Temperance: Modern RWS Tarot Card Meanings
RWS Cards In Context › Major Arcana › KEY XIV: Temperance
‘Key XIV: Temperance’, Rider Waite Smith tarot deck.
Temperance: Upright RWS Meanings
Restraint, Virtue, Alchemy, Peace, Equanimity
Generally
This card relates to a period of divine alchemy, balance, patience, and moderation. Temperance is the art of the master, signifying a profound integration of opposing forces to create a new, more potent third. It is a sign of being on track. It is a time to avoid extremes and act as the alchemist in your own life.
In a Love Context
In a love reading, this card signifies a relationship that has achieved a rare state of spiritual harmony. This is a partnership built on a deep foundation of compromise and understanding.
It can signify the successful blending of two families, a difficult alchemical task that requires immense patience and a gentle, non-reactive approach to conflict.
This card advises that the path to a lasting bond is not through dramatic passion, but through a patient and moderate hand. This is a mature partnership where the goal is to find understanding and compromise rather than to win arguments.
In a Money/Career Context
In a career or financial context, this card points to the virtues of a healthy and moderate approach. This is not the card of a risky, high-yield venture; it is the card of carefully adapting to the regular tactical realities of a long-term business strategy.
Temperance can indicate a successful collaboration between different, and perhaps even opposing, departments. On a personal level, it points to a well-managed budget or a successful work-life balance.
In a Spiritual Context
This card is the very essence of the "Great Work." It is about the sacred alchemical process of aligning the higher and lower self to the will of the Divine Soul. This card signifies a profound period of healing and integration, especially after a major spiritual event. It is the process of gently getting the lower self under control and attuning the incarnating soul to it’s Divine counterpart.
In Common Spread Positions
As Advice
Find the middle path. Act with moderation. Be patient. Seek harmony and integration.
As (Ultimate) Outcome
A successful and harmonious resolution. A perfect balance will be achieved. A period of peace and calm.
As Obstacles
A need for moderation is being ignored. A situation requires a more extreme approach. A fear of taking a side is causing stagnation.
As Hidden Energy
An unrealised potential for harmony and integration. A hidden path to compromise is available.
As Resources/Alliances
Your own patience and ability to compromise. A calm and balanced person. A successful mediator.
Temperance: Reversed RWS Meanings
Generally
Reversed, the Temperance card signifies a failure of the alchemical process. The divine synthesis is lost, resulting in imbalance, excess, and a severe lack of patience. This is a period of extreme behaviour, where the "middle way" is abandoned in favour of one radical extreme or the other. It warns that a hasty decision, made without the deliberate moderation of the upright card, will almost certainly lead to negative consequences.
This energy manifests as a project that is dangerously out of balance, or a life that is plagued by a lack of harmony. It is a sign that you have lost your connection to your higher, moderating genius and are now acting from a place of fragmented, unrefined impulse. This is a time of discord and internal conflict, where nothing seems to blend or integrate correctly.
In a Love Context
In a love reading, this card points to a relationship that is severely out of balance and rife with conflict. The harmonious blending of the upright card is gone, replaced by constant arguments and discord. This often signifies a partner, or perhaps both partners, given to extreme emotional reactions. The patient, gentle approach has been lost, and there is a stubborn lack of compromise that makes any real synthesis impossible.
This card can also warn of a connection that has become all-consuming, an obsessive or fanatical attachment that is itself a form of extreme imbalance. It has completely overtaken all other areas of life, creating a vortex of energy rather than a stable, harmonious union. It is a sign that the relationship has lost its center.
In a Money/Career Context
In a career or financial context, this card warns of a dangerous lack of balance. This can manifest as a complete failure to integrate work and life, leading to a state of profound exhaustion and depletion from overwork. It is also a strong warning against reckless financial decisions. A hasty and ill-advised investment, made from a place of impatience rather than careful planning, is likely.
Within a team, this card can point to a project that is dangerously off-balance, perhaps with all resources focused on one area while others are neglected. This imbalance often leads to conflict between colleagues, as the lack of harmony in the project creates friction for the entire team.
