Temperance

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 10 Feb 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

rubes	10 Feb 2003
I've always been so passionately drawn to this card, and so completely mind boggled by it. I've always loved the number 14, for some reason I've never understood - I just do - but besides that, when I first began using the tarot I consistently drew this card - perhaps because I loved it so much, or came to love it so much because I drew it all the time! The official RWS description for this card never seems to do it justice....seems to be some blanded-down version of a very active, alive and creative card. I don't see this card as the card of being "moderate" at all....I guess the view of the card as Art or Alchemy makes much more sense to me, but there's still something so mysterious about this card that I just can't put my finger on. Sometimes I see it as making gold out of an extremely difficult life situation - the alchemy end of things....weighing, measuring, timing, creating. For me, it's the card of being a tarot reader, putting all the pieces together and making whole of it. And of being an artist. And then there's the "angel" reference...what does this mean? Calling on one's guardian angel/higher wisdom....co-creating with Spirit you think? Maybe this card will always be one whose qualities I need, and need to ponder. It seems to speak for itself during readings, it kind of manages itself, but most of the time I can't seem to wrap my head around it or get a grip exactly on what it means, in the bigger sense. I think I'll probably never have the "right answer"...and maybe that's what makes it so meaningful to me. I'd love to hear other folks' feelings/interpretation of this card. It's interesting to me how some people absolutely & certainly have a most definitive take on it, and some people seem more fluid with it.....all that pouring back and forth going on. have a great monday, rubes p.s. is it SPRING yet?????? we're getting more snow today here in new york, as if there could possibly be any left in the sky...

sagitarian	10 Feb 2003
As generic as this sounds, I've always seen the card to mean EXACTLY what it says. Temperance. Having a calm "temper" about things in general. A person who doesn't get mad easily, who has a relaxed outlook on life and it's troublesome situations, the optimistic type of person, almost hippy. The fool is the person completely open to any and all new experiences, or just starting on a new journey of some sort, temperance is what is learned to handle the troubles that will come. If it should turn up in the final outcome, I would see it as getting a deeper and fuller meaning of what and why the querent is going through now, coming out a better person because of it. It's also come up as a fertility card in the past with a querent. I've also seen it come up as meaning putting true faith in what you believe and ignoring all the other disturbances of the negative influences surrounded around the person. I could also see it as being a guardian angel of sort, though I've never had it come up as such. Temperance to me is knowing how to keep self control, knowing what a bad temper, temptations, is by experiencing it and then learning to gain control over one self regardless of any and all other influences. I see it as the ultimate of being an individual and knowing yourself very well to know your limits, sticking to your morals, as well as accepting the guidance of those that are of help to you with grace. This card is a very powerful card, but such can be said for all the other 77 cards of the deck...grins. At least you only have this issue with one card, I have it for about 2-3 of the major arcana, and I don't understand wands a single bit! I'm always a blank when wands turn up.

Laurel	10 Feb 2003
Temperance to me is a card of virtue; a single virtue that really encapsulates all the others. "Nothing to excess" is the second Wisdom of Delphi and Temperance is a state of being of harmony and balance, where there is no excess. Its not stagnant or entropic however. Its a place of tremendous beauty and self-fufillment and self-actualization. In daily life and readings, Temperance can remind us to self-moderate, and gentle ourselves towards others. ~LAS

MeeWah	10 Feb 2003
For me, Temperance represents "Art", as in the art of living; all aspects of living--how one chooses to live, diet & health considerations, allocating time to Spirit & to the mundane; appropriate use of one's energy & resources; blending opposing qualities. Making lemonade out of "lemons". It also represents the higher self; the guiding aspect of self. The angel is thought to represent Ariel/Uriel, "Lion of God", the angel associated with the element Earth. He represents knowledge from the Godforce. I think the alchemical association with Temperance deals with transforming base metal into gold. Sort of a description of the soul's journey in the Earth plane.

fairyhedgehog	10 Feb 2003
Quote: Originally posted by rubes It's interesting to me how some people absolutely & certainly have a most definitive take on it, and some people seem more fluid with it.....all that pouring back and forth going on. I liked all your ideas about Temperance. It has been my favourite card for a while and I see it as being mainly about the creative blending of opposites to form a new synthesis. But I agree that it is the inability to pin this card down that is part of its attraction.

XLCR	10 Feb 2003
I have sometimes felt the temperance card to mean the mixing of two to create a new thing...have also felt it to mean "sex" the mixing or exchanging of bodily fluids (the tower card has also represented "good sex" to me at times lol. Anyone else?

