Temperance

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 13 Jan 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

SilverFairy	13 Jan 2005
I was wondering if Temperance could come up in a reading regarding Sex? As in a marriage trying to make life? I got it in a reading I did for someone in the past position.. I had asked a general question. pertaining to opportunities in january.. I got Temperance, Empress and the Sun Rx (the sun is my pregnant card for sure it has come up before for a woman and I knew she was pregnant) I was just curious what other's might think of this.. Since I've heard of temperance being spoken of as blending two things together.. and I thought about conception.. You are taking 2 people and blending a little bit of this and that to create a whole new person.. I just found that funny and very interesting that I tuned in to that as a meaning.. Just hoping I'm not pulling this out of nowhere. Appreciate other's thoughts on this. blessings!

Arnnaria	13 Jan 2005
Wow! What an interesting idea. I'm new to tarot and still young [19 and gonna turn 20 in october], so I find it hard to relate to any of the Major arcana under "14." The Wheel of Fortune is where my knowledge stops. Justice I can kind of understand [i'm a libra] and the Hanged Man I know pretty well. Death also makes sense to me. But, once we hit Temperance I get flustered. I like this take on it.

Thirteen	13 Jan 2005
Yes, it certainly could indicate sex/conception--especially if you think of the merging of DNA ladders--half from mom, half from dad. That's the very essence of temperance, parts of opposites (male/female) forming a unifed third (baby). Thesis and anti-thesis creating synthesis. However, it would seem to me that though you might get conception (Temperance) the actual pregnancy would come to a premature end with Sun rx (Up right would be successfu pregnancy). I'd say this was sad as the Empress would indicate that the pregnancy was wanted or hoped for.

SilverFairy	14 Jan 2005
Thirteen, thank you for the reply.. Yes it would be VERY much hoped for.. I am a part of a group of ladies trying to concieve.. so I thought it funny when asking about pregnancy directly I recieved a reading I couldn't totally answer right..I ask a very basic question and get the querents wanted question answered.. Curious I interpreted Sun Rx as not so optimistic, worried, clouded thoughts about this issue.. I always pull a clarification card.. And I didn't think to post it.. it was the 8 of cups rx.. I took that as with the sun rx that the querent is worried that the child will not stay.. but I still took the sun as positive.. Although what you have said makes more sense.. How would you interpret 8 of Cups rx next to the Sun rx? again I appreciate another point of view.. this is the first time Temperance and I have connected so well! Arnnaria, I am only 24yrs old lol I'm not that far ahead of you LOL Actually I've been using Tarot cards since I was about 11yrs old.. and I still didn't understand it in full.. I gave them up for a few years.. thinking I would never understand them to the full degree I had seen other's.. But I just wasn't focusing and excepting them beyond the Meanings they were given.. I've only picked them back up the last 6months and saw them in a different light.. also I bought a new deck LOL my old one I had for so many years.. It just needs a good cleaning.. I put her away for the time being and started a clean slate and am so shocked at how I am seeing every card and actually Getting what they are trying to tell me. most of the time anyway LOL Goodluck and you will understand your deck in the way they want you to.

Centaur	17 Jan 2005
Interestingly, the Art card in the Thoth (what in the Rider-Waite deck is Temperance) depicts two people as one... the two people who we see married in the Thoth Lovers card meld as one person. Opposites uniting. So... I guess this visual depiction might be seen as a man and woman uniting via sex. And from that coupling, springs forth new life. I can also see how the Temperance card in the RW might indicate the exchange of fluids in order to mold a new form. Interesting thread!

contradiction	17 Jan 2005
i wil have to agree with thirteen on this one. but for pulling things out of thin air. those are usually the time's when you are most accurate.

ros	17 Jan 2005
Yes!!! I just did a reading on the weekend for a lady who has had her tubes cleaned out. She is 24 trying to have a baby. I don't know what the question was but she is also in April going to see about the next step. Temperance showed up and the first thing I thought of was finding the right combination for her.

