Shadowscapes Study - Temperance XIV

The Shadowscape Companion book describes the unnamed woman in the card keeping the opposing forces of dragon and phoenix in balance. "Like a maestro, she watches over and reins in one or the other when she senses any imbalance..."

Meaning: "Harmony and equilibrium, balancing of opposites, healing. Moderation of extremes, self-restraint, harnessing absolute forces, and reining them in to be wielded to a purpose."

She does seem to be all about balance. She's balanced on the tree limb. The globe in her arms is balanced between blue and yellow, both in the shape of yin/yang. The card itself has a balance of yellow and blue, mirroring the beings in the sky and the globe.

Very, very pretty card.

This is a card that suffers more than most by being reprinted in black-and-white in the Companion book. The colors really make the picture.

The woman focuses on the yin-yang sphere as if using her mind to bring into balance the two forces inside the sphere. Meanwhile, the outer world echoes the interplay of the two forces. The fiery yellow phoenix and cosmic blue dragon intertwine in the air, and the whole sky joins in, taking up the yellow and blue yin-yang pattern.

Nearby, a psychedelic fox, seemingly mocking the dragon, is decked with red crystals and dangles one crystal like a pendulum, as if divining the answer to a question. A bird stands on the fox's back, wings outstretched. Is the bird is pretending to be the phoenix? Are the fox and the bird ritually acting out the interplay of dragon and phoenix for the woman's benefit?

A dreamlike, psychedelic feel suggests that this is an intensely inward experience.

Stephanie shows what I think to be the Sun intwined in the Flames of the Fire being emitted from the body of the Phoenix. The Phoenix is frequently depicted as the mythological creature of Fire; not to be confused with the Elementals of Fire, the Salamanders. She shows what I see as the Moon aside the Water flowing around the Dragon. Dragons are sometimes depicted as the mythological creatures of Water (due to their lizard/serpant like appearance), or as a creature of Spirit (Can live on Land - Earth, Can fly/Has wings - Air, Breathes Fire - Fire, and is thought to be the ascendant of lizards/serpants - Water; the combination of these traits represent the element of Spirit or Ether). -Upon further thought, the Phoenix could also be seen as a creature of Spirit, due to it's cyclical nature and representing life-death-rebirth (see my comments on Shadowscapes Death card).

It is interesting, to me, that this particular card has a more Thoth based influence. Both have the combining of Fire and Water, and two mythological creatures to represent Fire and Water.
SEE: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/compare/temperance.shtml

The Elements of Fire and Water are thought to be the Primal Polarity: Hot/Cold, Dry/Wet, Masculine/Feminine, etc.

Peregrin said:

Nearby, a psychedelic fox, seemingly mocking the dragon, is decked with red crystals and dangles one crystal like a pendulum, as if divining the answer to a question. A bird stands on the fox's back, wings outstretched. Is the bird is pretending to be the phoenix? Are the fox and the bird ritually acting out the interplay of dragon and phoenix for the woman's benefit?

Click to expand...

Oh! I'm glad you put a name to that statuesque animal!
And does anyone have any idea what type of bird that is!?

To me, expanding upon @Peregrin's insight, I see the Fox representing the Phoenix and the Bird representing the Dragon along the lines of the Hermetic Principle of Correspondence "As Above, So Below". Another representation of balance; where the Dragon and Phoenix are the Spiritual/Mystical representation and the Fox and Bird are the Physical/Tangible representation.

I see the woman, balanced in the tree, creating a true act of magick: balance, peace, harmony; represented by her ability to hold, contain, and merge the Elements of Fire and Water, no matter how opposite they are. She resembles an Angel with Angel like wings, and a glowing orb behind her head. At first I thought this to be the Sun, but now I believe it to be a Halo or the activation of her Crown Chakra due to her magickal acts.