Temperance
The Temperance card represents the blending and balancing of opposites, encouraging moderation, restraint, and integration. It symbolizes the equilibrium between different aspects of life and advises finding a middle path or combining various elements rather than seeing choices as mutually exclusive.
Keywords
Description
An androgynous angel stands with one foot on land, symbolizing the solid world, and one in water, symbolizing the unconscious. The Temperance card in This Might Hurt Tarot borrows imagery from the B.O.T.A (Builders of the Adytum) deck, and depicts the angel combining fire and water. The merging of fire and water, multiple genders, and of water and land all represent the combination of opposites.
Etymology
The Latin word ‘temperāre’ means to combine, compound or blend properly. The modern definition of ‘temperance’ is moderation and restraint. In these definitions we can see the multi-layered meaning of the Temperance card. Dichotomies are illusions. We can and should combine opposites within ourselves.
Interpretation in Readings
In readings, the Temperance card encourages you to act from moderation and bring disparate elements of your life together. If the Temperance card comes for you at a time when your balance is all out of whack, then it’s a call-out. If the Temperance card comes to you when you are trying to make a choice, consider that your options might not be polar opposites; if there is a middle path, take it. I once pulled the Temperance card in a reading for a friend who was deciding whether to pursue his career or try to start a family. The answer was: do both.
This might hurt tarot
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