Tag: Temperance

FOUR PILLARS SOCIETY TAROT: TEMPERANCE (II)

Notes on Temperance

(Spurred to Evolve)

 

 

Artist’s Notes on the Card:
We may strive for balance and may even attain it, yet as soon as it is attained, the balance shifts. Our path of growth and ascension tends never to be straightforward as much as a constant cycle of transmutation. We transmute our innocence into the experience as we transmute our never-ending potential into realization, with each cycle and movement growing further. We are each our own catalyst and our own kiln in which the clay of our being becomes something new.
At the same time though, we need to continue having the intent to grow and to balance both our natures and that of our environment for if we don’t, the whole thing may either come crashing down or we may become delusional (another word for unbalanced) and believe we have already reached the pinnacle of a mountain that has no end.
 
 
About the Archetype:
 
In the trump the Lovers, we become aware that there is an existence outside of our own and sensibilities very different from ours. It is this difference that makes us start to question our lives. With Temperance, we learn to synthesize these differences and consciously incorporate them into our own being. Temperance or Art is the card of Balancing Transformation. It is connected by many with the art of Alchemy. When many people think of Alchemy, they think of the Philosopher’s stone which results in the ability to change lead into gold. The Alchemist’s true goal was to change the lead of coarse matter into the gold of spiritual awareness. This was done by blending and combining the contrasting elements within one’s being. Combining in other words who we are with who we are not, our shadow selves to become something greater. The tiger in the card stands in contrast and admixture to the water that surrounds it By being aware of who we are and who we are not, we can consciously acquire new talents and abilities, blend the two and become something greater, the being who we wish to be. Just as the alchemist followed very specific methods with very specific ingredients, this transformation does not happen in a wild and uncontrolled form but through self-examination and meditation and quite usually through ritual (even the ones we create for ourselves).
 
 
Astrological Correspondent:
 
Sagittarius (♐︎)-The Sagittarius energy is an exploratory one that hungers for the freedom to search out the truth. It is an enthusiastic fiery energy and one that shifts in viewpoint and location to further its understanding. Its symbol is the hunting centaur (denoted by the centaur’s arrow). The centaur is part man and part horse and partakes of the nature of man and beast and masters the blending of them both. Sagittarius’ ruling planet is Jupiter and has an optimistic and expansive aura. It is an energy that takes risks in its desire to do more, know more, and understand more and it becomes what it needs to in order to achieve this end. The Sagittarius influence is one that focuses on self-truth, personal integrity, and self-perfection. Sagittarius brings back what its arrows aim for.
 
 
In a reading:
 
When Temperance turns up in a reading, it can indicate that one’s life has reached a state of balance. The querent may be at a stage where they allot enough time to do the things they want to do and the things they have to do. They work when they need to and have enough time for family and leisure. It may mean tho that it is time for them to examine their lives and figure out how to bring this state of balance about in a conscious way. Temperance may also show in a spiritual sense that the querent is undergoing a transformative experience and that they have made it through the trials and are integrating it with their conscious awareness. The card may be cautioning the querent against going to extremes and learning when to assert themselves in a conscious manner. A keynote for the card is taking responsibility for one’s life in a conscientious way. In a situation where the querent feels torn between two different paths, it suggests finding a synthesis of the two
 
 
 
Temperance reversed or badly aspected, refers to the imbalance in the querent’s life. It could mean that they are going to extremes, first acting in one way and then acting wildly the opposite in order to try to balance the two. This may be because they lack any long-term plan or purpose for their lives and they need to take conscious responsibility for it. It may refer to passive-aggressive behaviour on the querent’s part. The reversed Temperance may also refer to someone being so cautious and afraid of their own actions that they hesitate too much refusing to act at all. The card reversed may also refer to someone who is unable to integrate recent changes in awareness into their lives possibly out of fear of how others will react.
 
 
Fate’s Whisper:
 
“The Seed of Infinity lies in the hearts of those beneath us.”
These were the words of one of the oldest dragons as he watched reality grow. Once one has begun their journey to ascend it can be easy to forget where every being starts. Regardless of if you are a God, Daemon, Djinn, Dragon, or any other species, we all begin knowing nothing. Despite this, we all are all given our own unique seed that is our responsibility to foster. If you feed it poor energy and are always malnourished it will only know that. This isn’t absolute, however. Once we get sick of being on the bottom that seed can give birth to great strength. Like Shani is pushing you, you begin to overcome that which once oppressed you. At this point, you are left with one question. What will you nourish your seed with next?