Mimers	10 Feb 2003
When I first began learning tarot, I would visualize going into the card to get a better feel for it. I would ask the card what it's messege was for me. Here it is right from my journal: Wet stones, I could smell the wet stones. Temperence tells me that the knowledge from the many lives you have lived reside deep inside you. You have earned the right to use this simply by having lived those lives. Think of your mind, body, and spirit as one, not as three separate things. Blend and combine them to make your life simpler and more harmoneous. When I see Temperence come up, I always seem to focus on those three wet stones in the water by her left foot and this reminds me of this message. The spirit is the large stone, and the body and mind are the 2 smaller ones along either side of it. I don't know why in that whole picture those three stones stick out for me the most, but they do. Out of curiousity, does anyone have any ideas as to what the 2 iris might symbolise? I think of healing knowledge, because yellow is knowledge and green can mean healing. At least I think they do. Anyway, I too love the temperence card. And as to you question Rubes, its not spring yet :( I am really getting tired of shovling snow. XLCR, I don't want to come accross as sexist, but I have to know. Are you a man? LOL :)

Minos	10 Feb 2003
Temperance is the inner engine that drives the Lovers and the Hermit. It is the natural liquid of the Star transmuted into a refined and useable form. The wild explosion of the Fool is a controlled detonation in Temperance. Keywords might include: refinement, subtelty, artifice (in the good sense), a Plan (with a capital 'P'), posing insightful questions, capturing the essence of something, manufacture (as opposed to just finding something lying around). Proper manners, in their best sense, mean knowing how much or how little formality to use, and this proceeds from knowing how best to make the other person comfortable. This knowledge is Temperance. Not so much cutting the Gordian knot as unloosing it effortlessly with a flick of the wrist. Not so much restraint of desire as maximizing enjoyment by knowing the natural limits of things, and the proper time and place for them.

Francesca	10 Feb 2003
Rubes, I think you DO understand the card. I take it as a literal meaning, not moderation, but 'the right amount of each thing'. Everything properly combined to create something great. THe angel is doing a lot of things--pouring the water, balancing, watching. But here's what really puzzles me about the card: What's that big crown in the background over the mountain mean? In the RW deck. I just noticec that thing a couple of months ago after using this deck for over 10 years. Francesca

Minos	10 Feb 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Francesca But here's what really puzzles me about the card: What's that big crown in the background over the mountain mean? In the RW deck. I just noticec that thing a couple of months ago after using this deck for over 10 years. Not the definitive answer, but: I'm not sure it's a crown. I think it's a wall or enclosure, which is illuminated and made brilliant by something. I also think that the Sun card is the view from inside this enclosure. (Sort of like the two towers in Death are the same two towers as in the Moon.) Just my $0.02

rubes	12 Feb 2003
oh nooooo. I can't believe what I just did! I'm half asleep, it's so late, but I couldn't wait to come here and tell you how wonderful all your replies have been to ponder and listen to, and what an epiphany I've had about this card over the last 2 days reading all of them! I remembered an understanding I once held about it, it all came flooding back, only this time mixed up with all the years since. And then I lost the post!!!! Anyway, if I can even find that place again, or I'll go to a new one, I'll come back tomorrow and try to explain all over again. But besides my own little/BIG mishap, I still get to say how valuable and fun it was to hear all of your understandings about this card. About 4-5 years ago, I belonged to an email tarot list, until I started to dread going into my email for the sheer volume of words I had to sift through.....but it really hasn't been since then that I've shared much about the tarot with anyone. It feels great!!! So thanks, and g'night...rubes :TTEMP

Trogon	12 Feb 2003
Hi Rubes and welcome to the forum! ;) There have been a couple of other threads on the Temperance card that you might want to check out as well (if you haven't done so already). This one; http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8769 also has a link in the 2nd or 3rd post which points to another, earlier thread on the card. Both of these threads have some very good discussions of the card.

