Temperance
Temperance finds balance by blending different things in just the right measure. Recovery comes slowly and steadily, so trust the gentle pace and let things settle on their own.
Too much or too little in any area of life can easily throw things out of their natural balance.
The card's advice: Keep everything just right today, and don't overdo it.
Temperance: reading the picture
Follow the angel's eyes and you land on a thin stream of water. It runs from a gold pitcher in one hand into a gold chalice in the other, and her whole face is given to getting the amount right. She wears hanbok, the flowing traditional dress of Korea, under wide red-and-white wings, yet she isn't flying. One bare foot steps into a creek, linking water and bank. The halo says she belongs to the sky, but the task is ordinary. White lilies grow at the water's edge. To the right, a path climbs toward a small crown glowing in sunlight: far off, and reachable at this pace.
Temperance in love, work and money
- Love and relationships
Different personalities gradually adjust, and the relationship settles into something comfortable. Match your pace so neither of you rushes ahead or lags behind, and you'll bounce back quickly even after a quarrel.
- Work and study
Your talent for blending and coordinating many people's views shines now. Divide your time sensibly between work and rest instead of cramming, and you can go the distance without burning out.
- Money
Spending consistently in moderation matters more than saving hard right now. Choose a ratio between saving and spending and stick to it, and both your mind and your account will slowly steady.
When the Etsy shop ate every weekend
A 29-year-old graphic designer had a candle shop on Etsy that kept growing until it swallowed every Saturday and Sunday. Her friends had stopped inviting her out. She saw two options, quit the shop or quit her job, and Temperance offered a third. Watching the angel pour slowly from one cup to the other, she set a ratio instead of a verdict: two weeknights and Saturday morning for candles, Sunday fully off, and a check-in at the end of each month to adjust. The first month ran a little over. The second came close.
Questions to ask yourself after drawing Temperance
- Where are you trying to dump everything at once when a slower, thinner stream would spill less?
- Which two things in your life have you kept in separate cups that might work better blended?
- What's the right mix here in actual hours or dollars, instead of all or nothing?
Temperance as a yes or no
Yes If you keep your balance and don't hurry, things improve gradually, so the answer is fairly positive.
Easy to confuse with Two of Pentacles
Both get labeled "balance," so they blur together. The Two of Pentacles figure keeps two coins moving inside a sideways figure-eight ribbon; they stay separate, and the skill is not dropping either. The Temperance angel pours between two vessels until the water becomes one mixture, and the skill is not hurrying. Juggling two demands is the Two; blending them into something new is Temperance.
A common misreading of Temperance
The name makes people think of abstinence, as if the card says to cut everything out. The angel isn't emptying the cup; she's mixing the right amount. The card is about proportion, so it turns up when something needs topping up just as often as when something needs trimming.
Symbols in Temperance
A red-winged angel pours water between two cups, showing the wisdom of mixing different things in the right proportion. One foot in the water and one on land is the balance of heart and reality, and the crown of light at the end of the mountain path is the goal reached by walking that way.
How we drew Temperance
- Kept from the 1909 card
the red-winged angel, water flowing between two cups, one foot in water and one on land, the crown of light at the end of the mountain path
- What we changed
The angel wears hanbok, and white lilies replace the irises at the water's edge.