Temperance
Major Arcana
What the Temperance means — upright and reversed, with keywords.
14What this card is
One foot on land, one in the water, and a steady stream poured from one cup into another without a drop spilled. Temperance is about proportion: mixing things in the right amounts, at the right speed, until the result is better than either ingredient alone. It covers moderation, though not as a rule imposed from outside, more as the practical discovery that too much and too fast usually ruin the outcome. It is a slow, unglamorous, deeply competent card.
Upright meaning
KEYWORDS
Blending two things carefully instead of forcing a choice between them.
Reversed meaning
KEYWORDS
Too much of one thing, unbalanced against everything else.
People also ask
- What does Temperance mean?
- Keywords: balance, integration, patience. Blending two things carefully instead of forcing a choice between them.
- What does Temperance reversed mean?
- Reversed, the keywords shift to excess, imbalance. Too much of one thing, unbalanced against everything else.
- Is Temperance a good card?
- Neither, and the question is worth resisting. Upright it speaks of balance; reversed, of excess. The same card is encouraging in one spread and a warning in another — what decides it is the question you asked and the cards around it.
- Where does Temperance sit in the deck?
- Temperance is a Major Arcana card, number 14 of the twenty-two. The Majors mark the large movements of a life rather than the week's weather, so when one lands it usually answers the question behind the question.
Combinations with Temperance
A card rarely arrives alone. Each pairing below changes the reading — sometimes softening it, sometimes sharpening it into something the single card never said.