In a Spiritual Context
Spiritually, the reversed Temperance card is a warning against an unbalanced or extreme practice. The "middle way" is lost, and the seeker has fallen into fanaticism, a rigid and dogmatic adherence to one aspect of their path while neglecting all others.
This can also signify a dangerous tendency to use spiritual concepts to ignore real-world problems or responsibilities, a state where the "spiritual" is disconnected from the "material" rather than being properly integrated with it. This points to a fundamental lack of grounding in your spiritual life. You may be "flying high" in your practice but have no stability, leaving your work ungrounded and, ultimately, useless in a practical sense.
In Common Spread Positions
As Advice
A warning against excess or imbalance. It is time to find a middle ground or to avoid a hasty decision.
As (Ultimate) Outcome
A period of discord and imbalance. A project will fail due to a lack of moderation. A situation will be made worse by extreme behaviour.
As Obstacles
Your own lack of patience or moderation is the primary hindrance. A person with an extreme personality is blocking progress. A situation is fundamentally unbalanced.
As Hidden Energy
A hidden imbalance is undermining the situation. A secret extremism is driving events.
As Resources/Alliances
Help comes from recognising an imbalance. A necessary course-correction. A rejection of a harmful extreme.
RWS Temperance Card: Paired Combinations
Temperance With Major Arcana Cards
Temperance & The Devil
Temperance (↑) & The Devil (↑): Balance maintained under pressure. Temptation appears but moderation prevails. Compromise reached without surrender of integrity.
Temperance (↓) & The Devil (↑): Excess undermines restraint. Old habits resurface or indulgence outweighs discipline. Renewal follows once limits are respected again.
Temperance (↑) & The Devil (↓): Liberation from attachment. Addictions ease, debts dissolve, or destructive influence loses hold. Healing follows through self‑control.
Temperance (↓) & The Devil (↓): Stagnation after release. Freedom misused or moderation ignored. Harmony returns when measure replaces impulse.
Temperance With Minor Arcana Cards
Temperance & Two of Pentacles
Temperance (↑) & The Two of Pentacles (↑): Rhythms managed with care. Duties balanced, finances steady, and adaptability rewarded through calm persistence.
Temperance (↓) & The Two of Pentacles (↑): Overcommitment disrupts stability. Efficiency falters until responsibilities are reduced or pace adjusted.
Temperance (↑) & The Two of Pentacles (↓): Order restored after lapse. Lost equilibrium returns through renewed attention to daily detail.
Temperance (↓) & The Two of Pentacles (↓): Confusion through imbalance. Misjudged timing or scattered effort produces strain. Composure must be regained before progress continues.
Temperance & Knight of Cups
Temperance (↑) & The Knight of Cups (↑): Grace and poise in emotional matters. Feelings expressed with sincerity and sensitivity bring reconciliation or creative success.
Temperance (↓) & The Knight of Cups (↑): Emotion floods reason. Early enthusiasm or romantic impulse disturbs stable ground. Restraint restores warmth and gentleness.
Temperance (↑) & The Knight of Cups (↓): Calm outreach meets hesitation. Messages of goodwill slow to arrive, yet patience ensures proper understanding.
Temperance (↓) & The Knight of Cups (↓): Misplaced sentiment or mood excess. Feelings exaggerated or timing poorly chosen. Moderation renews harmony of intent.
A.E Waite’s Divinatory Temperance Card Meanings:
“Upright: Economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation. Reversed: Things connected with churches, religions, sects, the priesthood, sometimes even the priest who will marry the Querent; also disunion, unfortunate combinations, competing interests.”
Additional Notes: RWS Temperance Card
Question: What is the spiritual meaning of Temperance?
In an esoteric context, Temperance represents the alchemical process of "Solve et Coagula" (dissolve and coagulate). It is the art of breaking down opposing forces (like the two cups) and blending them into a new, higher synthesis. It is a card of profound spiritual integration and the creation of the "philosopher's stone" within the self.
This alchemical theme appears throughout Waite’s Major Arcana.
Meditations On The RWS Temperance Card
Where in my life do I need to practice more moderation and patience?
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