Temperance is one of the 22 Major Arcana cards in Tarot decks and is usually numbered 14. It signifies balance, moderation, and slowing down.
This card represents your inner “stress barometer” which notifies you when your mind and body are under too much strain. When Temperance appears, it is time to give your body more of what it needs right now, in order to restore your equilibrium.
As you connect with the energy of Temperance, take a moment to ask yourself what you truly need at this time. Listen to your inner voice and honor your physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Temperance gently guides you to protect your own health and well-being first. In this way, you will have plenty to share with others.
Symbolism and Interpretation
Temperance almost invariably depicts a figure with pouring liquid from one cup to another. This figure is usually referred to as the virtue Temperance or as an angel, though several other interpretations also exist. Historically, this was a standard symbol of the virtue temperance, one of the cardinal virtues, representing the dilution of wine with water. In the Rider-Waite image by Pamela Coleman-Smith, the Hebrew Tetragrammaton is on the angel's chest above the square and triangle.
Temperance is all about balance. Instead of the static scale seen in Justice, Temperance is illustrated by water flowing between two cups and curling around the feet of an angel. In fostering balance between our passion and judgment we can embrace and revel in the dynamic flow of life.
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This card teaches us that we can access deeper parts of ourselves by abandoning the chaos of excess. It illustrates the moments when we learn to tune out these distractions and nourish ourselves with our own truth. As we’ve seen with the previous card, Death, this path is not easy, but it’s the challenges of life that teach us how best to focus inward and lean on our strengths.
Always seeking meaning, Temperance asks us to focus on what’s really important and start living the life we believe in. This means abstaining from things that don’t line up with our values or that suck our energy, even if they seem pleasurable in the moment.
The Temperance tarot card is a powerful symbol of balance, moderation, and harmony. It depicts an angelic figure standing with one foot in water and the other on land, pouring water from one cup to another. The figure's wings are outstretched, representing a sense of balance and control over opposing forces. The Temperance card often appears in tarot readings as a reminder to seek balance in all aspects of life, including our thoughts, emotions, and actions.
One interpretation of the Temperance card is that it represents the need to find a middle ground in life. This can mean seeking a balance between work and play, between taking risks and being cautious, or between giving and receiving. By finding this middle ground, we can lead a more fulfilling and enjoyable life. The card also represents the importance of being patient and taking things slowly, rather than rushing headlong into things without considering the consequences.
Temperance may represent the need for self-control and moderation. This can mean avoiding excess in all things, from food and drink to work and leisure activities. Temperance is the card for bringing balance, patience and moderation into your life. You are being invited to stabilise your energy and to allow the life force to flow through you without force or resistance.
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This card calls on you to remain calm, even when life feels stressful or frantic. Maintain an even temperament and manage your emotions. You have learned to keep composed in stressful situations. Little things don’t get to you, thanks to your seemingly abundant source of patience.
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.
There is alchemy within Temperance. This Tarot card is about blending, mixing, and combining diverse elements in a way that creates something new and even more valuable than its separate parts. The Temperance card shows that you have a clear, long-term vision of what you want to achieve.
You are not rushing things along; instead, you are taking your time to ensure that you do the best job you can. Finally, this card reflects higher learning. You are learning a great deal where you are now and are at peace with what you are doing - it is all coming together well.
The Angel of Temperance
The angel on the Temperance card represents your higher self, which knows just how much of anything you can endure. The angel is pouring just the right amount of water from one cup, to replenish the other. This represents your need to replenish what has been depleted.
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The angel also has one foot on dry land, and the other foot in the stream. This symbolizes that although he is operating in the “real world” (the dry land), he keeps one foot in contact with his intuitive, inner world (the stream). The path behind him leads to a bright destination. If you follow the angel’s example and look after your equilibrium, you will also find a healthier, happier future awaiting you.
The Iris flowers calls to mind Iris, the Messenger Goddess. Temperance is sandwiched between the Major Arcana’s most challenging cards: The Hanged man and Death, and the Devil and Tower. It is an oasis stop in the journey through this leg of the journey.
Temperance represents a place of self-care and restoration before getting back in the ring. The many Angels that appear in the tarot represent your Higher-Self.
The location of Temperance in the Major Arcana symbolizes the need to reconnect with a transcendent, “big-picture” perspective, while amid difficulties. Stressful situations can deplete you quickly.
It’s like holding your breath under water and endlessly swimming. The symbol of Temperance can be described as returning to the water’s surface and replenishing yourself with a fresh breath of sweet air. Temperance reminds you to listen to your body, quiet your mind, and spend some to come up for air.
You may think that life is just too demanding and busy, and that you don’t have the time for self-care. Many people give all the energy they have and feel strained, stressed and even crazy from burning the candle at both ends. No matter what demands are being placed on you currently, you need to replenish yourself.
