Temperance -- Introduction

No tarot card embodies balance and reconciling of opposites as deeply and obviously as Temperance.

The meanings of the card in divination are balancing things out, moderation and patience.

But how exactly do we balance ourselves and/or a specific pair of opposites?

The answer to this question transformed as the idea of what it means to be temperate changed. The pictures on the cards illustrate this change.

In the older tarot decks, the card shows a woman pouring liquid from one pitcher to another. Sometimes the woman is depicted with wings.

In many modern versions, the woman is not a woman at all: it is a hermaphrodite, a person that is both a man and a woman.
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In the following posts I want to explore the main points in the visual and philosophic history of Temperance and their connection to the integration of opposites.