XIV ◆ TEMPERANCE
Rider–Waite–Smith (1909)Key themes
Moderation · Management · Accommodation · Careful proportion
Card meaning
Temperance concerns the patient management of different needs and resources. Progress may depend on proportion, economy and adjustments small enough to sustain.
Accommodation does not require every difference to disappear. A workable combination preserves what each part contributes while changing the way they meet.
Key themes
Competing interests · Disunion · Institutional belief · Unworkable combinations
Card meaning
Reversed, Temperance suggests elements brought together without enough regard for their different requirements. Conflicting aims may make a proposed compromise difficult to sustain.
Its historical meanings also concern religious institutions and the people who act within them. In that setting, consider how formal commitments and competing interests affect an arrangement, rather than reducing the reversal to personal imbalance alone.
Image description
A winged figure in a white robe pours liquid between two cups. A triangle within a square appears on the chest, and a solar mark is visible on the forehead. One foot rests on land and the other in water. Irises grow nearby, while a path leads towards distant mountains and a glowing crown-like light.
Symbolism
- Two cups
- — An exchange whose value depends on careful proportion.
- Land and water
- — Different conditions held in a single balanced action.
- Triangle within a square
- — The meeting of spiritual and material orders in the design.
- Path
- — A sustained direction beyond the immediate adjustment.
- Distant crown-like light
- — A goal approached through patient integration.
Card advice
Make one measured adjustment and give it time to show whether the whole arrangement works better.
Based on A. E. Waite’s The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910). Modern English adaptation — At Madame Shirley’s Table. Illustrations: Pamela Colman Smith (1909). Scan restoration: Steve P.