Temperance tarot card meaning

What the card shows

A winged angel stands with one foot in a pool and the other on the bank, pouring water from one cup into another. A triangle inside a square is marked on the robe's chest. Irises grow at the water's edge, and a path leads up to distant mountains under a crown of light. The pouring is careful, and none of the water seems to spill.

Temperance upright

Temperance is the card of the middle way. It describes balance found by mixing, not by choosing one extreme: work and rest, effort and patience, your view and someone else's. Upright, it favours moderation, steady progress and the willingness to adjust the mix until it is right. It is a calm card, and it often appears when calm is what the situation needs.

Keywords: balance, moderation, patience, blending

Temperance reversed

Reversed, the mix is off: too much of one thing, whether work, food, spending, worry or another person's company, and not enough of something else. It can also describe impatience with a process that cannot be rushed. The card does not ask for perfection. It asks you to notice which cup is overflowing and pour some of it back.

Keywords: excess, imbalance, impatience

In love

In love, Temperance favours compromise, patience and finding a rhythm that suits you both. It suits a relationship that works because each person adjusts a little. Reversed, it can point at one person always doing the adjusting, and suggests restoring the balance.

At work

At work, this card favours a steady pace, cooperation between groups and combining different skills. It suits mediating and bringing people together. Reversed, it warns against overwork, or against swinging between bursts of effort and exhaustion.

When you are deciding

When deciding, Temperance asks whether you have to choose at all, or whether some of both would work. If you do have to choose, it favours the option you could sustain for a year over the one that only suits this week.