Moongold	12 Feb 2003
Lots of images here. Temperance is coupled with Sagittarius, the fire sign. That's a nice relationship, eh? Temperance represents knowledge, understanding and passion When we get a bit out of kilter, it can restore our vitality. There is asinubfirnati ialk Baiut it a bit mire funny I went to sleep at my PC folks and wrote this line at some stage I can't remember. What do you think it means? Back to Temperance, I like your approach regarding the elements! The new Sephiroff deck speaks of Temperance as the trump which brings together water and fire, tempered by by air and earth. The holding of all this together is wonderfully represented in the Sephiroff Temperance. Must not forget that sometimes the card is renamed. It is called the Guide in the Tarot of the Old Path for example. I've fallen asleep twice in this post and I think Temperance is directing me to rest.... Good night all! Moongold

vijeno	12 Feb 2003
There is a sign up (or a sinus by?) the fire ... or... There is a sign of fire at the wal/k Beauty/Bayoo *g*/be out a bit more funny. (I'm a passionate Finnegans Wake reader, so never mind my ramblings...) vijeno

Cerulean	12 Feb 2003
...in some decks, it is the sunrise over the hills. The Bota deck includes a lion and eagle, as well.

firemaiden	12 Feb 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Mimers Out of curiousity, does anyone have any ideas as to what the 2 iris might symbolise? The two Iris, as well as Temperance herself, undoubtedly represent Iris, the Greek Rainbow Goddess, messenger of the Gods. Iris is depicted in mythology as having golden wings and carrying a pitcher. (In the Spiral Deck artist Kay Steventon has taken this idea and run with it. Her Temperance IS Iris) Iris, brings all the colors of the rainbow together, and carries them across the sky. She is the angel who mixes the colors --mixing, tempering, lessening suffering through beauty, through grace. I also like to think of the Temperance card as Art as well. Artistic vision that gives the experience of beauty to ordinary life, thereby tempering our sufferings. The poet Baudelaire considered it the Poet's job to create beauty out of anything, even dog poop, or wormy cadavers...Poetry for him, holds the alchemist's power to spin straw into gold, to "transform mud into gold" . The poets job, is to cast a rosy hue over the world, --Give me rose colored glass!, only rose colored glass! he wrote. God's rainbow sent by Iris, brings color, beauty and hope to the world, just as art has the healing power to transform grim reality. Here is a fantastic website with tons of mentions of Iris from Classical sources, as well as depiction of Iris from Greek art.

Moongold	12 Feb 2003
Thanks for your interpretation of my autonomic writing Vijeno!. I've sometimes done this before but usually it makes more sense. In fact it can be quite funny - almost in fact like writing down a dream - quite strange but understandable. Back to Temperance and I'd like to contribute two more things, Rachel Pollack in one book suggests arrrranging the Major Arcana in three groups of seven under the Fool. She identifies the three groups as the conscious, the unconscious and the higher consciousness. In this arrangement Temperance comes at the end of the *Unconscious* group. Grouping the cards in this way gives you a different perspective on the whole Major Arcana. I'm finding the notion of groupings and connectons in the Tarot quite interesting at the moment. It's not really new. Quote: Temperance is the inner engine which drives the Lovers and the Hermit Where did you get this from Minos? It's really interesting because Temperance in Tarot of the Old Path and Tarot of the Sephiroth explicitly makes this connection. T he Sephiroth image shows the Goddess Diana holding two chalices - one with fire for male energy and the with water for female energy but there are different representations of both polarities in the card. I must say I had never thought of Temperance in this way - of balancing different polarities - but it's so obvious. Thanks for the discussion. Moongold

Diana	12 Feb 2003
Temperance is the breathing space needed after card no. XIII and the Devil. A bit of sweetness after the trials encountered on the road before one reaches this stage of the journey. One regains one strength and the energies renew themselves. A time to communicate with one's higher self, with one's angels, with one's guides. A time for healing. If it's reversed, one is cutting oneself off from the protection we can seek. The energies are blocked. If one is doing a fortune telling spread, Temperance often means that one will be going on a journey - probably by plane.

Major Tom	13 Feb 2003
I love this place. It makes me think. :D Paul Foster Case in his The Tarot - A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages recommends laying out The Sun, The Heirphant, The High Priestess and The Lovers to "get intimations as to the real meaning of the vibratory force which would otherwise escape you. :) I still think Tarotbear made an excellent choice for my Temperance card, but I think I need to add an iris and a glowing crown. }) Do check it out on my website. :laugh: Another name for Temperance could be Temper - as in tempering metal. It's a transformation made with fire and water. ;)

lupo138	17 Feb 2003
I always read the card as "being well balanced" and so have been having real problems connecting it to sagittarius. Especially because of the angel - a sagittarius may be many things, but certainly not a well balanced angel. How do you see that ? Any ideas ? PS: I do know nearly nothing anout astrology. But I am a sagittarius and thus believe I do know what I am talking about ;)

phirefly	19 Feb 2003
i've always had problems with this card. lots of help in what's been written here. thanks to you all. with extra thanks to minos, whose words made everything else just click. :}

The Temperance thread was originally posted on 10 Feb 2003 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.