 

FOUR PILLARS SOCIETY TAROT: TEMPERANCE (I)

 

Notes on Temperance

(Dragonic Alchemy)

Artist’s Notes :
 
So much of Fool’s Journey deals with the relationship between our expressed and suppressed selves. The more we can utilize the parts of ourselves that we have kept only in potential, the closer we can come to self-actualization. This, in many ways, is the essence of what is known as Shadow Work.  So many people fear the parts of themselves they keep hidden. It is rather like those ancient maps that displayed the lands that had been explored and then in the parts still unknown and yet to be sailed, the words “Here there be Dragons”
 
Many of us like to stay in our shallows, the areas of ourselves that we know best. That is the area in which we are comfortable. Yet very little growth happens in the comfort zone and if we stay within it too long, it becomes a swamp. Early on, (as far back as the Lovers card) we became aware of the Other, which exists both externally and internally. The external, of course, are those others with whom we relate, even though many of them are in one aspect or another, quite alien to us. Even more surprising was that there was something within us that could relate to those differences. When that happens, one of three things may occur. We can automatically see the difference as something to be feared or revolted by and we fight it and so our shadow grows. We can embrace the differences wholeheartedly and so either deny or lose our original qualities; this way also leads to our shadow self growing stronger. The third way, however, looks at the difference with critical eyes, see the value in it as well as the value in the current self and learns to forge a new self that is the best of two worlds, fully embracing the value of each. This alchemical practice directly ties in with the idea of the Temperance card.
 
About the Archetype:
 
In the Lovers, we become aware that there is an existence outside of our own and sensibilities very different from ours. It is this difference that makes us start to question our lives. With Temperance, we learn to synthesize these differences and consciously incorporate them into our own being. Temperance or Art is the card of Balancing Transformation. It is connected by many with the art of Alchemy. When many people think of Alchemy, they think of the Philosopher’s stone which results in the ability to change lead into gold. The Alchemist’s true goal was to change the lead of coarse matter into the gold of spiritual awareness. This was done by blending and combining the contrasting elements within one’s being. Combining in other words who we are with who we are not, our shadow selves to become something greater. The tiger in the card stands in contrast and admixture to the water that surrounds it By being aware of who we are and who we are not, we can consciously acquire new talents and abilities, blend the two and become something greater, the being who we wish to be. Just as the alchemist followed very specific methods with very specific ingredients, this transformation does not happen in a wild and uncontrolled form but through self-examination and meditation and quite usually through ritual (even the ones we create for ourselves).
 
 
Astrological Correspondent:
 
Sagittarius (♐︎)-The Sagittarius energy is an exploratory one that hungers for the freedom to search out the truth. It is an enthusiastic fiery energy and one that shifts in viewpoint and location to further its understanding. Its symbol is the hunting centaur (denoted by the centaur’s arrow). The centaur is part man and part horse and partakes of the nature of man and beast and masters the blending of them both. Sagittarius’ ruling planet is Jupiter and has an optimistic and expansive aura. It is an energy that takes risks in its desire to do more, know more, and understand more and it becomes what it needs to in order to achieve this end. The Sagittarius influence is one that focuses on self-truth, personal integrity, and self-perfection. Sagittarius brings back what its arrows aim for.
 
 
In a reading:
 
When Temperance turns up in a reading, it can indicate that one’s life has reached a state of balance. The querent may be at a stage where they allot enough time to do the things they want to do and the things they have to do. They work when they need to and have enough time for family and leisure. It may mean tho that it is time for them to examine their lives and figure out how to bring this state of balance about in a conscious way. Temperance may also show in a spiritual sense that the querent is undergoing a transformative experience and that they have made it through the trials and are integrating it with their conscious awareness. The card may be cautioning the querent against going to extremes and learning when to assert themselves in a conscious manner. A keynote for the card is taking responsibility for one’s life in a conscientious way. In a situation where the querent feels torn between two different paths, it suggests finding a synthesis of the two
 
 
Temperance reversed or badly aspected, refers to the imbalance in the querent’s life. It could mean that they are going to extremes, first acting in one way and then acting wildly the opposite in order to try to balance the two. This may be because they lack any long-term plan or purpose for their lives and they need to take conscious responsibility for it. It may refer to passive-aggressive behaviour on the querent’s part. The reversed Temperance may also refer to someone being so cautious and afraid of their own actions that they hesitate too much refusing to act at all. The card reversed may also refer to someone who is unable to integrate recent changes in awareness into their lives possibly out of fear of how others will react.
 
