I’ve been thinking about Temperance a lot lately. The card showed up in a reading for a client facing a difficult decision, and its presence gave a welcome gentleness to the spread. Where they had been seeing their situation as a dilemma of either or - either stay or go, either have this or have that - Temperance invited them into a space of nuance and possibility. What if they could blend their options? Be more flexible? Create something new that combined the positive elements of both options?
So often we assume that there is a right and a wrong or, more specifically, one right and one wrong. Temperance asks us to jettison that framework and instead see the myriad possibilities available to us at all times; no one is all right or all wrong, and while some options may have more upsetting or negative consequences, each is simply one step we can take on a journey of many, many steps. Moving forward, we’re presented with choices again and again. Decisions become a process that unfold constantly, not solitary events we have to agonize over and then live with permanently.
Maybe this is why, for me, Temperance is a slightly annoying card to draw. When I see it on a bad day, the angel looks smug. There’s a rainbow behind them, for goodness sake! But you might remember that there’s also a rainbow in the Ten of Cups, our environment card for the month of November. Similarly, that card can come across as smug, idealistic, or naive, but both are important in their groups. Temperance is a Major Arcana card. The Ten of Cups is the final in the sequence of its suit. What wholeness can we find in our lives this week? How can we step away from the narrow tightrope of perfectionism and onto a path full of possibilities? How can we lavish what we care about with the love and attention of the Ten of Cups? It might feel a little over-the-top, but it’s absolutely worth it.
We have another tie-in to our monthly reading here, too. The Queen of Swords, our challenge card, shows up in the middle of the week. Clearly we’re feeling comfortable sitting back and analyzing things! But this is not the time to do so, and Temperance is also showing us a profound healing opportunity. It doesn’t involve rejecting the Queen of Swords side of us - that part that wants to be poised, rational, calm, and in charge of the narrative at all times - but to meld it lovingly with another, much different court card.
The King of Pentacles is a jovial card. Sure, take off the sumptuous robes and his downturned gaze might seem haughty or dismissive, but the way the twining vines on his clothes intermingle with the actual lush greenery around him depict a life overflowing with growth and abundance. This person is clearly a maximalist who likes to have fun! (Why else bedeck yourself with loud grape-themed prints?!)
Where swords deal with the element of air, pentacles are associated with earth. They’re strong, prosaic, practical, and also deeply embodied. In our spread, this card asks us to come back down to earth and look around. How might we enjoy our time here more fully? And, most importantly, how might we become acquainted with our resources so that we can share them with others?
The feudal connotations of the court cards can be hard to get around, but I like to think of the rulers of tarot as rulers of their groups. Their concern is to uplift and spread all the good their suit has to offer. For the pentacles, this is a lusty connection to life and its pleasures, a rigorous sense of what it takes to grow and manage your resources, and a practical and steadfast devotion to caring for one’s body and the health of one’s community.
I’m imagining the King of Pentacles waiting for the Queen of Swords to step down from her throne, get out of her head, and come visit him in his verdant castle. Maybe this is giving us a little blueprint for the week, too. When we feel lost in abstractions, paralyzed in the face of decisions (and assuming there’s one right choice we can make), we can step off our throne of perfectionism and into the castle-garden of the King of Pentacles. Notice how this isn’t about letting go of power or authority! It’s just about changing our approach. And what advice might the King of Pentacles have to give us? Some ideas to start things off:
Engage with the world around you. Get outside, plant a garden. Touch grass, as the youth say!
Develop awareness of your resources. What do you have to work with? Simply acknowledging the building blocks you have can inspire future plans.
Enjoy being alive. Be in your body, focus on your sensory experiences: what does the world smell, taste, sound, and feel like? How can you use your senses and sensory experiences to uplift yourself and others?
Practice stewardship. Care for what you have and, as you do so, appreciate the work it took to get where you are and to have what you have.
Host a gathering. Open that castle up to others! It looks awfully nice over there.
When I step back to look at this reading I’m struck by how it’s not advocating for radical adjustments or changes; rather, it’s encouraging us to see what power we do have and to practice temperance when it comes to our expectations. How can we see many paths instead of one, be present with ourselves, and integrate our seeking, principled self with our practical, earthy side? This week hold the potential for some much-needed, gentle, and enduring change: Healing through self-acceptance and an acknowledgment of our skills, powers, and the world as it is.
This week embrace:
Patience, dedication, staying in the moment
A holistic view of the world, yourself, and the idea of progress
Detaching from urgency, perfectionism (especially!), and the need to reject parts of yourself and the world in order to heal/move on/innovate
Stepping away from the well-worn path of analysis and conjecture and into the day-to-day, embodied experience of being alive
Some good-old-fashioned planning to set the stage for the growth you want to pursue next. This is the King of Pentacles, after all, so I’m feeling some financial strategizing, bookkeeping, or goal-setting!
This week avoid:
Making absolute judgments, especially about yourself
Getting stuck in old Queen of Swords thought patterns and approaches
Moral absolutism at all costs
Pitting parts of your personality against each other - this is a huge opportunity for healing through collaboration