connecting to: Temperance

In this series, “Connecting to:”, I am examining each of the major arcana in depth. The major arcana are the most powerful and impactful cards of the tarot deck. Through a rich symbology, these twenty-two cards share with us the mysteries and secrets that are universal to the human experience and to spiritual evolution.

Each of these posts is a combination of a couple things: Intuitive notes I took while meditating with the card, comparisons of my notes to the traditional meanings of the card*, and any other research or tidbit of information I find interesting/relevant! Think of these posts as little bulletin boards, with post-its from different sources and thought bubbles stuck all over. I may add to them from time to time, as well.

*Note: When I began this series, I was just starting out as a tarot reader and deepening my relationship with the cards. I’ve now been reading professionally for several years, so this section of the blog post may look a little different than it used to. I think going forward these posts will start with my own interpretations based on my years of experience and intuition, then examining questions that come up for me in the symbology and insights I gain from my research.

Temperance — XIV — Major Arcana:

My personal notes // Exploration of the image:

Freedom Within Passion

The first thing I find interesting about this deck’s iteration of Temperance is that the angelic figure we see is wearing a rainbow-striped sweater. The Modern Witch is a tarot deck known for its inclusivity. In general, the illustrations include people of color and play with gender roles, but this is a direct allusion to queerness. I’d like to know why.

Note from future, more well-informed Alexandria: I believe the rainbow-striped sweater is a reference to the fact that the angel in the Temperance card is a hermaphrodite. There is a freedom in identity expression, yes, but this also denotes a middle path, neither fully one end of the spectrum or the other. It reinforces the theme of duality and balance, and it’s a reminder not to engage in polarities at the time the card is pulled.

Temperance is an angel, inferring the holy nature of finding balance and moderation in this world. Her wings are red — a color that usually represents passion. I think that’s fitting considering that when people think of the word’s temperance and moderation, it typically has to do with vices and sobriety. Passions that have gotten out of control. The fact that wings symbolize the freedom of flight, our angel’s red wings turn into a sort of freedom within passion.

The angel’s dreads are also something I take note of in this deck, mostly because dreads are signifiers of freedom, as well: freedom from expectations of how black people “should” appear according to Eurocentric beauty standards. There is a bravery in this freedom, and dreadlocks also hold a deep spiritual meaning in some circles. They are considered to be spiritual antennae, helping those who choose to don them with a divine knowing (or in other words, helps people to listen to their intuition more clearly). When Temperance appears, we are receiving a message from our team in spirit to allow ourselves to be who are in our most natural element.

This makes so much sense and really enhances the meaning of the placement of this figure’s feet: one in the water (representing a connection to the divine) and one on land (representing a grounded quality, a connection to this earthly experience). In this sense, there is another reference to balance and duality. I also love that her foot on the ground is slightly pointed and arched, like the position of a dancer. Which is how this life should feel on earth, like a dance. Light and airy and free. It also makes it look like she’s stepping into the water. In that way — diving into the water that creates a path of enlightenment in this life — there is a tiny bit of an allusion to the idea of baptism. A fresh spiritual start.

There is a pathway to her left that wanders from the water through a field of green, toward the mountains and the shining sun. We can think of that as the pathway our Angel took to get to this place where she has been baptized. This is such a wonderful callback to the sunrise that is shown in the card right before Temperance, which is the Death card. While it may be a bit scary at first glance, the sunrise peeking out from the corner of Death promises us that something better is on the horizon after we’re done with the heavy lifting of transmutation. Temperance is the answer to that promise: peace, balance, and healing.

Owning Your Inner Magic

I know that this card also represents alchemy, which is what we considered to be science before we had a paradigm shift and stopped believing in magic fully. I love to say that the angel Temperance knows how to turn shit into gold. She is an expert at taking stock of her resources and using them to create magic that will help her to reach her dreams.

The expression on her face is one of determination. Her brows are furrowed in concentration, her lips set almost defiantly. She is willing to do the hard work that is necessary. There is a science to her magic, a strict and rigorous process that must be followed in order to reach truth. She knows how to extract the best parts of what she has in front of her in order to build what she desires.

