23/09 Temperance

galadrial

Today I drew Temperance. I like her starry, yellow butterfly wings; they denote the spiritual without detracting from her overall, almost Peter Max-ish look. Both segmented and layered body parts seem to echo the stages of spiritual growth we go through. Sometimes we can see how one experience is layered on top of another, but sometimes an incident occurs in seeming isolation and we wonder what that was all about. It can be a long time and require some introspective thinking before we can integrate it well (maybe that is the reason for the feminine puzzle piece symbol; the state of mind necessary for the successful blending of opposites, including masculine and feminine, is itself the feminine state of at-oneness and harmony with the universe that allows for self compassion. In that state of mind we see all aspects of our personality objectively and do not denouce or reject any single part but are able to blend it effectively with the rest. In other words, the masculine trait would be discrimination, the feminine assimilation). The purple terrain makes me think of this as "sacred ground", a place for the combining of seemingly disparate elements of the soul into a stable, whole persona; of assimilating the lessons of the past 13 cards so that one is ready to embark on the lessons of the next harmonic.

Graham's booklet says: "Temperance, a figure of purification, hovers in the sky to cleanse and filter our soul. Temperance moves on butterfly wings in constant flux and movement. Her body is constructed form Yin-Yang circles; she adjusts to the needs of others. She holds two cups in her hands, one a passive blue, the other an active red. Water flows from one to the other, indicating energy transformation. Not a single drop is spilled or wasted.
Temperance represents clarity; we need to travel through a series of stages in order for us to grow. This process enables us to reveal our true beauty. Temperance encourages us to practice self-healing and brings opposites together in harmony.

Divinitory Meaning: Spiritual elevation, successful partnership, self-control, brilliance.
Reverse Meaning: Bribery, corruption, refusal to learn from past mistakes."
 

Maan

Sounds like a beautiful card to have drawn as a day card Galadrial.

Somehow the fact that all her body parts are disconnected seems to mean something in this card. I'm not quite sure waht but it looks like pure concentration and inner peace will make everything fall in the right place. But without bing stuck.or maybe its about letting go..ever your sence of self.
Just rambeling here cause i really don't know were i am going with this actually ;)

Love
Maan
 

galadrial

I like the idea of losing one's sense of self. Sometimes when we define ourselves to ourselves we are seeing our seperate parts as arranged in a fixed pattern. If we can lose our sense of self for awhile, we can integrate experiences that are putting pressure on that fixed pattern; we can undergo the changes that those experiences demand, but that we resisted because they did not fit in with with our preconceived idea of self. Our parts can rearrange themselves into a new, more balanced and harmonious pattern, and we can realize that our true self was not lost in the process. We needn't go through an identity crises each time we face a Death or Tower experience. We can release the old patterns and open ourselves to the metamorphasis of integrating profound changes into our psyche.
 

Melvis

When I saw the word "filter" in GC's description of this card, I immediately zeroed in on the layers of black and white. It made me think of filters you use on air purifiers, etc., and how advertisements for these filters always talk about all the layers the filter is made from. One layer catches one type of impurity, the next layer catches more impurities that the first one missed, etc.

Layers...filters...removing impurities...just some train-of-thought ramblin'! :)

Peace,

Melvis
:TSTRE