Temperance

Temperance is a card of beauty, joy, silence, and harmony. It is a powerful image of light and restoration.

It is considered a happy omen (one of its traditional meanings is "a sure outcome") and brings a beneficial influence into the spread.

Temperance brings a softening of disagreements and a reduction of tension, although at the same time it usually indicates that a person is going through some kind of test. It is a promise that the situation will calm down and clear up. A way out of the dead end will be found, a seemingly unsolvable problem will be overcome, and resistance will be exhausted.

Under this card, what seemed impossible happens quietly and smoothly. Appearing in a spread, it says that what is desired can be achieved with patience and self-control. This card governs accommodation, adaptation and compromise, a neutral and steady line of behavior. Humility and submission (or, as written in old interpretation books, "a combination of ideas creating a moral and righteous life").

Harmonization of all aspects of existence, a period of stable development (a "plateau"), an ideal state, unity with oneself and with the world. The joy of existence, a virtuous and measured life without stress. Harmony as the most important thing in life, when everything breathes peace, agreement, and expediency, and is kept within reasonable limits without much effort. Under Temperance, contrasts are blurred, wounds are healed, pressing issues are resolved, and strength is restored.

Predictively, it means stabilization in affairs and success, and also that victory awaits in the struggle against the vicissitudes of fate (provided there is virtuous, wise, and correct behavior in accordance with the meaning of the Arcana). Obstacles will be defeated just as water wears away stone. Temperance indicates a favorable outcome of events, but warns that one should not hope for a forced solution—things will progress unhurriedly, but without any special obstacles either. Temperance reminds us that you won't get far on passion alone, the steam will run out quickly, and the pursuit of some mega-goal will end with you simply running out of breath and collapsing. It is the need to conserve strength and not spread oneself too thin in order to reach the goal, and to show endurance. As the significator of a question, Temperance says that the person is striving to act in the best possible way and is looking for the right solution to the issue.

Temperance is sympathetic and merciful. Surrounded by unfavorable cards, it softens their negative meaning.

Zen-like unflappable and peaceful.

We are at peace with ourselves and calmly accept what is happening. This card corresponds to that happy state when a person feels good, loves themselves, and is in harmonious balance with the surrounding world. Peace of mind corresponds to this card. The serenity of Temperance frees from pain, anxiety, and fear.

In general, this is the ability, wisely restraining one's behavior and not falling into extremes, to live a well-balanced, harmonious, quiet, and wise life, in which there is everything necessary and nothing superfluous. The experience of a peaceful, serene, calm existence, the absence of clinging to the superficial aspects of life. The ability to live brightly, modestly, and joyfully, to make do with little, and yet abide in peace and harmony with oneself and everything around. The experience of silence and serenity, maintaining balance and peace at the very core of one's being. Overcoming contradictions, healing from them, going deeper into oneself.

No aggressiveness or bitterness.

This is the precious experience of "inner navigation" without unnecessary movements, the art of maintaining and preserving balance in the soul at the most problematic moment of life, in a heated stressful situation, when one could lose the remnants of health, nerve cells, and common sense. Tremendous inner discipline, restraint, very precise behavior. Unhurriedness, equanimity, and self-control. Nothing knocks you out of the rut, no rushing from one extreme to another, the ability to keep everything within reasonable limits. Calmness and confidence in one's abilities, self-possession, wisdom, restraint. The ability to limit one's impulses, the absence of sharp, unbridled reactions ("the ability to restrain oneself in irritation, passion, desire").

Balance and peace as the main imperative when resolving moral issues and choosing the right course of action.

The patience of Temperance differs from the patience of The Hanged Man. Under The Hanged Man, there are times when it seems that nothing is happening in life, a stagnation sets in that nothing can be done about, or we are forced to sacrifice something. Temperance is more like patience in danger, in a heated situation. "Patience in danger is a victory." To the impatient, temperance is boring, and calmness and impartiality are impossible. There is also some similarity here with the Seven of Pentacles—you cannot speed up the growth of a tree or the ripening of fruit. As Hollander wrote, "time just has to pass for the bread to bake." The forces you have set in motion are working. All that is needed is patience. While you wait, everything progresses at its own pace, and if you rush from corner to corner, the matter will not speed up in the slightest. This time can and should be lived calmly and usefully. In this life we are used to constantly doing something and fighting something, but Temperance says—there are times without war. Times when you don't have to do anything special. Events develop according to natural laws and will yield a result in due time. They do not need to be pushed.