SilverFairy	17 Jan 2005
Thanks for the replies.. I had a hard time trying to verbalize what I saw in temperance.. Sometimes when I see a card and connect it's like I know what I want to say about it but have a hard time explaining it LOL I'm good for that anyway.. I thought it was interesting myself. Contradiction, When I spoke of what I got in the cards I was very honest..or as true to what I got as I could be to the Querent.. Tough one..but I just told her that I felt that there is possibility of a pregnancy but that Either she wasn't very optimistic about it. or she may have another loss..I personally felt that the First thought was more true to the situation..but it could have very well been wishful thinking.. i hate giving bad news.. but she was very understanding and said she suspected as much. Ah well. I didn't expect the cards when doing the reading in the first place.. Wishing her the best though. Ros, that is very interesting. I hope maybe this thread was helpful to other's in a situation where temperance may be trying to say something of this nature.

Thirteen	18 Jan 2005
SilverFairy: glad to hear it's all coming together after so many years. Sometimes it happens that way. So I guess Temperance is also be your personal gateway card, as it were, the one that brought the Tarot into flower--one half and the other, to suddenly make sense. You might want to keep it in mind for yourself if you need a signifier or if you're looking in a spread for the card indicating youself. SilverFairy wrote: How would you interpret 8 of Cups rx next to the Sun rx? again I appreciate another point of view.. this is the first time Temperance and I have connected so well! I would say that the 8/Cus rx is simply reiterating what it said before, that the "dream" is blocked. The querent may want to be on their way toward this dearest dream, ready to leave everything they once cared about in order to reach it; but they're not able to go for it yet. Which, again, probably indicates something preventing the pregnancy. I'm sorry it isn't better news--but remember, in most readings the prediction is only for 30-60 days in the future. So whatever is blocking this woman's hope may only be for now, not forever.

SilverFairy	18 Jan 2005
Thirteen, Thank you for your help! and for your thoughts on the 8 of cups rx.. I did not feel confident about the outcome on that.. again I hate to give such negative news...but its comes with the territory. You are right about temperance.. what a new world it has opened for me.. lately I have jumped on opportunities to read for people in need it has felt very good to try and help as best I can, and I make it clear i might not get it or that what I interpret might not be correct..but I have gotten so much validation.. I feel I am really getting it and my cards.. I'm very pleased to be able to do this for others. This board has helped me greatly as well! Blessings!

knowledge	18 Jan 2005
If temperance is pregnancy.cn death be the opposit? the lost of a baby?

Thirteen	18 Jan 2005
knowledge wrote: If temperance is pregnancy.cn death be the opposit? the lost of a baby? I wouldn't say that Temperance is pregnancy but, rather, conception. You can fertilize an egg in a test tube (Temperance) but you might not be able to impregnant a woman with it; hence, no pregnancy even though conception has occured; preganancy is when the fertilized egg attatches itself to the womb and has time to grow. Pregnancy would be better indicated by the Sun (a focus on the growing baby) or the Empress (a focus on the pregnant mother). I'm not trying to split hairs, here, but I just don't think of Temperance as a "pregnancy" card--what it's about is the merging of two ideas into a third, the chemisty, if you will, whether it happens in a womb or a test tube. What it doesn't or can't say is if that idea can be gestated or carried to term--which is what pregnancy is all about. Death can certainly indicate termination or loss or anything, a baby included, but it would have to be in context. I don't know that I'd use it to predict a terminated pregnancy unless the signs were really strong. It could as easily indicate that the mother's old life is going to come to an end (death) once the baby is born.

TemperanceAngel	18 Jan 2005
RWS Three of Swords can signify miscarriage or termination...unfortunately...I have seen this many times in the cards.

Thirteen	18 Jan 2005
TemperanceAngel wrote: RWS Three of Swords can signify miscarriage or termination...unfortunately...I have seen this many times in the cards. That makes a lot of sense--but it's terribly sad.

allibee	19 Jan 2005
May I add another point... I think someone else mentioned the word ART as the thoth keyword. Recently it - or should I say IT - hit me. Art reads: A.R.T - Assisted Reproductive Techniques - as in IVF etc. Anyone who has read up on it or been through it will know just what a complicated procedure it really is, mixing exactly the right meds with timing/ultrasounds/tests/egg retrieval/fertilisation in the pietri - close with the test tube there thirteen :) - and then timing the return of the hopefully fertilised embies. And then it doesn't stop there. The meds continue, along with the tests etc etc...and there is certainly an 'art' to the skills of the RE or ob/gyn Just a thought...

tarotbear	20 Jan 2005
If you go to Major Tom's Tarot and look at the Temperance card ... guess who the model is!

The Temperance thread was originally posted on 13 Jan 2005 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.