Temperance
From SourceryForge
boczela
| The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, The Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World. | |
| Wands | Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Page, Knight, Queen, King. |
| Cups | Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Page, Knight, Queen, King. |
| Swords | Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Page, Knight, Queen, King. |
| Pentacles | Ace 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Page, Knight, Queen, King. |
| Aces, Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives, Sixes, Sevens, Eights, Nines, Tens, Pages, Knights, Queens, Kings | |
A tarot card. Position 14 in the Major Arcana.
Contents |
Description
Rider Waite Deck
From The Pictorial Key to Tarot by A.E. Waite
A winged angel, with the sign of the sun upon his forehead and on his breast the square and triangle of the septenary. I speak of him in the masculine sense, but the figure is neither male nor female. It is held to be pouring the essences of life from chalice to chalice. It has one foot upon the earth and one upon waters, thus illustrating the nature of the essences. A direct path goes up to certain heights on the verge of the horizon, and above there is a great light, through which a crown is seen vaguely. Hereof is some part of the Secret of Eternal Life, as it is possible to man in his incarnation. All the conventional emblems are renounced herein.
So also are the conventional meanings, which refer to changes in the seasons, perpetual movement of life and even the combination of ideas. It is, moreover, untrue to say that the figure symbolizes the genius of the sun, though it is the analogy of solar light, realized in the third part of our human triplicity. It is called Temperance fantastically, because, when the rule of it obtains in our consciousness, it tempers, combines and harmonises the psychic and material natures. Under that rule we know in our rational part something of whence we came and whither we are going.
One noteworthy part of the iconography of Temperance are the Iris flowers growing by the water. By that name, those flowers are pointing to Iris, the roman Goddess of the rainbow. She is a minor messenger of the gods who acts when it wouldn't be appropriate to sen Hermes/Merkur. Some images on older Tarot decks feature a rainbow on the temperance card. Paul Foster Case remarks that replacing the Rainbow with Iris flowers is one of A.E. Waite's numerous blinds, because while there is a connection between the flower and the Roman Goddess Iris, who but an experienced occultist would know this? This argument is quite ridiculous, given the same name, and the relative obscurity of the goddess. In fact it can be argued that this change in symbology was meant to point the readers towards Iris, the Goddess, because they might notice the change and research its reasons. But still it remains a miracle what Iris has got to do with this card.
Meanings
- verification, testing, wrath
- rebirth, ethernal life
- recreation, freshness
- smooth and benevolent changes
- Achieve an efficient flow of creativity by mixing and utilizing willpower and the power of the imagination.
- Anything related to mixing, blending, connecting, alchemy, chemistry
Reversed Meaning
EDIT
Correspondences
- Links Tiphareth to Yesod as path number 25 of the Tree of Life
- Colour blue
- Sagittarius in the zodiac
- The direction West-above (from the Sepher Yetzirah)
- Yetziratic Intelligence - the intelligence of Probation
- Musical note G sharp (Paul Case)
- Hebrew letter Samekh meaning Prop and also the number 60
- Organic Time - The Renaissance The spark of imagination reignited some of the disparate facets and sent the world's people into new elements of discovery, including art, technolgy, science, the mind, theology, and the planet on which they lived. The Renaissance reunified the Old and New Worlds, bringing new ideas into the fold of what was once Rome.