Not wanting to disappoint others makes us jump through impossible circles and hoops, attempting to be Superman or Superwoman. All the while we slowly deplete ourselves to a point where we need rescuing!
To restore your balance, what is your body signaling to you that it needs? More water? More rest? Some quiet time? A vacation? A break? Time with your favorite books? Wrap yourself in the angel’s wings, and lovingly give your body some attention.
Temperance Reversed
If you have recently experienced a period of excess, Temperance Reversed is your invitation (or sometimes, your warning signal) to restore balance and moderation as soon as possible. You may have been over-eating, regularly drinking, buying things you can’t afford, arguing with loved ones, or engaging in negative thought patterns.
These activities are taking you further away from who you are and what you are here to do. So, it is time to stop. Temperance Reversed can also be a sign you sense that something is ‘off’ in your life, creating stress and tension. Life is not flowing as easily as you had hoped or there’s a niggling voice from within going, “Wait a second! This doesn’t feel right!”
You can ignore it and carry on with life as usual. But, heed Temperance’s warning: If you stay in this state for too long, that voice will just get louder and louder until you pay attention. Or, you can listen to it now and make the necessary adjustments to find your flow once again.
Temperance Reversed may reflect a period of self-evaluation in which you can re-examine your life priorities. Internally, you may feel called in one direction, but your daily life may not match up to what is emerging. See this as your opportunity to align your higher vibration with your outer world.
You may need to change your living arrangements, relationships, career, and daily habits so you can cultivate more balance and purpose in line with your new priorities. Similarly, the 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.
Finding Your Equilibrium
Temperance calls you to step into your power, acknowledge your worthiness, and embrace the limitless potential for growth and happiness that awaits you. Release any self-limiting behaviors or thought patterns, and welcome the opportunity for positive change and personal transformation.
By aligning with the energy of Temperance, you can open the door to a renewed life filled with authentic love and soulful choices. Does your body “act up” when you’re stressed? Do you get strange sensations that make you worry you might have something seriously wrong with you?
Temperance reminds you to listen to your body, quiet your mind, and spend some to come up for air. The Angel of Temperance is guiding you back toward what you need for balance.
In many versions, water is being poured from one vessel to another, showing that the contents of one can adapt to another; water is flexible, adaptable, and can occupy any space as needed. In the words of Bruce Lee... "You put water in a cup, it becomes the cup..."
Temperance in this essence is being rooted while you flow, a mutability so to speak.
I was reminded just yesterday - by the incredible Chaya Nadi and messages from my Angels, Ancestors, Guardians, and Guides - that Temperance is something I need to tune into in the coming times.
Though I long to be a hostess, one of the best ways I can serve my little community is by making the healthier indulgent choices. This honors my body temple, too. That’s essential as I step into this increased level of guidance, coaching, and healing for others, as well as ethics. Though I am perfectly imperfect and very much human, it is my goal to continue to treat myself with the utmost respect and love I possibly can, and that means continuing to fine tune the way I approach my values.
Honestly, my life lately has been a series of rushing moments. I’ve been struggling against the stream a bit, trying to grapple some kind of control against the current by building some perfect raft to the end. But, if I just breathe deeply and give my belly up to the sky, there is the rapture of going with the flow within myself: I have everything I need within me.
That is a bit of what Temperance represents to me in this moment, but I invite you to really dive into the meaning of this card and see what it brings up for you!
Where can you find more balance in your life right now?
Temperance to me involves bringing together opposing forces, the basic underlining alchemy of blending two opposites to create a whole new thing. To me, Temperance is the homeostasis card. It shows that something is off kilter and must be recalibrated to optimum balance, for example.
Or it can indicate blending of two disparate substances, ideas, dynamics, etc, into one new entity. It's not a question of staying still, so much as finding how to make the two sides of an equation balance each other, so that harmony is possible.
This can lead to peace of mind, equanimity, and quiet contentment... knowing that one has done the right thing (i.e. the least disruptive, the way that heals rifts rather than striving for victory). To do this, though, we need to learn to appreciate opposing perspectives and work with them, rather than defeating them.
The alchemy side is interesting as a corollary... I've never used it, but I can definitely see that angle!
And I "got" it. The blending of fire and water to make something new (tea). The alchemical fusion of opposites. I began to see temperance as a far more active card. The FUSION of opposing forces more than the balance. Boiling water for tea is active ... not passive.
Anyway, its difficult to put words on it ... but I hope you get the idea. Another meaning of temperance is sobriety. Like the Ladies’ Temperance League that got booze outlawed in the 1920s.
Temperance (XIV) is one of the 22 Major Arcana cards in Tarot decks. It is usually numbered 14. It depicts a figure which represents the virtue Temperance.
A woman mixing water into wine was a standard allegory of Temperance in European iconography.