XIV Temperance - 'Yin and Yang'
In the aftermath of the transformational experience endured at the hands of the 'Death' archetype, The Fool wakes up to a new reality he didn't exactly chose. The loss of his old life and familiar patterns is unsettling and much harder to deal with than he ever expected. It's now the perfect time to learn new patterns of behavior to make potential future losses easier to bear. At number 'XIV' in the Major Arcana 'Temperance' brings The Fool into a world of exquisite balance and harmony. A representation of one of the classical cardinal virtues, Temperance plays a tranquil, but invaluable role in The Fool's education.
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| 'Temperance' from the Mythical Creatures Tarot by the talented folks at Baba Studio |
TEMPERANCE - Yin and Yang
KEYWORDS
Balance. Harmony. Controlled emotions. Lack of excess. Lack of passion. Neutrality. Moderation. Restraint. Calm. Routine. Controlled motion. Deliberate positive action. Precision. Alchemy. Stable energy.
Disharmony. Chaos. Excess imbalance. Discordance. Losing control. Careless. Disorganized. Highly volatile. Explosive combinations. Unstable energy.
THE LIGHT
Temperance --sometimes renamed 'Art' or 'Alchemy'-- represents moderation, balance, harmony and positive mindfulness. My favorite version of this card is the one based on the 'Art' card from Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot --see image below in the Academia section. It features the elements of fire and water existing side by side, combined to create the perfect elixir of life. The Rider-Waite-Smith version is more closely inspired by the classical Renaissance depictions of the Temperance virtue. It features a winged being holding two cups, carefully transferring water from one to the other, in an endless back and forth motion. The element of fire takes a lesser role, symbolized by the rising sun in the background.
Many contemporary tarot decks follow the Thoth symbology by more prominently incorporating the element of fire, not just as a background image, but as an active component --see the Fifth Spirit Tarot version, on the far left in the image below. One of the cups will contain fire instead of water; or there will be a bolt of lightning travelling back and forth, precisely following the water's motion. The whole effect is always one of perfect, precise control; not one drop is spilled, not one spark goes wayward.
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| 'Temperance' variations. From left to right: The Fifth Spirit Tarot, the Carnival at the End of the World & the Field Tarot |
Fire and water represent the spectrum of human passions and emotions. Temperance marks the moment The Fool has evolved enough to be able to control this roller coaster of feelings and consciously redirect them into healthier, mature behaviors. It creates a state of inner peace and mental tranquility that is sorely needed at this point in The Fool's journey. Thoughts are no longer racing wildly and this new maturity helps to control the suffering that is an integral part of existence. Past pain is no longer debilitating. It morphs into a pillar of quiet inner strength.
The appearance of Temperance in a reading calls for calm, stability and harmony to be restored in all areas of our life. Excesses of any kind should be avoided and careful and deliberate steps should be taken to flatten the dizzying spikes in our emotional state as much as possible. This is not the time to enter into heated pointless arguments; or fall head over heels in love; or start new, undefined projects just because they look or sound cool. After the painful events brought on by 'Death', the impulse to rush right into the exciting possibilities of our new life can be high, but this is precisely the time to slow down and not repeat past mistakes. Everything must be approached with as much moderation and restraint as possible.
On a lighter note, I've had this card appear in a reading to indicate that weather conditions would be ideally mild on a specific day for an outdoor event. It just goes to show that you can ask the Tarot literally anything.
THE SHADOW
The shadow side of Temperance brings chaotic, impulsive actions and a reckless lack of control over our feelings. It signals a deep imbalance in our emotional state, where passions either flare up and are dangerously amplified, or are alternately squashed down and suppressed to the point of suffocation. This creates a highly volatile situation that muddles our thoughts, provokes explosive arguments and prevents us from accurately reading our own emotions, which all results in crippling discord in our lives.
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| A Pagan variation renamed 'Balance' from the Wildwood Tarot, art by Will Worthington |
When negatively positioned, this card can also be a sign of too much control, too much caution. This self-imposed, overly reined in environment may feel safe at first, but it soon becomes untenable. Life is meant to be fully experienced, including all those highs and lows, terrifying and painful as they may be. The feeling that we're somehow missing out will eventually catch up with us and we may fall into the opposite extreme of free-rein or over-indulgence. This places us at a much higher risk of getting caught into the web of destructive temptations that the next archetype, 'The Devil', will relentlessly throw at us.
LITERALLY
A literal reading of this card can be applied to situations where the mixing of liquids takes center stage. The barman creating perfect cocktails, for instance. Or the chemist playing with various elements in the lab. Or the cook, making magic in the kitchen.
TAROT ACADEMIA
In old Italian Tarot decks, Temperance is a representation of one of the seven Christian heavenly virtues. These virtues were expanded from the four original cardinal virtues identified by ancient Greek philosophers as Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. In fact, all four virtues are featured in early Tarot decks in the form of The Hermit, Justice, Strength and Temperance respectively. The three other virtues added by Christian religious thinkers were Faith, Charity and Hope, which were originally assigned to The Hanged Man, the Hierophant and The Star.
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| 'Temperanza' painted in 1470 by Piero del Pollaiolo from the collection at Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence, Italy |
The artistic depictions of the Temperance virtue were all very similar. They usually represented a young woman in the process of mixing hot and cold water in a receptacle, such as in the painting shown above. The static nature of the painting gives the impression that the water's motion is continuous, as if the receptacle is literally bottomless and the jug eternally full.
Tarot artists throughout history followed this imagery pretty closely. Additional symbolic layers were subsequently added, as Tarot evolved into a metaphysical tool for the exploration of occult sciences. The woman became a winged celestial being, neither male nor female, symbolizing a certain duality and a higher state of consciousness and divine balance.
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| 'Art' from the Thoth Tarot by A. Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris |
Aleister Crowley slightly altered the traditional representation of this card, renamed it 'Art' and incorporated an alchemical dimension to it. The balance and harmony concepts, as well as the masculine/feminine duality are still present, but the endless flow of water is now complemented by fire. This representation is more in keeping with the idea behind the Yin/Yang philosophy.
A parallel can indeed easily be drawn between the Temperance Tarot archetype and the Eastern philosophy concept of Yin and Yang, and it is how I personally always approach this card's core meaning. They're both symbols of that fragile universal harmony, where natural opposites paradoxically exist within the same time and space. Masculine and feminine energies, lightness and darkness, fire and water, life and death, etc... All must be individually present and precisely balanced to keep the Universe in smooth working order. That is the very essence of the Temperance card. Any imbalance in that perfect whole, when any one of its components becomes dominant over all others, inevitably creates chaos and potential destruction. Temperance, led astray by The Devil's destabilizing excesses, soon morphs into the dreaded Tower. But that is a story yet untold at this point in The Fool's journey. Consider it a sneak peek, if you will.
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| Three creative 'Temperance' variations. From left to right: The Slow Tarot, the Tarot of Mystical Moments and the Antique Anatomy Tarot |
AN EXERCISE
Temperance will mitigate the effects of any other Major or Minor it's paired with. Place it side by side with other cards and see how their influence is diminished by Temperance presence. Try it with the cards you fear or dislike the most and observe how much less intimidating they become. This will help you understand how cards can interact with one another in a reading and how they will sometimes cancel each other out.