In the Temperance card you see a serene moment when you have a foot in two worlds. Pouring water from one chalice or container to another, the angel in this card reveals that through the flow of emotional energy you can maintain balance and harmony.
Harmony implies the mixing or blending of two or more things in a way that achieves satisfying results. The combining of emotional and mental forces with physical and intuitive factors achieves the ideal alchemical balance. No drop is spilled or lost in this process. Every bit of dynamic energy is preserved.
When this card appears, know that you have increased capacity for careful planning and execution of your plans. You can choose to end one activity and begin another, or you can choose to regenerate an idea that has languished. But the choice is always yours whe you see this card.
"Amidst the clamorous cries of the many conflicting
ideas, feelings, and opinions whirling about inside, a center of hidden
silence begins to become manifest. Sometimes when [you] look with the inward
eye, [you] can catch the faint outlines of [your] guardian angel ... and
hear the soothing sound of subterranean waters as they begin to flow again,
and feel the energies quicken and spring to new life. The domain of death
is finished; fresh libido is available.
"The ritual of pouring reconnects the hero
with the sacred world he had glimpsed before but has since lost.
"The theory of alchemy was that all matter
could be reduced to one substance out of which, by devious processes, the
base and corruptible could be distilled away, so that ultimately only the
pure and incorruptible, the philosopher's gold, could be bodied forth.
Perhaps something similar is beginning to take place in the deepest waters
of the hero's psyche."
- Sallie Nichols
"The combination and interchange of masculine
and feminine forces throughout nature, working ceaselessly in all kingoms,
is the instigator and cause of all movements and life."
- C. C. Zain
"I AM the support of all that enter into existence.
Upon me all depend,
And I fail not.
This have I declared unto thee in various ways,
But listen now to my words again.
I sustain creation
In the midst of a perpetual ebb and flow
Yet do I uphold and sustain thee
In every moment of thy life."
- Paul Foster Case
This period of Spring is marked by celebrations
of Passover, Easter, and May Day. If you listen to your own heart song,
you will hear the sounds of life being revived, just as you hear the birds
chirping and the water flowing. The Universe promises rebirth, and at this
time of year we are well able to observe life's processes in action. Look
within to find your own rebirthing of joy.
- Stephanie
Clement
Sources
Zain, C. C., The Sacred Tarot. Los Angeles, The Church of
Light, 1936.
Nichols, Sallie, Jung and Tarot:
An Archetypal Journey. York Beach, Maine, Samuel Weiser, 1980.
Case, Paul Foster, The Book of Tokens: 22 Meditations on the Ageless Wisdom. Los Angeles, Builder of the Adytum, 1968. Quoted with permission from Builders of the Adytum, 5101 North Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA. 90042; http://www.bota.org/. Permission to use Builders of the Adytum images in no way constitutes endorsement of the material on this site.
De Angelis, Roberto, Universal Tarot Deck. Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2003. Lo Scarabeo has graciously granted permission for the use of the Tarot images on this site. Copying the images without their permission wuld be a violation of copyright law.