"One only needs to learn to wait, one must be calm and stubborn." Temperance advises spending some time in a quiet backwater before diving back into the whirlpool.

The person described by Temperance is self-sufficient in the best sense of the word. They are not capricious or erratic, they manage their moods, and are not subject to the influence of other people's emotions. People are willingly drawn to them because they are usually in a clear and friendly mood. Sometimes Temperance is reproached for mediocrity, ordinariness, colorlessness ("a personality devoid of expressiveness"). In reality, it is rather attractiveness combined with modesty, an absence of showing off. The beauty of this person lies in their colossal endurance and self-possession. They have perfectly understood that fixating on any single ("correct") point of view will not lead to anything good, and one must be able to look at any question from different sides, then the solution comes by itself according to the principle "the morning is wiser than the evening."

This is a person without special inclinations, who is well treated and highly valued. They are flexible, adaptable, know how to adjust to the flow of life, and avoid excessive attachments quite instinctively. Their proportionality, beauty, and subtlety must be seen and appreciated. People for the most part are unobservant, do not look closely at their surroundings, and only notice what catches the eye on its own. The person of Temperance does not catch the eye, but once you have made them out, you will never stop quietly admiring them. They are characterized by a harmony of mind, body, and soul; they have managed to come to an agreement with themselves and have learned to "simply live wisely." They have a light touch. If they sincerely wished you luck, luck will not delay—their words work like a blessing.

Allegorically, Temperance corresponds to one of the seven virtues—abstinence.

It is connected with the ancient custom of diluting wine with water. This is a symbol of the "true measure," just as The Devil speaks of the absence of measure. Temperance describes that elusive alchemy which is constantly carried out in the Universe.

The Arcana depicts an Angel with two cups in their hands, the contents of which are constantly poured from one cup into another, as the upper vessel, filling up, changes places with the lower one. Thus life pours from the visible into the invisible and back again. The Sun (or a beam of light) on the Angel's forehead controls the flow of water, which, having been lifted by the sun's rays into the air, returns to the earth as rain, only to be lifted again, and so on ad infinitum.

The interpretation of this card is related to the shape of a circle, which symbolizes a continuous creative process, closed within itself, leading to the transformation of the world and the redistribution of resources within it in their new quality. This is the constant flow of life forces in nature and the necessity for Life to mix the elements.

This is the card of supreme alchemy, the Magnum Opus, it corresponds to the principle of solve et coagula—dissolution and coagulation, the reunion on a new level of what was separated. A state where the material and the spiritual, the mundane and the heavenly are combined naturally and harmoniously, and nothing is suppressed. The meaning of life flows from one vessel to another, the contents of the soul—out of the body and into the body, from incarnation to incarnation, symbolizing the flow of the past through the present into the future. By successfully connecting the past and the present, unlimited possibilities can be realized. It is also the softening of the soul. It must truly become like a beautiful blade, combining flexibility and firmness. There is a successful combination of past and present experience into a beautiful whole, the dissolution of the higher in the worldly and the worldly in the higher, the androgynous union of male and female principles, the successful combination of opposites. The impossible comes easily, liberation from unbearable tension arrives.

Temperance urges us to listen to the signs, to feel our true path, and not let public opinion control us. The Angel is a mediator and a messenger of God's will; from a psychological point of view, it is that part of the personality that connects us with our innermost essence, helping us to understand it. Filadoro writes that the Angel's wings are an impulse that frees us from routine, allowing us to understand the needs of the spirit and yield to them. Under Temperance, there is a search for one's "center", the very foundations of existence, the core of creation, the inner "stone of the temple". This is the Great Work of the alchemists, work on oneself, the transformation of the psyche, Transfiguration, the alchemical transformation of the soul.

