Temperance

Temperance (XIV) is the fifteenth card of the Major Arcana in Tarot, representing balance, moderation, and patient alchemy. In a reading, it signals a call to blend opposites, find the middle path, and trust the slow work of integration.

After the storm, the quiet work begins.

Not the dramatic work. Not the headline-grabbing, ego-shattering, world-ending work that the previous cards demanded. The quiet work. The patient work. The work of taking everything that just fell apart and, piece by careful piece, mixing it back together into something that has never existed before.

Temperance is the card of that work. It is the alchemist's art: the slow, deliberate blending of elements that, left unmixed, would destroy each other.

At a Glance

Visual Traditions: Three Decks

The Major Arcana's imagery varies significantly across the three major traditions. Understanding these differences deepens your reading of any deck.

Rider-Waite-Smith (1909) · The image shown above.

Tarot de Marseille (17th-18th century) · The Marseille Temperance shows a winged figure pouring water between two vessels, similar to the RWS but with simpler imagery and less landscape detail. The figure is clearly angelic, but the alchemical and esoteric layers of the RWS version are less pronounced.

Thoth Tarot (1943) · Crowley renamed this card 'Art,' showing a figure actively mixing fire and water in a cauldron. The imagery is explicitly alchemical: the union of opposites through deliberate, skilful work. The card is more dynamic and less serene than the RWS version, emphasising the creative process of transformation.

Key Imagery and Symbolism

A great winged angel (often identified as Michael or Raphael) stands with one foot on land (the conscious, material world) and one in water (the unconscious, emotional world), pouring liquid between two cups: back and forth, mixing, blending. A white robe bears a triangle inscribed within a square (spirit within matter). A golden sun-path leads to a crown on the horizon: the light of the Self beckoning.

Irises (the flower of the rainbow goddess Iris, messenger between worlds) grow by the water. The angel's wings are red (spiritual fire). Everything about the image conveys patience, skill, and the art of bringing disparate elements into harmony.

What Temperance Means

Upright

Balance, moderation, patience, purpose, the middle way, integration, alchemy, healing, blending opposites, finding the right mix. The art of combining disparate elements into something greater.

Temperance upright appears when the situation calls for patience, balance, and the willingness to take things slowly. It is the card that follows crisis (Death) and precedes the next challenge (the Devil). Temperance says: do not rush. The work of integration cannot be hurried. Find the right proportion, the right timing, the right combination.

Reversed

Imbalance, excess, lack of harmony, impatience, overindulgence or excessive restraint, misalignment, the wrong combination. Extremism in either direction.

Reversed, Temperance warns that you have lost your balance. Perhaps you are swinging between extremes rather than finding the middle way. Perhaps you are being impatient with a process that requires time. The reversed Temperance can also indicate that the elements you are trying to combine are fundamentally incompatible, or that the proportions are wrong.

How Position and Surrounding Cards Shift the Meaning

Next to Death, Temperance is the healing that follows transformation. Next to the Devil, Temperance's balance is about to be tested by compulsion and shadow. Next to the Star, the patient work of integration opens into cosmic healing.

In a health reading, Temperance is one of the most positive cards: it signals recovery, balance, and the body's natural healing process.

The Archetype: A Jungian Perspective

The transcendent function: Jung's term for the psychic process that mediates between opposites and produces a new synthesis (the 'third thing' that is neither one pole nor the other but a creative resolution). After the death of the old (Death XIII), Temperance represents the careful, patient work of integration: bringing the fragments together into a new whole.

The angel with one foot in each world embodies the goal of individuation: to live in both the material and spiritual dimensions simultaneously. Temperance is the alchemist, the healer, the bridge-builder between worlds.

The Fool's Journey: Temperance's Place in the Story

After the death of the old self, the Fool must carefully integrate the new. Temperance teaches: 'The work now is alchemical: patiently mixing the old and new, the conscious and unconscious, the light and dark, until something completely new emerges. This takes time. This takes patience. This takes art.' Temperance is the healing that follows crisis.

Previous: Death · Next: The Devil

Temperance in Love, Work, and Health

Love and Relationships

Upright in love, Temperance signals harmony, patience, and the art of balancing two different natures within a relationship. It points to partnerships that grow through mutual compromise, shared values, and the willingness to blend rather than compete. Temperance in love is not dramatic passion but sustainable warmth.

Reversed in love, Temperance warns about imbalance: one partner giving too much, the other too little. It can also indicate impatience with the slow work of building a lasting partnership.

Career and Finances

In career readings, Temperance favours roles involving healing, counselling, diplomacy, mediation, and any work that requires bringing disparate elements together. It suggests a moderate, balanced approach to professional challenges.

Reversed in career, Temperance warns about work-life imbalance, professional burnout from overcommitment, or a project where the elements are not combining as planned.

