TEMPERANCE
"Center of the Storm"
Rider Waite Tarot
Pamela Coleman Smith
1909
Fire – Sagittarius
- upright -
· Moderation
· Balance
· Patience
· Taking the Middle Way
· Equilibrium
· Avoid Extremity
· Slow & Steady Progress
· Calm in the Storm
· Out of Balance
· Excess
· Going Extremes
· Recklessness
· Hastiness
· Poor Execution
· Rushing Things
· Stress & Anxiety
· Impatience
· Lack of Planning
· Lack of Wisdom
- Reversed -
Fire – Sagittarius
Rider Waite Tarot
Pamela Coleman Smith
1909
- upright -
· Moderation
· Balance
· Patience
· Taking the Middle Way
· Equilibrium
· Avoid Extremity
· Slow & Steady Progress
· Calm in the Storm
- reversed -
· Out of Balance
· Excess
· Going Extremes
· Recklessness
· Hastiness
· Poor Execution
· Rushing Things
· Stress & Anxiety
· Impatience
· Lack of Planning
· Lack of Wisdom
The moment has come to integrate the opposites.
The unification of contradictions is a major step toward oneness.
This is a moment of transformation and a preparation for something new.
What can you learn in your search for answers without being conclusive?
Is there a point of view missing from your current perspective?
What does “taking the middle path” mean in your situation?
I am at peace with the opposing forces within me.
Temperance is the in-between state of all things. It is neither one, nor the other. Our world consists of sometimes sharp social and political constraints. Some walk along the edges and don’t fit into the confinements available to us. In traditional depictions, the Temperance angel is neither female nor male. This angel comes to us to bring a softening to our hard ridges. They show us that things cannot be as simply organized as we think. In attempting to do so, we may overlook the beauty that lives in the vast complexities of our world and ourselves.
— JULIA TURK, Navigators Tarot of the Mystic Sea (1997)
Tarot of Eden
Alika Lindbergh & Maud Kristen
2005
01. Temperance is a card of balance and moderation, harmony through equilibrium.
Temperance asks for patience and points to the need for both a stable personal foundation and an openness to collaboration and community. It teaches us to practice planting a foot in each of the realms, the material and the spiritual.
Temperance is the calm center of the storm, offering peace by balancing and combining different sides of life. Temperance asks us to take the middle path and reminds us that the rational and the emotional, desires of the body and expansions of the mind are all of equal importance.
02. Temperance brings balance, patience, and moderation into your life. You are invited to stabilize your energy and allow the life force to flow through you without force or resistance. Maintain an even temperament and manage your emotions to keep composed in stressful situations.
Temperance implies that you have a clear vision and know what you want to achieve. This is an indication of higher learning, which is a critical attribute in the journey of life. It reflects that you have found peace with what you are doing and everything is unfolding as it ought to.
The Muse Tarot
Chris-Anne
2020
Waite Trinick Tarot
John B. Trinick
1921
03. Temperance indicates a time to evaluate and re-examine the priorities you have chosen. This will help you create a balance between your outer and inner selves. At the end of it all, you will find greater purpose and meaning in your actions.
Temperance also means the right action, doing the correct thing in whatever situation arises.
Sometimes, this means doing nothing. The intemperate person always needs to be in constant action, but often a situation requires a person to simply wait.
04. There is alchemy within Temperance – by blending, mixing, and combining different elements, it creates something new and more valuable than its individual parts.
Spolia Tarot
Jen May
2018
Mountain Dream Tarot
Bea Nettles
1975
05. Temperance asks you to take the middle path and accommodate all perspectives. Now is not the time to be highly opinionated or controversial.
Be the peacekeeper and take a balanced and moderate approach, avoiding any extremes.
Include others and bring together diverse groups of people to create harmony and cooperation.
Dali Tarot
Salvador Dali
1984
Illustration By
Olivia M. Healy
2019
- Turn Around -
06. Temperance reversed indicates wildness, going to extremes. This can result from a lack of inner awareness of what is appropriate for a situation. It can act as a warning that you have allowed your life to become fragmented and that you are sliding from one extreme to another. If you have recently experienced a period of excess, this is your invitation, or sometimes, your warning signal, to restore balance and moderation as soon as possible.
07. Temperance reversed can suggest that you sense something is ‘off’ in your life, creating stress and tension. It may come from a lack of a long-term plan or a lack of purpose. Temperance reversed asks for a period of self-evaluation to reexamine your life priorities – this is your opportunity to align your inner callings with your outer world. You must think carefully about what needs to change. Temperance reminds us that all things are only good in moderation.
08. Temperance reversed can be a call for profound self-healing. By creating more balance and moderation in your life, you open the possibility for such healing to occur. Given the reversal of this card, you are doing it in a way that is personal and private to you, without the influence of others.
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