Abrac
I think I have to eat my words from Post #6 above in light of new information that has come to my attention. It has to do with how Waite thought of the word "Temperance," and as usual with Waite the Devil’s in the details. If nothing else I hope to show that Waite wasn't satisfied with Temperance as a title for this card.
First is this reference from the PKT:
The ordinary man in the street would see this card in its "first sense," it's exoteric sense. But a more enlightened person would see its esoteric side and the ordinary label "Temperance" and the meaning it carries would be insufficient.
In his description of the card itself he says:
All the conventional ideas attached to Temperance have been renounced; his image carries a deeper significance, the "Secret of Eternal Life."
From Waite’s paper "The Tarot and the Rosy Cross":
On one level it might be possible to view the card according to conventional ideas of Temperance but as one progresses new ideas start to take shape.
In Shadows of Life and Thought he refers to it as ". . . the so-called card of Temperance." This casual remark reveals that for Waite there was a lot more to it than ordinary "Temperance."
From Waite's description of Temperance in the PKT:
I think some confusion comes into it, at least for me, when he says it "tempers." How can it temper yet be called Temperance "fantastically?" The answer I believe is in how Waite meant "Temperance." I believe he probably meant it as moderation or abstinence commonly understood. To expand on the first quote from above, this shows where Waite's coming from. From the PKT:
Temperance signified "Lights out in the tavern," as he puts it, or abstinence. The regulating principle and the changes in consciousness are what Waite was concerned with. Referring to the card as "Temperance" demonstrates a person's shallowness of understanding.
All this considered, I think he probably did mean "fantastically" in the sense of "inaccurate," or that "Temperance" alone doesn't do full justice to what he was trying to symbolize. I couldn't see this before and didn't understand why Waite would say such a thing, but it makes a bit more sense now.
In his description of Temperance in the first part of the PKT, Waite says:
The only way this makes sense is if by Temperance he means abstinence or restraint. I agree it's not obviously an allegory on the virtues of self-control.
First is this reference from the PKT:
"The four cardinal virtues are necessary to an ideological sequence like the Trumps Major, but they must not be taken only in that first sense which exists for the use and consolation of him who in these days of halfpenny journalism is called the man in the street."
The ordinary man in the street would see this card in its "first sense," it's exoteric sense. But a more enlightened person would see its esoteric side and the ordinary label "Temperance" and the meaning it carries would be insufficient.
In his description of the card itself he says:
"Hereof is some part of the Secret of Eternal Life, as it is possible to man in his incarnation. All the conventional emblems are renounced herein."
All the conventional ideas attached to Temperance have been renounced; his image carries a deeper significance, the "Secret of Eternal Life."
From Waite’s paper "The Tarot and the Rosy Cross":
". . . but in the higher Degrees we must give the higher meaning, and the complexion of the path upward, as we proceed further in our course, has more of the aspect of ecstasy than that of Temperance."
On one level it might be possible to view the card according to conventional ideas of Temperance but as one progresses new ideas start to take shape.
In Shadows of Life and Thought he refers to it as ". . . the so-called card of Temperance." This casual remark reveals that for Waite there was a lot more to it than ordinary "Temperance."
From Waite's description of Temperance in the PKT:
"It is called Temperance, fantastically, because, when the rule [regulating principle] of it obtains in our consciousness, it tempers, combines and harmonizes the psychic and material natures. Under that rule we know in our rational part something of whence we came and whither we are going."
I think some confusion comes into it, at least for me, when he says it "tempers." How can it temper yet be called Temperance "fantastically?" The answer I believe is in how Waite meant "Temperance." I believe he probably meant it as moderation or abstinence commonly understood. To expand on the first quote from above, this shows where Waite's coming from. From the PKT:
"The four cardinal virtues are necessary to an idelogical sequence like the Trumps Major, but they must not be taken only in that first sense which exists for the use and consolation of him who in these days of halfpenny journalism is called the man in the street. In their proper understanding they are the correlatives of the counsels of perfection when these have been similarly re-expressed, and they read as follows: . . . .(b) Divine Ecstasy, as a counterpoise to something called Temperance, the sign of which is, I believe, the extinction of lights in the tavern."
Temperance signified "Lights out in the tavern," as he puts it, or abstinence. The regulating principle and the changes in consciousness are what Waite was concerned with. Referring to the card as "Temperance" demonstrates a person's shallowness of understanding.
All this considered, I think he probably did mean "fantastically" in the sense of "inaccurate," or that "Temperance" alone doesn't do full justice to what he was trying to symbolize. I couldn't see this before and didn't understand why Waite would say such a thing, but it makes a bit more sense now.
In his description of Temperance in the first part of the PKT, Waite says:
"The first thing which seems clear on the surface is that the entire symbol has no especial connection with Temperance, and the fact that this designation has always obtained for the card offers a very obvious instance of a meaning behind meaning, which is the title in chief to consideration in respect of the Tarot as a whole."
The only way this makes sense is if by Temperance he means abstinence or restraint. I agree it's not obviously an allegory on the virtues of self-control.