This is the ability to balance earthly needs and the needs of the unconscious (to stand with one foot on the ground and the other in the water). By sacrificing one for the other, a person loses integrity, becomes one-sided and barren. The transformation of "base material" into something exalted and special. Under Temperance, the synergy of the "two cups", the two sides of life, is established in such a way that it can be enjoyed.

This is also a subtle alchemical interaction with the mystical lover, Anima or Animus, a deep experience of intimacy. The inner impulse is the reunion on a new level of what was separated, the union of opposites at the highest level. The card indicates the need to activate certain aspects of the personality that have so far been hidden or suppressed or neglected, to restore balance and consciously supplement one's actions with something opposite, and the spectrum of inner perception with a new point of view. To come to an agreement with oneself, to resonate with the Cosmos (this means that the lesson of The Hanged Man, who forced you to look at what is happening differently, has been learned). It is impossible to achieve this without constant work on one's personality and a deep (simultaneously rational and intuitive) understanding of one's own behavior.

The androgynous nature of Temperance corresponds to the "alchemical wedding" of The Lovers—fire and water become one whole, moreover, they become "each other", that is, a total interchange is carried out. Even just picturing a portrait of the ideal partner in the imagination, the inner female emotionality reveals its male contours, and the male—female.

The meaning of this Arcana connects the Sun and the Moon (the male and female, conscious and unconscious spheres)—the clear daytime mind of the Sun and the lyrical emotions of the Moon. On the card, this idea is symbolized by two cups—gold and silver: the stream from the first pours into the second. The gold of the Sun, representing the spirit, is transformed into the silver of the Moon, personifying the soul. The idea passes from the spiritual sphere into the emotional one, and the flow of emotions promotes the further realization of the thought. The fluid flowing between the vessels is the nectar of immortality or the water of life.

In many decks, the Arcana of Temperance depicts a cauldron, evoking memories of the magic cauldron from fairy tales, from which heroes emerged transformed, young, beautiful, invulnerable. Such changes do not happen without pain—everything egocentric and empty must boil away and be washed off, and only after this thorough "bath" will the person be reborn like a Phoenix bird. Deep down, Temperance is as strong as steel. The arrow, also often depicted on this Arcana, points to the search for the spirit hidden in matter, and symbolizes the inner process of realization taking place as a result of the Great Work. The rising sun in the background, in the shape of a crown, is a symbol of spiritual rebirth, the dawn of consciousness, the Mystery of Eternal Life. A road leads to it from the pool where the Angel stands, the path of Temperance. Blooming irises are considered the western equivalent of the lotus, the water lily. It is a symbol of non-identification with anything and the rejection of the illusory belonging to any one world. The lotus reminds us that everything in this world flows from one to another and alchemically connects all the elements together: the roots rest in the earth, the stem is in the water, the leaves are open to the air, and the flower reaches for the sun. Stones also carry semantic weight. They are connected to the Earth, which gives strength and a fulcrum, and are endowed with a powerful healing force.

Harmonization of one's ideas, which previously seemed impossible, overcoming total contradictions, removing inner resistance, finding a way out of an unsolvable situation, healing from the extremes of antagonism. This is great creativity and a decisive step towards karmic healing (at the same time, one must not cling to banal truths and social attitudes—everything is a little more subtle and deeper).

It seems somewhat doubtful, but there is an opinion that Temperance astrologically correlates with the sign of Sagittarius, "affirming a high worldview in the world, and with the concept of human genius, driving progress. Sagittarius, as a conductor of the Heavenly will to Earth, reveals the idea of evolution (the downward movement of development): this is the path of an idea to earthly reality. Since Sagittarius is a rational sign, it can also be compared to that circle of mental knowledge drawn around himself by The Magician, to protect from evil spirits those entities that he summons by his psychic activity and communication with which is fraught with surprises". Sagittarius is an ideological sign, it promotes high spiritual achievements.