Fate’s Whisper:
 
When looking at inner Kundalini workings,  it eventually becomes apparent that our ascension is linked to our shadow work. The balancing of our impact is based on our actions and how we cope with said impact emotionally. Just as these two sides hold importance they each have their own unique pull we need to stay vigilant of. All of this is topped off by the fabled Flower of Nirvana to finalize all our transformations so that we may begin anew as who we are now.

Tarot Post – Temperance (Art)

 

XIV-Temperance / Art (♐︎)

 

Temperance Temperance by G A Rosenberg

 

Alchemical art
mix my opposite being
within my vessel

 

I Not I
being, becoming
transforming
from the Not into the I
and the I into the knot
Letting the old flow into the new
and transmuting it
my male to female
woman to man
combining
body to soul
gaining new awareness as I go
controlling it carefully
yet letting it flow.
Integrating the dissolve
with new resolve
all with the aim of the gold in mind.
Eagle and Lion cracking the egg
the snake transforms
new insight descends.
— G A Rosenberg

 

In the trump the Lovers, we become aware that there is an existence outside of our own and sensibilities very different from ours. It is this difference that makes us start to question our lives. With Temperance we learn to synthesize these differences and consciously incorporate them into our own being. Temperance or Art is the card of Balancing Transformation. It is connected by many with the art of Alchemy. When many people think of Alchemy, they think of the Philosopher’s stone which results in the ability to change lead into gold. What the Alchemists true goal was to change the lead of corse matter into the gold of spiritual awareness. This was done by blending and combining the opposite elements within one’s being. Combining in other words who we are with who we are not, our shadow selves to become something greater. The angel in the card is combining onto (and into) herself the liquid fire with the fiery water to form something new. By being aware of who we are and who we are not, we can consciously acquire new talents and abilities, blend the two and become something greater, the being who we wish to be. Just as the alchemist followed very specific methods with very specific ingredients, this transformation does not happen in a wild and uncontrolled form but through self-examination and meditation and quite usually through ritual (even the ones we create for ourselves).

 

Astrological Correspondence – Sagittarius (♐︎)-The Sagittarius energy is an exploratory one that hungers for the freedom to search out truth. It is an enthusiastic fiery energy and one that shifts in viewpoint and location to further its understanding. Its symbol is the hunting centaur (denoted by the centaur’s arrow). The centaur is part man and part horse and partakes of the nature of man and beast and masters the blending of them both. Sagittarius’ ruling planet is Jupiter and has that optimistic and expansive aura. It is an energy that takes risks in its desire to do more, know more and understand more and it becomes what it needs to in order to achieve this end. The Sagittarius influence is one that focuses on self-truth, personal integrity and self-perfection. Sagittarius brings back what its arrows aim for.

 

Runic Correspondence – Dagaz (‘Dawn’) –dagaz
Dagaz is the rune of transformation. It is connected with achieving enlightenment through the resolution of paradox. Dagaz’s time of day is the in-between times of twilight and dawn.
Dagaz involves the blending and transformation of one thing into its opposite and the synergy that can come from the two working together. The rune heralds the safe conclusion of these shiftings. Other runes associated with Temperance are Laguz and Nauthiz.

 

Path on the Tree of Life -Path 25-Samekh-Samekh means literally “tent peg”. It is the path that dissolves the lower ego with ones higher consciousness. It connects the sephiroth of the Sun and the Moon, Tiphareth (“beauty”) and Yesod(“foundation”). It is known in the Sepher Yetzirah as the Testing Consciousness and is connected to the temptations that can befall one in that spiritual becoming. The temptations are connected to the balancing out of the self and its shadow and the blending of the two. Samekh is also connected with the worm ouroboros which it resembles, a snake with its tail in its mouth.

 

When Temperance turns up in a reading, it can indicate that one’s life has reached a state of balance. The querent may be at a stage where the allot enough time to do both the things they want to do and the things they have to do. They work when they need to and have enough time for family and leisure. It may mean tho that it is time for them to examine their lives and figure out how to bring this state of balance about in a conscious way. Temperance may also show in a spiritual sense that the querent is undergoing a transformative experience and that they have made it through the trials and are integrating it with their conscious awareness. The card may be cautioning the querent against going to extremes and learning when to assert themselves in a conscious manner. A keynote for the card is taking responsibility for one’s life in a conscientious way. In a situation where the querent feels torn between two different paths, it suggests finding a synthesis of the two

 

Temperance inverses talks about imbalance in the querent’s life. It could mean that they are going to extremes, first acting in one way and then acting wildly the opposite in order to try to balance the two. This may be because they lack any long-term plan or purpose for their life and they need to take conscious responsibility for it. It may refer to passive-agressive behaviour on the querent’s part. The reversed Temperance may also refer to someone being so cautious and afraid of their own actions that they hesitate too much refusing to act at all. The card reversed may also refer to someone who is unable to integrate recent changes in awareness into their lives possibly out of fear for how others will react.

