Temperance
Temperance
Number 14 Fire Sagittarius
A major arcana card: the big weather rather than the daily forecast.
Upright
balanceblendingmoderationthe long middle
Mix, slowly. Temperance is the card of the right proportion: of work to rest, of two people's needs, of a thing done at a pace that can be kept up. It is the least dramatic card in the deck and one of the most welcome, because the situation it describes is one that is quietly coming right.
Reversed
excessimbalanceimpatiencetwo things that will not mix
Something is out of proportion. Reversed, Temperance is excess in one direction, impatience with a process that will not be hurried, or two things being forced together that do not combine. The remedy is almost always the same and almost always unwelcome: less, and more slowly.
What is in the picture
An angel pouring water between two cups, one foot on land and one in the stream. The water goes up as well as down between the cups, which is not possible, and is the point.
What it says about…
The line a reading leads with, depending on what you said you were asking about.
A bit of everything
Upright: the right proportions, found slowly. It is coming right.
Reversed: something is out of balance and being hurried on top of that.
Love and relationships
Upright: two people finding a workable middle. Unglamorous and exactly right.
Reversed: one person giving eighty per cent of it. That is the conversation.
Work and direction
Upright: a sustainable pace, and a blend of two approaches that both half worked.
Reversed: burnout, or a compromise that has satisfied nobody.
Money and security
Upright: moderate, steady, boring. Compounding is the whole trick.
Reversed: feast and famine spending. Smooth it out.
Me, honestly
Upright: you are integrating something that used to pull you apart. Give it time.
Reversed: all or nothing, again. The middle is available.
A decision I am stuck on
Upright: yes, at half the speed you were planning.
Reversed: the version of this you are considering is too much of one thing.
If this card leads
Halve the pace and keep going twice as long.
As a yes or no
Upright, it reads as yes. Reversed, no.
“Slower is a strategy, not a failure.”
Draw it in a reading
The meaning above, applied to something you are actually asking about.