In a deep sense, reversed Temperance is the river of time flowing backwards, allowing you to return to the past and enter the life stream not where you left it. The Angel's actions point to the cycle of life in which the spirit is purified. But, of course, this occult meaning does not manifest often; besides, it has its price (the risk of losing balance).

Occult and spiritual meaning

This is a stage in personal development that symbolically follows "Death". By and large, it comes when a person has already suffered and learned so much that they have "died" to the lower world and come alive to the upper one, and therefore can find true peace. The use of an angel as the primary figure symbolizes the idea that we are capable of rising to an angelic level if we manage to learn this lesson. Sometimes this literally means a cardinal spiritual transformation through faith, the conscious choice of an "angel-like life" (monasticism) and a loss of interest in worldly goals. But this is not necessarily associated with turning to the church. People emerge in roughly the same holy and quiet state from the intensive care unit, where they almost parted with their lives and thoroughly re-evaluated their values.

In reality, we are terribly tenacious, and the "killer" events symbolized by the thirteenth Arcana repeat themselves in life repeatedly and are very diverse. They can look like failing health, a loss of a job, or the end of a relationship... After we have been "killed" by yet another one of our Deaths (XIII), we always choose who we continue our journey with—The Angel (XIV) or The Devil (XV). At this point in the deck, the path forks. The Angel offers a path of humility, wise acceptance, reassurance, forgiveness, and letting go. The Devil offers the path of rebellion, passions, the "burnt road", walking along which a person strives to find their happiness in struggle, but in fact gives their soul to be torn apart by lower astral entities (becomes a slave to instincts) and degrades. If we choose the path of The Devil, retribution finds us faster, which is why the next Arcana is The Tower. Angelic retribution delays longer, it is brought by The Star. If Temperance falls out after a problematic card, it is a victory over the vicissitudes of fate and an exit onto the path of right actions (this is well known to everyone whom a merciful guardian angel has somehow led "out of the abyss", from where they no longer even hoped to get out).

The Arcana essentially displays the Spiritual mentor, an accurate inner voice telling what is good and what is not, and where the measure is in everything. This is a guide on the road of life, a Guardian Angel, instilling confidence and leading exactly along the path that lies ahead.

Despite its apparent simplicity, Temperance is one of the most complex Arcana. It seems to personify peace and quiet, but the paradox is that its true meaning can only be grasped in the very thick of a harsh test of endurance, when it seems that all the reserves of this very endurance ran out long ago. The figure of this Angel is distinguishable not so much on its own, but against the background of a hellish glow reducing life, or some part of it, to ashes. To discern it against the background of everyday life is a top-level skill, a precious ability acquired at a rather high price.

Temperance describes the basic processes of inner learning and growth, or more precisely, that moment, not subject to the will, when a mass of disparate skills merges into a single whole and... we have learned! Finally, what we have struggled over, agonized about, and pondered for a long time is suddenly illuminated by light, forming a single new understanding.

An imperceptible transition of quantity into quality occurs, and it is not for nothing that Temperance is the card of alchemy and the transformation of the psyche. The inner transfiguration under Temperance is barely perceptible on the outside, it is hidden. First and foremost, it is the resolution of some inner conflict, the calming of unsolvable inner resistance, an escape from the vice. Under Temperance, a genuine harmony is established between desires, feelings, thoughts, a process of personality integration takes place, the restoration of wholeness, and an optimal wise line of behavior is developed, largely related to self-control. In general, a sense of proportion is a wonderful antidote to many physical and spiritual problems, the power of which we usually underestimate. In fairness, it must be said that this Major Arcana is also often underestimated among the others.

Temperance embodies both law and miracle at the same time. No problem can be truly solved at the level of thinking (with the "approach") that created it. To reach a solution, one must rise above obvious and superficial concepts, go out to a qualitatively new level of understanding. Only in this way can liberation from tension be achieved, only this becomes a step towards healing. Temperance often falls out for people in whose lives rapid changes have recently occurred, some cardinal restructuring has been taking place, and events followed one another with such speed that there was no time to analyze what was happening. But now, after all these worldly storms and anxieties, a stage has come when life flows smoothly and unhurriedly. And this change of rhythm, of course, affected consciousness and the perception of the surroundings. Appearing in a spread, Temperance says that the querent is in any case required to have patience, comprehension, and calmness.

