Temperance - Tarot

Temperance is all about getting things just right. There are moments in life where the timing, portions, and energies are perfect for what we want to create. Temperance is our ability to both recognize these moments and to co-create them.

When we talk about Divine timing this is not about just waiting around for something to happen. This is an awareness that there is point in time where everything will work in our favor if we are patient and willing to do the day-to-day work to achieve this desired state. The perfect time is when all things come together in such a way that all energies are working together in perfect cooperation which did not exist before and may not be possible later.

Another aspect of temperance is the combining of energies to create something better than the individual parts. Like a chef who combines herbs and spices, individually these things are strong on their own, but when combined in just the right way in the right amounts, something much more delicious can be enjoyed.

Temperance is the process of experimentation to get things just right. It is a combination of many things in just the right way to create a greater whole. In life, this can be a combination of work, alone time pleasure, family and friends. To create a desired lifestyle, we must find how we can balance each of these energies in our life to find what is perfect for us.

One lesson that Temperance brings up is that for each of us our portions will be different. The ideal lifestyle for one may be more work, less alone time, and equal parts family and pleasure. For another, it may be more pleasure and alone time, less work and less time with family. Or in using the example of the chef, for some an abundance of garlic and basil will be ideal, while another will prefer no garlic and just a little oregano and thyme.

Temperance encourages to figure out our own ideals through experimenting and trying to work out what is best for us until we achieve the perfect combination of energies. This process may involve us experimenting with extremes that are both excessive and restrictive but eventually we will find the middle path that allows us to find what we really want.

Another important facet that Temperance teaches us is how to find a flow and flexibility within our energy.  The Yin Yang symbol is a great representation of Temperance because it shows us how balance is necessary in all things. When we live too long in one extreme, we invite in the other because life and nature demand balance. For instance, we cannot be always working because we will get burnt out and will manifest sickness in order to rest if we do not give space to that. On the other extreme, if we are lazy, we will grow bored and restless, and our responsibilities will accumulate and create pressure and stress to get things done. Neither extreme is healthy, and we must find a way to weave between the extremes instead of being pendulumed back and forth between them.

When we look at the Yin Yang symbol, we see there is a middle path between the 2 energies of masculine force and feminine form. This line is not ridged and straight but rather depicts a flowing line that shows a little more of one and a little less of the other and fluctuates back and forth. It reminds us that finding these perfect portions means also the ability to be flexible to adjust as the energies around us do. To constantly be redefining our portions as is necessary for what we are working with. Being ridged in our energy will not serve us either. So, Temperance guides us to this middle path of peace, but reminds us to bend a little with the natural ebb and flow of energy.

On another level, Temperance is the card of Alchemy. It is our ability to take what we've been given (our base metals) and to turn our life into gold. It's taking what we have been provided with and not provided with and to work it into something that works for us, not against us. Where we do not see our circumstances as being what hinder us but rather see what we have available to us.  Like a chef that views all the spices available to her to work with. Through this, we can then evaluate our circumstances and experiment with them until we create something amazing from what could have just remained mundane and basic. The gold that spiritual alchemists sought is not a literal gold, it is the spiritual gold that comes from elevating life beyond survival to experiencing what it is to thrive and create reality by using all the power we have been given to its full potential. This power remains dormant until we awaken ourselves to it and decide that we will do whatever it takes to cultivate it.

With this, Temperance says that to forge this gold within we must be willing to throw ourselves into the fire a thousand times over and over again until our gold is formed and we become more than just our individual parts.  Our power is a result of forging together our body, mind, heart and soul into one energetic whole where no part of us is separate and we are able to utilize this collective energy to create an experience of life on a whole new level beyond the mundane and instead in an extraordinary way.

#14 - Power, Change, Faith

Zodiac - Sagittarius - Spiritual, Explorative, Adventurous

Element - Fire - Spiritual beliefs and values

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Image is from the Light Seer's deck by Chris-Anne