 

Random Thoughts, Images and a Bit of Card Play

“People think that talking is a sign of thinking. It isn’t, for the most part’ on the contrary, it’s a mechanical dodge of the body to relieve oneself of the strain of thinking, just as exercising the muscles helps the body to become temporarily unconscious of its weight, its pain, its weariness, and the foreknowledge of its doom.”
― Aleister Crowley

 

When strangeness beckons
I continue on my way
My purpose is strong.

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

IntentIntent by G A Rosenberg

 

I was asked by a friend tonight about the difference between the Chariot trump and the Temperance trump in the tarot.

The Chariot in the Tarot refers to control of the externals among other things where Temperance is more of a matter of Balance
so if you want it in nice simple terms Control vs Balance
THo if you place the cards in the manner of contemplation suggested by both Pollack and DuQuette of 3 rows of Seven underneath the Fool then what you end up with is that Temperance is a higher octave of The Chariot

if you think of the first row as conscious
the second as subconscious
the third as superconscious (just one of many different ways to contemplate the cards) then the Chariot reflects external conscious balance and control while Temperance would mean that balance on an internal level (the qualities of oneself vs the qualities of one’s life) if you would
To put it in simple terms… what is the chariot driver doing on the card? What is the Temperance Angel doing? There is a vital difference there
The next octave up would be the World or the Universe
so Control, Balance, Integration
Taking the three cards right before those three, The Lovers Death and Judgement yield further insight.
Consider for short hand meanings in this context,Love, Death and Resurrection
or if you will, Recognition, Transformation, Resurrection
ok
if you want more of an explanation… then Lovers is the first recognition of one’s shadow or other… Death is the ego death when we realize that we can’t exist without our shadow and Judgement is the call to integration that is realized in the World
if you want to storyline it a bit because its rather cool… then in the Lovers we recognize the other, our first instinct is to control it The Chariot
after we’ve gone through the stages of the second row… we realize that we need to transform which leads to us starting to experience different parts of our shadow… (Temperance)
after we’ve gone through Chapel Perlious then we are called (Judgement) tp integrate fully The World.

 

I realize that this blog entry is a bit more chaotic then most. Chalk it down to a combination of dancing with the flu,computer problems, a tarot conversation that helped me expand my own insight that I wanted to share and just because. As always, I hope some enjoyment was found in it.
Blessings, G

Porthole View onto A New UniversePortal View onto A New Universe by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 13 2012

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”
― Robert Fulghum

 

Knowledge can give us facts but it takes imagination to bring understanding . History is biased and ever changing but myth enters our subconscious and builds new countries there . Hope, that odd combination of imagination and myth can truly trump experience because it shows us that no matter what has happened so far, something better may be right around the corner. But then I’ve always been a hope fiend and I may flatter myself by believing that I’m a dreamer. We build better worlds than this one and learn to inhabit them.
Blessings, G

 

 

Click on the images to see full-size

 

Tarot Trump XIV – Temperance

 

Abstract Vision by G A Rosenberg

What was that about the Temperance Card?

OK, it turns out the sound quality of the video I did the other night, Zen Master Taking Out the Garbage (Part 1) elsewhere on this page was poorer than it should have been, and people have asked me for a transcript, including the long Aleister Crowley, book of Thoth quote, so be it

This and the two (or three) videos that will follow in this sequence comes from new insight I’ve gained into the Fool’s Journey, in this case in the three card sequence, Temperance, The Devil and the Tower.