The value of cooperation, the ability to beneficially perceive another's point of view. Respectful and friendly relations. Moving away from selfish disputes, power struggles, fuss and chaos, resolving conflicts. The need to make compromises, removing contradictions and resistance.

A true "alchemical" team, where everyone complements each other and actualizes their own and others' potential to the maximum. By the way, the team itself may be engaged in activities more associated with The Tower than with a quiet backwater—it could be a team of surgeons, a fire brigade, or a sabotage group behind enemy lines. But the ability to perfectly coordinate their actions falls precisely under Temperance. It helps to optimally use all available resources to achieve a positive result. Sometimes, mergers of organizations into a single new whole pass under this card.

A profession requiring calmness, self-possession, the ability to behave accurately and carefully (what is called "according to protocol"), or very precise coordination in movements (sometimes truly jewelry-like). This could be a microsurgeon, an intelligence officer, or a graphic designer. A profession related to establishing proportions and correspondences (for example, pharmacist, homeopath, aromatherapist), with relaxation and healing (SPA). Of course, healers fall under Temperance. Also people who know a lot about "mixing ingredients"—culinary specialists, cooks.

Mediators, peacemakers, "teambuilders"—specialists in establishing team cooperation, casting specialists, HR.

Teacher, guru. Teaching talent.

Since Temperance is connected with the "true measure", activities related to calculation, evaluation, compensations and the like may fall under it.

Balance between work and rest. No extremes. Peaceful, serene, easy and calm execution of tasks previously solved in a mode of terrible tension and stress. There is no division into important and "extra" tasks (capable of leading to a nervous breakdown, when "extra" tasks seem to prevent one from getting down to important ones)—every task is important and worthy of being done well.

"Rich is not the one who has much, but the one who has enough".

Temperance hints at an austerity regime in finances and rarely pleases those dreaming of great wealth. On the other hand, it is understood, felt, and appreciated by those who have happened to lose their financial balance, as a rule, due to their own carelessness and intemperance.

Having tasted the bitter consequences of squandering, having survived the fear and inability to make ends meet, a person welcomes the acquired thrift, self-control, and prudence as best friends.

Temperance gives the ability to live, having needs that correspond to the current situation. It puts an end to self-indulgence and initiates the leveling of monetary affairs after upheavals. Thrift, reasonable housekeeping.

Balance between earnings and expenses. Readiness to help others.

Can mean successful contacts abroad: trips, business relationships or even relocation ("mixing of cultures").

Temperance seems dispassionate, meek, and submissive.

It describes a situation where equanimity, benevolence, and understanding reign between partners rather than "wild passion". This may seem boring, but for those who are already fed up to the back teeth with wild passions and torn to shreds by them, the soft light of Temperance is truly like a gift from heaven. A merciful Angel has flown by, waved a wing over the battlefield, and peace has reigned. This is a card of healing emotional wounds (sometimes practically mortal ones) that people have managed to inflict on each other. Compromises, calibrated actions, and the absence of rough unnecessary movements under Temperance usually come when people have already caused each other a lot of acute pain. By the way, sometimes Temperance also speaks of blind adaptation, when partners desperately try to adjust to each other so as not to upset again (or one of them is engaged in this, but cannot understand what the other needs).

This card speaks of the resolution of problems in personal life and the restoration of harmony in relationships. This seems enough to interpret the spread, but it is not enough for true understanding. The cause of these very "problems in personal life" is usually some kind of antagonism, explicit or hidden opposition to someone or something in the relationship, and this is a difficult experience. There may be no relationship at all, but the person is already in advance (or in hindsight) internally opposing the partner or something that this relationship can bring into their life, and which they cannot accept. Relationships do not form precisely because of this antagonism, the nature of which is not fully clear to the person themselves. In this case, Temperance announces the hope that something in the psyche will transform, the opposition will soften, the person will make peace with something—in themselves, in the other, in the nature of relationships, in this world in general. For example, the understanding will come that the other is no less and no more defenseless before you than you are before them. Mercy and tolerance will be added. And, as a result of internal changes, the situation on the external plane will also change for the better.