For students exploring the Major Arcana in depth, Linda Marson's course TarotNav: A GPS for Life devotes a full lesson to each Major Arcana card, exploring its symbolism, reading techniques, and personal significance.

Health and Wellbeing

Temperance is one of the strongest healing cards in the deck. It connects to the liver (Sagittarius), the body's metabolic processes, and overall homeostasis. Upright, it signals recovery, the effectiveness of holistic approaches, and the body's natural ability to restore balance.

Reversed, it may indicate metabolic imbalance, the physical effects of excess (food, drink, work, stress), or a treatment plan that needs adjustment.

Esoteric Correspondences

Kabbalah

Temperance corresponds to Samekh, the prop or support: that which holds the structure upright during the difficult journey. On the Tree of Life, Temperance walks Path 25, connecting Tiferet (Beauty/Heart) to Yesod (Foundation). This is the path from the heart-centre to the dream-layer: the integration of conscious values with unconscious material.

For more on the paths of the Tree of Life and their Tarot correspondences, see the complete Kabbalah paths guide.

Astrology

Sagittarius: the archer, aspiration, the quest for meaning, philosophy, higher education, travel, optimism, the centaur (half-human, half-animal: the integration of instinct and intellect). Temperance's Sagittarian nature gives it vision, optimism, and the belief that disparate elements can be unified if the aim is true.

Numerology

Fourteen: 1+4=5, linking Temperance to the Hierophant (spiritual teaching), but at a higher octave: not receiving teaching from without but finding the teacher within. 14 is also 7x2: the mastery of the first seven doubled, the integration of the second cycle.

Element

Fire (via Sagittarius): the fire of aspiration, the arrow aimed at the distant sun, spiritual seeking. But this is tempered fire: fire mixed with water, passion balanced by patience, aspiration grounded in practical skill.

Card Pairings and Relationships

Every Major Arcana card takes on different dimensions depending on its neighbours. These pairings are not fixed rules but starting points for interpretation.

• Temperance + Death (transformation and healing): The crisis (Death) followed by the careful work of recovery (Temperance). Destruction and creation as two phases of the same process.

• Temperance + The Devil (balance and bondage): Temperance's harmony tested by the Devil's compulsion. The question: can you maintain your balance when faced with temptation?

• Temperance + The Star (two healers): Temperance heals through patient skill; the Star heals through cosmic grace. Together they represent the complete spectrum of healing: effort and gift.

• Temperance + The Lovers (union refined): The Lovers' initial choice is refined by Temperance's patient blending. Love as alchemy: the slow work of combining two natures into one relationship.

• Temperance + The Hanged Man (patience doubled): Two cards that counsel waiting, trust, and the willingness to let the process unfold. Suspension (12) and integration (14): the pause and the mixing.

• Temperance + The World (integration complete): Temperance's careful blending reaches its ultimate expression in the World's dancing wholeness. The alchemical work completed.

• Temperance + Justice (two forms of balance): Justice balances through separation (the sword); Temperance balances through blending (the cups). Analysis and synthesis.

• Temperance + The Chariot (mastery and integration): The Chariot masters through will; Temperance integrates through patience. The triumphant hero and the healing angel.

Related Cards

Row 3: Superconscious / Cosmic Forces · the beginning of the final septenary:
- The Devil · XV · The shadow that tests Temperance's balance
- The Tower · XVI · The destruction that follows when balance is lost

Numerological column (7-14-21) · cards sharing Temperance's vertical correspondence:
- The Chariot · VII · Mastery through will: Temperance's forceful predecessor
- The World · XXI · Integration perfected in cosmic wholeness

Cards of healing and balance · cards sharing Temperance's restorative quality:
- The Star · XVII · Cosmic healing that complements Temperance's careful work
- The Empress · III · Natural abundance that supports Temperance's nurturing blend

Explore the Major Arcana Further

Temperance is one of 22 archetypal encounters in the Major Arcana · and its meaning deepens when read alongside the cards that surround it. If you are drawn to the Tarot's psychological and spiritual dimensions, these courses offer a guided path from first reading to archetypal mastery.

Recommended courses:

• A Jungian Approach to the Tarot · Archetypal analysis and psychological depth through the Tarot · Taught by Mary K. Greer
• Major Arcana Only Readings · Reading techniques using only the 22 Trumps · Taught by Rachel Pollack
• Active Imagination and the Tarot · Meditation and visualisation techniques using Tarot imagery · Taught by Mary K. Greer

For the complete guide to all 22 Major Arcana cards, visit The Major Arcana: Complete Guide to the 22 Trumps.

For a comprehensive introduction to reading all 78 Tarot cards, see How to Read Tarot Cards: A Complete Guide.

← Death · XIII | The Devil · XV →