Temperance

Symbols

• The Red-winged AngelA tempering spirit belonging to neither water nor fire — by standing still it draws both currents into one flow.+

  Traditionally identified as Michael, the archangel of the sun — Temperance is Sagittarian, ruled by Jupiter under solar governance, so the alchemist's messenger and the lord of fire are one figure seen from two sides.

• The Two CupsTwo cups of the same gold — the opposition is not in the metal but between the pouring and the receiving, now held in a single pair of hands.+

  The gesture is older than Waite: the 15th-century Visconti-Sforza Temperance already pours from one jug into another, the virtue's old image of mixing wine with water. Waite keeps it and calls the liquid 'the essences of life'.

• The Arc That Defies GravityThe stream between the cups slants from the higher cup to the lower instead of falling straight — it does not answer to gravity alone; it answers to the rhythm of tempering itself.+

  In the drawing the stream slants from cup to cup rather than dropping straight — tempering is not a static cancellation of poles but a dynamic state in which ordinary physical law briefly relaxes its grip.

• One Foot in Water, One on LandThe body itself demonstrates — tempering is not standing in the middle, but being present at both ends at once.+

  Waite says the stance illustrates 'the nature of the essences'. It has a biblical double: the mighty angel of Revelation 10:2, who 'set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth'.

• Solar Disc on the BrowA golden solar disc — the true fire that tempering requires is stored just behind the skin above the gaze.+

  Waite calls it simply 'the sign of the sun'. The circled point also meant gold in alchemy, and in the Golden Dawn system this card is the path of Samekh, running from Tiphareth, the Sun's sphere, down to Yesod, the Moon's.

• Square Enclosing TriangleA triangle inside a square — the three within the four, spirit within matter; tempering does not abolish the material, it lets spirit take shape within it.+

  Shorthand from European alchemy — the square for the four elements of earth, the triangle for the three principles (sulphur, mercury, salt). The ultimate tempering is to let the higher three take hold inside the lower four.

• The Distant Crown and the Yellow IrisesA crown of gold on the distant summit — tempering is not the destination but the posture one assumes on the road there; yellow irises at the pool's edge stand as silent markers.+

  Waite says a direct path leads to heights on the horizon, where a crown is 'seen vaguely' through a great light. On the Tree of Life this card's path lies on the middle pillar, which rises to Kether — Hebrew for 'crown'.

• The Direct PathFrom the edge of the pool a path climbs away to the heights on the horizon — Waite calls it a direct path.+

  Right after the path and the crown, Waite adds: 'Hereof is some part of the Secret of Eternal Life, as it is possible to man in his incarnation.' The path starts at the water where the figure stands; the angel does not take it.

• The White RobeA long white robe, falling straight from the shoulders beneath the red wings.+

  Waite writes, 'I speak of him in the masculine sense, but the figure is neither male nor female.' The plain robe gives nothing that would settle what he leaves open, though the older cards, as Waite himself notes, show a winged woman.

Story

Only one thing moves here: the stream running between the two cups. Everything else is held — the wings spread but still, the robe falling straight, the water of the pool lying flat around one foot. The figure stands square to us at the near edge, and the picture divides beside it: on one side the angel and the pool, close and large; on the other, a path climbing away toward hills and a great light on the horizon. The eye goes back and forth between the two the way the liquid goes between the cups — from near to far, and back again.

Correspondences

Shadow

Related Cards

Strength

Justice

The Star