If opposition, intransigence, and imbalance (for example, one gives much more than receives) exist in an established relationship, Temperance also brings healing and a balance of forces. It gives a wise attitude towards the partner, the absence of inflated demands or a desire to remake and correct them. In essence, Temperance teaches us a humane attitude towards a loved one, the ability to take their point of view. This is not so much unconditional love as a deep reconciliation with the nature of the other person as it is, its acceptance and contemplation from the point of view of its value—they have the right to be like this and are needed for your development.

The best thing that can happen under Temperance is that "extremes meet" and form a beautiful, harmonious, and solid whole.

The best thing that can be done is everything possible to overcome contradictions and resistance, to soften disagreements, to heal the situation internally. Temperance speaks of emotional maturity. The cups on the Arcana correspond to the element of water (emotions), and the pouring of water from one cup to another speaks of the need to take both sets of feelings into account, to be more neutral, not to impose your aspirations on the other, not to put pressure on the situation, but to try to softly join its rhythm and the life of the other person. Temperance describes the balance between independence and intimacy, autonomy and obligations, merging and personal development, the balance of forces in a partnership—this is genuine equality, an excellent combination of two halves. In general, it inspires hope, it is an omen of a successful partnership, especially if there are other cards in the spread indicating a connection between two people.

Sexually, Temperance announces harmony, softness, and a tantric exchange of energies (which is possible even in the absence of penetrative sex). Abstinence, the habit of limiting oneself in passion (but the meaning of this card is not in refusal, but in harmony, achieving the right rhythm). This is a card of compatibility.

Compatibility and consistency, the ability to coordinate actions, patience and calmness in the flow. Readiness to learn diplomacy and mutual understanding. Taking the feelings of both sides into account, compromise, the golden mean. The ability to simply find the rhythm of the situation, let go, and look from the outside (or to make peace, to reach an agreement).

Happiness, satisfaction, peace, and harmony under Temperance manifest themselves both in relationships and alone with oneself. It should be noted that for a person described by Temperance, convenience, comfort, and the absence of suffering and extremes are of very great importance.

They highly value everything that brings renewal of spiritual and physical strength and reject what kills them. Peace of mind, equanimity of existence, peace and serenity are the most important things for them. If a relationship seems to them a source of nerve-racking stress, they will not stay at this source for long. If The Hermit or The Fool is nearby—apparently, the bags are packed.

The main function of Temperance is to maintain the physical and spiritual life within a person. Therefore, it is a most powerful card of healing and rebirth. If the question concerns health, mental or physical, then Temperance means well-being or recovery.

Mental and physical health, the body as a temple of the soul (the question is how much you respect your soul), hence a sense of proportion and a healthy lifestyle. Temperance in everything, the ability to be sober-minded, to follow a diet, to deny oneself a tasty morsel of wrong behavior. This is not cruelty and asceticism, but the ability to treat one's own body wisely. The image has a reference to the ancient tradition of diluting wine with water (at that time it was believed that undiluted wine is drunk exclusively by intemperate people, drunkards).

This card describes the restoration of lost connections with the body, the ability to hear it again, to understand it. Meditation, merging with the flow, silence, and serenity, when nothing knocks you out of the rut. Rest and purification of the body and soul. Renewal of spiritual and physical forces. Softening, relaxation, restoration. Healing reflection, concentration and contemplation, evaluation, comprehension and abstinence from unnecessary actions.

By and large, Temperance is a highly healthy and healing card, and in a sickly key, it can rather be interpreted if it fell to a deliberately unhealthy person as the source of the disease. It can speak of congestive phenomena in the body, metabolic disorders. Most literally, Temperance corresponds to the kidneys and everything related to them (two "cups" and flowing "water").

