- Element
- Fire
- Arcana
- Major
- Attribution
- Sagittarius
- Feeling shows as
- A theme running the situation
- Stage
- The feeling is being combined with something else
Temperance
as feelings
They feel it in the right proportion, and they are letting it settle at its own speed.
Why
Temperance is measured feeling, which is not the same as lukewarm. As a trump it describes a theme large enough to be running the situation rather than a passing mood, which is why it outweighs the cards around it.
Upright and reversed
What it is like to hold this feeling.
A reversal is not the opposite of the upright card. It blocks it, delays it, turns it inward or takes it too far, and which of those depends on the kind of card it is.
Upright
Temperance is measured feeling, which is not the same as lukewarm. What it describes is a person combining things that do not naturally mix — you and their existing life, what they want and what they can responsibly do — and getting the proportions right rather than quickly. There is patience here and there is genuine care in the patience. The card is one of the best signs of long-term viability in the deck, and one of the worst if what you wanted was a declaration this week.
Reversed
Reversed, the proportions are wrong. Too much at once, or a pace so cautious that nothing is actually being mixed. Sometimes it is a person trying to balance two things that will not combine, and feeling the strain of it without saying so.
Reversed, a trump is a theme being resisted, delayed or lived out privately. The theme does not disappear when the card is inverted — it goes underground, which is generally harder on everybody than the upright version.
Where the feeling is in its arc
The feeling is being combined with something else.
Temperance mixes. A feeling is being blended with a life, an obligation or another person's pace, and the proportions are being got right rather than got quickly.
What is missing is speed, and the absence is the method. Nothing combined at this position is finished, and rushing it separates what was being joined.
Attributed to the sign Sagittarius, the mutable fire of aim, distance and the tempering of extremes. A trump carrying a sign describes a climate rather than an event — the weather a feeling is happening in, and weather lasts.
The same card, four situations
It does not mean the same thing for an ex as it does for a stranger.
Each reading below is built from two things that differ card to card: what the element does to a feeling, and how far along that feeling is.
Someone you have just met
A zodiacal trump at the start of something describes the climate the connection is beginning in rather than a reaction to you. What it reports will still be true in a month, which very little else this early will be. Here specifically, temperance mixes. A feeling is being blended with a life, an obligation or another person's pace, and the proportions are being got right rather than got quickly.
A relationship you are already in
Inside an established relationship a zodiacal trump names the season the two of you are in. Seasons are long, and what is happening is usually larger than the week it is being felt in. Here specifically, temperance mixes. A feeling is being blended with a life, an obligation or another person's pace, and the proportions are being got right rather than got quickly.
Someone who ended it, or who you ended it with
For a connection that has ended, a zodiacal trump describes a condition rather than a decision. It says what the ending was made of and declines to predict whether the weather changes. Here specifically, temperance mixes. A feeling is being blended with a life, an obligation or another person's pace, and the proportions are being got right rather than got quickly.
A feeling neither of you has said out loud
When nothing has been said, a zodiacal trump means the silence has a climate to it — a settled condition rather than a held breath, and conditions do not resolve because somebody asks. Here specifically, temperance mixes. A feeling is being blended with a life, an obligation or another person's pace, and the proportions are being got right rather than got quickly.
The part most readings skip
What this card cannot tell you.
A feelings position is the one place a reader most wants to be told what they were hoping for, which is exactly why it is the easiest to misread.
- A card describes a quality of feeling. It does not identify a person, confirm that they are thinking about you at this moment, or guarantee what they will do next — and any reading that offers those things is selling certainty the deck does not contain.
- Feelings positions are the ones readers most want a particular answer from, which is exactly why they are the easiest to misread. If a card seems to confirm precisely what you hoped, that is the moment to check it against what has actually happened.
- One card is one input. A feeling that contradicts everything a person has done for six months is a card that needs the rest of the spread, not a card that has revealed a secret.
Keep going
A feeling is one position in a spread.
The full meaning of Temperance — upright, reversed, love, career, money and the symbolism the painting carries — is on its own page. If you have not drawn a card yet, the reading below deals a real one.