Satori, enlightenment, Shaktipat, that one moment of awakeness where you feel godhead flowing through you and everything feels right. You neither want nor don’t want. It is neither pleasure nor pain and words are just inadequate to describe it.
One Definition of the Temperance card is as follows:

“Your Holy Guardian Angel appears in a fleeting golden moment, suspended in a beam of light. She draws the fire of heaven down from above as she summons earthly energy up from below. You are being prepared for an alchemical wedding, which will empower and transform you forever.” 1

Temperance Card from Legacy of the Divine Tarot by Ciro Marchetti

Aleister Crowley has this to say about the Temperance card which he calls Art

“This card is the complement and the fulfillment of Atu VI, Gemini. It pertains to Sagittarius, the opposite to Gemini in the Zodiac, and therefore, “after another manner,” one with it. Sagittarius means the Archer; and the card is (in its simplest and most primitive form) a picture of Diana the Huntress. Diana is primarily one of the lunar goddesses, though the Romans rather degraded her from the Greek “virgin Artemis”, who is also the Great Mother of Fertility, Diana of the Ephesians, Many-Breasted. (A form of Isis-see Atu II and III.)

The connection between the Moon and the Huntress is shewn by the shape of the bow, and the occult significance of Sagittarius is the arrow piercing the rainbow; the last three paths of the Tree of Life make the word Qesheth, a rainbow, and Sagittarius bears the arrow which pierces the rainbow, for his path leads from the Moon of Yesod to the Sun of Tiphareth. (This explanation is highly technical; but this is necessary because the card represents an important scientific formula, which cannot be expressed in language suited to common comprehension.)

This card represents the Consummation of the Royal Marriage which took place in Atu VI. The black and white personages are now united in a single androgyne figure. Even the Bees and the Serpents on their robes have made an alliance. The Red Lion has become white, and increased in size and importance, while the White Eagle, similarly expanded, has become red. He has exchanged his red blood for her white gluten. (It is impossible to explain these terms to any but advanced students of alchemy.)
The equilibrium and counter-change are carried out completely in the figure itself; the white woman has now a black bead; the black king, a white one. She wears the golden crown with a silver band, he, the silver crown with a golden fillet; but the white head on the right is extended in action by a white arm on the left which holds the cup of the white gluten, while the black head on the left has the black arm on the right, holding the lance which has become a torch and pours forth its burning blood. The fire burns up the water; the water extinguishes the fire.

The robe of the figure is green, which symbolizes vegetable growth: this is an alchemical allegory. In the symbolism of the fathers of science, all “actual” objects were regarded as dead; the difficulty of transmuting metals was that the metals, as they occur in nature, were in the nature of excrements, because they did not grow. The first problem of alchemy was to raise mineral to vegetable life; the adepts thought that the proper way to do this was to imitate the processes of nature. Distillation, for instance, was not an operation to be performed by heating something in a retort over a flame; it had to take place naturally, even if months were required to consummate the Work. (Months, at that period of civilization, were at the disposal of enquiring minds.)

A great deal of what people now consider ignorance, being themselves ignorant of what the men of old time thought, comes from this misapprehension. At the bottom of this card, for example, are seen Fire and Water harmoniously mingled. But this is only a crude symbol of the spiritual idea, which is the satisfaction of the desire of the incomplete element of one kind to satisfy its formula by assimilation of its equal and opposite.

This state of the great Work therefore consisted in the mingling of the contradictory elements in a cauldron. This is here represented as golden or solar, because the Sun is the Father of all Life, and (in particular) presides over distillation. The fertility of the Earth is maintained by rain and sun; the rain is formed by a slow and gentle process, and is rendered effective by the co-operation of air, which is itself alchemically the result of the Marriage of Fire and Water. So also the formula of continued life is death, or putrefaction. Here it is symbolized by the caput mortuum on the cauldron, a raven perched upon a skull. In agricultural terms, this is the fallow earth.”
Rising from the cauldron, as the result of the operation per- formed ~ is a stream of light which becomes two rainbows; they form the cape of the androgyne figure. In the centre, an arrow shoots upwards. This is connected with the general symbolism previously explained, the spiritualization of the result of the Great Work.2

The great work being, the marriage of material man with the spiritual self (or godhead)

So You have this point of balance, this symbol of the Philosopher’s Stone, which symbolizes taking the base nature of the material self and purifying it for union with spirit–Satori, or enlightenment, if you will.
So you reach that point of balance. Like the Zen Master replied when asked
“What did you do before enlightenment?”
“I took out the trash”
“What did you do after enlightenment?”
“I took out the trash”
So, what comes next? You have that union with godhead,that union with your higher self, that glimpse if you will of what lies behind the curtain and then you come back down. What do you face next? Well the next card in sequence is The Devil
(To Be Continued…)

1Gateway to the Divine Tarot by Ciro Marchetti Llewellyn Publications 2009 p. 124
2The Book of Thoth (Egyptian Tarot) by The Master Therion (Aleister Crowley) US Games Systems Inc. 1944 pp 101-103