Temperance is psychosomatic—just as the state of the body affects the soul, so the state of mind is reflected in the body. Temperance often falls out to people who have ruined their health by treating it outrageously, whose life looks like a continuous extreme situation.

It may indicate a recovery, post-operative period, when a person must observe not only food restrictions but neatness and caution even in movements (for example, so that the stitches do not come apart). Reversed Temperance is considered one of the indicators of infertility (in the astrological sense—something like the affliction of Proserpina, a disruption of the processes of "inner alchemy"). In the upright position, it sometimes relates to conception and reproductive abilities. The liquid in the pitchers symbolizes the vital fluid liberated from the bodily shell.

Lack of harmony, inability to integrate, separation or unsuccessful alliances (for example, a socially unacceptable partnership, a problematic marriage, a breakup of a relationship, the destruction of a family). Here, by the way, it is not far to other "unsavory excesses". Ill-considered actions, a tendency towards excess. Squandering, excessive waste of energy and money, unbridledness. Energy imbalance. Reversed Temperance says that a person is completely out of balance and must somehow restore it.

A large number of things to do at once, which cannot be combined in any way, resulting in stalemate situations where one can no longer speak of any harmony (at least in the sense of a healthy lifestyle). A failed test. A warning that there will not be enough strength to reach the goal.

Disagreements, discord, conflict of interests, disruption of agreements.

Wrong views on life and a wrong approach to people. Excessive emotionality, quick temper, sharp mood swings, unreasonable and unpredictable actions, too sharp reactions. Conflictness, erraticness, capriciousness, imbalance. Hostility, incompatibility, inability to adapt and work together with others. Impatience, frustration, disappointment. Fanaticism, stubbornness in one's point of view, the ability to see only one side of the coin. Here also—difficulties in studying, mastering new views or skills.

As was once wisely noted, reversed Temperance is "asceticism based on wealth": the case when a person has money, but the lifestyle (thanks to which this money, in general, appears) does not allow them to use it and extract some benefit for themselves. This is a variation of the "Order of the Poor Knights", where nothing personally belongs to anyone (and at times staggers from fatigue and exhaustion), but the organization itself as a whole acquires unprecedented wealth. Or a powerful person of this world, who theoretically could afford everything, but the position occupied leaves them no such opportunity.

Under reversed Temperance, various regulatory systems can fail, both purely technical and procedural (for example, financial).

With The Fool - advice to think over actions so as not to repeat past mistakes

With The Empress - building relationships, sexual harmony, a successful birth of a child. Sometimes - a romantic journey.

With The Emperor - the need to show flexibility in communicating with people and "look at the bigger picture". Reaching the goal in a soft way.

With The Lovers - advice not to take the matter too close to heart, to show calmness and patience

With The Tower - extremes, ruptures, the effect of Temperance is weakened

With The World - unity, synthesis, healing, a very strong combination

With the Five of Wands - disagreement, rivalry, imbalance, the effect of Temperance is weakened

With the Five of Swords - falling out of tune, out of the team, disharmony in relationships

With the Ace of Cups - abstinence, diet, sobriety, fasting.

With the Two of Cups - connection, relationships, teamwork, the cards mutually reinforce each other

With the Two of Pentacles - finding a harmonious combination, the cards mutually reinforce each other

With the Three of Pentacles - teamwork, the effect of Temperance is enhanced

Philosopher's stone

Stoic philosophy

Visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem (saying: "Visit the interior of the earth and by rectifying you will find the hidden stone" - in essence, we are talking about that hypostasis of the Grail, which is known precisely as the "stone").

"Test and measure your strength, but not in order to retreat before the task, but to overcome the obstacles."

"Physician, heal thyself".

Archangel Michael

Ariadne (and all allies of the opposite sex who accompanied the heroes/heroines on their dangerous path)

The appearance and way of acting of "Johann Weiss" from the film "The Shield and the Sword" corresponds in many ways to Temperance.