Temperance Tarot Card Meaning

Temperance Major Arcana Tarot Card by Richard Knight

What does the Temperance Tarot card mean?

Have you noticed this?

Whenever things get out of balance in our lives, our emotions suffer. 

There is a special card which represents balance. 

The Temperance Card Shows An ‘Ideal’ State Could Potentially Occur

In the Rider-Waite deck, Temperance is represented by an angelic being pouring water from cup to cup. 

The ‘ideal’ state is one of harmony and flow, with balanced emotions and temperate actions.

The Temperance Tarot Card Requires Balance

But this balance won’t occur on its own.

The Temperance card asks you to consider which parts of your life are out of equilibrium and take the steps you need to achieve a state of balance. 

If the Temperance card shows up in a client’s reading, there are a couple of great exercises you can do to help them see where balance is lacking in their lives.

1. Grab a piece of A4 paper and draw six columns. 

Label each column with the following:

• Work

• Play

• Giving

• Receiving

• Activity

• Rest

Now ask your client to think about the week leading up to their Tarot reading. Get them to write down all the experiences they can remember in the appropriate columns. 

It can be quite an eye-opening exercise!

It allows them to reflect and discuss what might be out of balance in their lives. You can then pull some more cards to clarify this.

2. Ask your client to think about all the negative interactions they’ve had with others in the last week or so. These can be at work, at home and socially.

• Maybe they felt upset

• Maybe they felt angry

• Maybe they felt left out

Now your client can take each situation and decide if their reactions to these situations were:

• Appropriate

• Proportional to the situation

• Stemmed from something they need to heal within 

What emotional aspects of their life need to come into more balance?

The Temperance Card Can Also Indicate That We May Need To Do Things In Moderation

Perhaps we are over-eating, over-thinking or working too hard. 

Remember the next card in the deck is The Devil…

Perhaps it’s time to moderate our behaviour before things become detrimental and we really start to suffer.

I’m going to leave you with one final Temperance-inspired question… how can you blend all the different parts of you into one harmonious whole?

If you want to master the Tarot, check out my COURSES and EVENTS.