In Jessica Dore’s “Tarot for Change,” Dore makes mention of the angels who remained neutral in the battle between God and Lucifer. When contemplating the determination on this angel’s face, it’s a reminder of the hard work it actually takes to remain balanced in the face of polemic clashes.

Because of this card’s connection to alchemy and the main figure being an angel, I often think of this card as a message to the querent to connect to her own team in spirit and to the magical practices they have a blood right to. I am a firm believer that we are born into the spiritual ancestry that will help us to learn the lessons we chose for this specific lifetime.

This card comes up as an encouragement to look into the indigenous healing modalities of where they come from. What is herbalism, after all, if not alchemy? Being able to forage the natural resources you are surrounded with, to get to know the spiritual properties of what grows on this earth, and create “potions” that heal?

Research // Reflections:

Numerology

When looking at the numerology of tarot cards, I follow the rule of reducing down numbers that are double digits by adding the individual numbers. In this case, 14 would reduce down to five. In tarot numerology, five typically has to do with conflict of some type. The advice I give to my querents when they have fives come up in their reading is to figure out how to be the bigger person in conflict and find out how to ensure everyone’s needs are addressed.

Note after further research: “Conflict” is the easiest way that my brain categorize’s the fives of the tarot, which I don’t feel is wrong, but I can see that there are more encompassing ways to describe the five energy. If the fives are about change — and the discomfort it can bring — then yes, fives feel like conflict. This page refers to the number five as a departure from the status quo, and I really like that interpretation. I also found this discussion on Reddit in which people describe the five energy in tarot as an evolution, and even a housekeeping vibe of letting go of baggage.

Looking at what I’ve already mentioned about where this card falls in The Fool’s Journey right after the Death card, I think my research on the five energy is sssoooooo ✨Temperance✨. It’s about a spiritual evolution, a departure from our previously ego-driven selves.

Another note: Since the number 5 did not originally *click* for me, I was curious and thought about what 14 might mean as a combination of the numbers one and four. The number one as new beginnings and opportunity, and the number four as stability….I really love that! Temperance: an opportunity for a new beginning, based in stability and balance.

Zodiac

Temperance is associated with the sign of Sagittarius, as well as the planet Jupiter (which rules Sagittarius). I’m not sure why I find this surprising. I guess it’s because, in my personal life, the Sagittarians I know are the people I look up to for being bold and ready to say exactly what they’re thinking at any given time. From my perspective, they rarely care if it makes them an outsider, and they seem quite comfortable in polarity. I’m also speaking for my Sagittarius in Mercury, which gets me in trouble from time to time. With Temperance being a card all about balance and the middle ground, this seems like a contradiction on the surface.

So how does this pairing make sense?

By remembering that Sagittarius is all about expansion. And what could be more expansive than the act of healing? When we make the effort to heal (which I have to point out is a never-ending process, not necessarily a goal with an endpoint), our worlds naturally expand. Our ability to accept the difficult behaviors of others with compassion is expanded. Our ability to meet our own faults with compassion is expanded. Our ability to create a loving space for community is expanded. Sagittarius does rule the realm of seeking spiritual truth, after all.

From: “Tarot for Change” by Jessica Dore

What I love about Jessica Dore’s take on Temperance is she focuses on the need to find a middle ground when it comes to black-and-white thinking. This makes sense, since “Tarot for Change” is a book which applies psychological and therapeutic modalities to the tarot. She makes the point that rigid people who cannot accept differences in others are this way because they’re also having a difficult time accepting a certain type of nuance into their own lives. This is often times a trauma response, a way of protecting oneself.

Because the nuance and ambiguity of life leaves too much to chance, the brain creates rigid categories: all good and all bad. But this makes it hard, if not impossible, to navigate long-term relationships and endeavors because nothing in this world is only beautiful or only flawed.

p. 92

This is actually pretty similar to her chapter on The Hermit, which also focuses on existing in the middle ground — learning how to get comfortable in liminal spaces. Temperance, however, is more about healing and integration.

In many ways, healing from trauma is learning to hold polarities, to be in life’s gray areas again. It is also the path of the mystic, who wishes to experience the truth and totality of things: the good, the bad, and the ugly at once.

p. 92