure on the RWS temperance card, and many rws clones is pouring a liquid from one cup to another, implying the combination of what's in the two cups. So a combination of life experieces have made you who you are, or will make you who you are. One thing I read last night that made me say ah-hah is that temperance can also mean moderation. That really struck a cord in me. I hope that this helps you a little. I kind of just worked some of it out as I wrote this myself. Temperance shows up quite often in my daily spreads and I have had a tough time knowing exactly what it's referring too. But I have seen these extremes of emotion that have made me the "tempered" person I am today. Right now in my life I've found a comfortable balance in between those two extremes. I also have a problem with moderation. I eat too much, I spend to much, I drive too fast, the list goes on. Perhaps a way to figure out the meaning is to see what the card would mean in relation to your life.

fairyhedgehog	07 Jun 2002
There is a very good discussion of Temperance by Thirteen at http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/basics/temperance.html For me, temperance is my favourite card in the deck. It is about harmony and balance and bringing together of opposites. I especially like the Hanson-Roberts version of this card.

zorya	07 Jun 2002
re; swordmaking, while i've never made a sword, i did take a couple of metalsmithing courses, years ago. heating the metal, until it's red hot, makes the metal malleable. this is when the metal is shaped. it is then thrust into very cold water, which hardens and strengthens it again.

Umbrae	07 Jun 2002
Temperance, from the French temperantia, meaning ‘moderation’. Self restraint in conduct. Along with the Temper portion of the roots, we find that you temper a stringed instrument to tune it, as in The Well-Tempered Clavichord, by Johann Sebastian Bach. Temperance is about adjusting and strengthening, tuning and modifying so as to control your passions; not being a slave to your baser desires.

Guinevere	07 Jun 2002
Temperance comes up for me alot in my personal readings when asking advice about my love and I! We have a tumultuous relationship and often when I have asked 'how should I handle this situation' the Temperance card appears! I keep a Tarot journal and it really is interesting how certain cards repeat so many times. I come up as Queen of Cups constantly, since I first started my journey. So that is always my significator if I use one for myself. Anyway, the way I interpreted this card is to have PATIENCE and temper my own......... temper!

AutumnMoonfire	07 Jun 2002
In the Goddess Tarot Temperance is Balance and is represented in Yemana Cuban/Yuroba Sea Goddess. I see it as balance too, not going to extremes. A steady influence.

Ravenswing	09 Jun 2002
it also deals with the alchemical mixing of fire and water... LVX steve

Madonna	09 Jun 2002
"The card of flexability, change & adaption.One who works well with others & has good management skills. Acheiving balance & control over your own life. Many ideas & experiences synthesize to form new ideas. Compromise to secure cooperation. Possible reconciliation." from the Quick & Easy deck. *** My feeling is it is the card about blending 2 seperate things into a new integrated experience, one that is comfortable for you. Finding the middle ground that is acceptable and the product of what you have made of the circumstances or experiences. Could it be establishing your personal boundary lines with the established ones of what is expected ??? Just a thought .

The Tell me about Temperance thread was originally posted on 05 Jun 2002 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.