Tarot de Merseilles
- the angel appears to be tempering the liquids in the jars by mixing. What are they making?
Temperance meaning "self-restraint, forbearance, moderation," is by way of Anglo-French temperaunce from Latin temperantia "moderation, sobriety, discretion, self-control, "from temperans "moderating, controlling." However the verb which it comes from, temperare, contains the notion of blending and combining, that is, tempering. Temper:
mix or work up into proper condition, adjust or restore to proper proportions; Middle English temperen, from late Old English temprian "to moderate by mixture, bring to proper or suitable state, modify (some excessive quality), restrain within due limits," from Latin temperare "observe proper measure, be moderate, restrain oneself," also transitive, "mix correctly, mix in due proportion; regulate, rule, govern, manage." [OE, temper]
We all know the saying, "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy." So, it's not simply the idea of moderation and control by way of abstinence, or going to one extreme of never doing what is pleasurable that is temperance, but temperance is rather the combining and mixing of things that are different (opposite polarities) together in a way that makes something "proper" or "suitable," so we might say makes something well, as in healthy and good. Whatever gets you there is appropriate. If we could all get there simply by pursuing the pleasurable, and avoiding the painful, we certainly would and there would be nothing wrong with that. But as we all know, this is not the case. Temperance is about maintaining balance.
But if we think of a balance (the instrument) it is only completely balanced when it is not in motion. If there is even just a little bit of movement, one side goes up and the other side goes down. We can think of the polarities being connected to temperance in this way. If something is becoming more light (if light is added), it is also becoming less dark(darkness is taken away), if it is becoming hotter, it is also becoming less cold, if you experience pleasure you are creating the conditions for experiencing adversity and vice versa. For example, if you are hungry and able to enjoy eating food, it is because you did not eat food for a while and got hungry. If you enjoy the warmth of a fire it is only because you got cold first. If you were hot already, the warmth of the fire would not be enjoyable.
The Balance of Ma'at
Temperance takes us between the polarities. It is not too much of either one or being one way. Rather, there is correct mixture and all in due proportion. Like adding the right amount of salt to food, neither too much salt or too little salt is good. And when you are dying of thirst in the middle of the ocean salt may even seem kind of evil, but it is not really the salt, it's just the proportions for the given circumstance.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink. -Rime of the Ancient Mariner 119-122, Samuel Coleridge
However, for preserving foods, a solution that is very salty is good, and fermented foods such as sauerkraut are good for gut health and are very tasty.
Universal Waite Tarot - Ecconomy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation.
We generally have to use discretion and practice some level of self-control in order to maintain health and overall happiness. Because it just so happens that it is much easier to go to extremes that are pleasurable (that which we are inclined to want to do) than toward the adverse extremes (that which we are inclined to not want to do), and this is why we must temper the extreme of pleasure with intentionally restraining ourselves, which we generally think of as temperance, as in the Universal Waite tarot above, which uses such words as "frugality." However, even this word frugality comes from the PIE root *bhrug- meaning "to enjoy," so is really about a behavior, i.e., taking less, using less, and employing that behavior when it is fruitful or useful, i.e., good to do so, and not necessarily all the time or at every occasion. Ebenezer Scrooge had to learn this lesson. The whole point of everything is enjoyment (fellowship and friendship), not the accumulation and hoarding of wealth for its own sake. If a person ends up miserly and miserable, they have taken the idea of moderation too far.
Self-restraint is a part of temperance, but it isn't the whole story. While it is true that only seeking pleasure gets a person out of balance and opens the door to ill / sin / evil / sickness, going too far in the direction of denial isn't good either. It is good to not waste money and resources, yet the point of having money and resources is to use them in a way that is moderate. ANY road that only leads in only one direction is ultimately a highway to hell (either to the one extreme, eternal flame "hot as hell" or the other extreme, utter frozenness "cold as hell" [like Dante's Ninth Circle of Hell]). It takes us away from the place in the middle, which is the good place; i.e., paradise (a place "built around," an "enclosure, park").
Like the Earth is a temperate zone in space, never straying too far away or too closely to the sun.
The Earth, our paradise in the abyss of space. Not too close to the sun (too hot) and not too faraway (too cold).
Since we are creatures who are always in motion, sadly, we can't simply get to a good place (balance) and then rest there forever. We are always traveling, always drifting in one direction or another like the the Earth is always in motion circling around the sun and turning on its axis, creating times (day and night) and seasons. It's not always an exact "perfect" distance away from the sun or rotating at an exact "perfect" angle with respect to the sun, as if there was one, rather it flows between a temperate range. We don't have eternal daylight or eternal summer, we have the day (which is composed of hours with varying degrees of lightness and darkness) and the year (composed of seasons). But even so, at the Equator there is a more extreme lack of variation of seasons and more abrupt transition from daylight to darkness (at sunrise and sunset), and at the Poles the hours of daylight and darkness become extreme making the year to be more like a day, with only one sunrise and one sunset per year and an extremely prolonged period of twilight (months).
We, like a ship that is navigating by the stars, must also adjust as we go, staying in a particular range, never slipping too far off course, but rarely ever being dead on course either. Think of this place of wellness like a station on a radio. Imagine that the tuning dial is always gradually and slowly slipping in one direction or the other so that you need to keep tuning into the station, adjusting the dial to the left, then to the right and back and forth, to tune in properly and get the clearest sound.
Analog Tuner
Acts both of restraining and indulging have a part in temperance in this way. It is varied experience of movement toward one or the other that reveals the moderate middle ground, which we might label as being what is temperate ground. We don't have a middle without having boundaries that the middle is the center of. For example, the place on the dial where the station is audible is not a single indivisible point, it is a certain space between the places to either side where the station becomes inaudible. The same goes for tuning an instrument. The string is tightened and loosened until the proper sound is made when plucked. Temperance reveals a middle ground that is temperate by determining boundaries / limits. And there is only one way to determine a boundary . . . by going there. Stretching and contracting. How far is too far? How much is too much, how much is too little, what is too hot, what is too cold, etc.? You never know until you try it (or at least until someone tries it). Once we know what are the extremes we have a middle ground between the extremes.
And what exactly is considered to be extreme in the first place? The extremes are determined by our desire for a particular outcome, such as the desire to hear the radio station clearly, or tune a string to a particular sound. We know when we stray too far when we can't hear the music or our instrument is out of tune. When we are dealing with the Earth's habitat, a place might be called extreme if it is inhospitable to most life, and creates (extreme) forms of life that have to be very specialized (such as hydrothermal ocean vents). Regarding our bodies, it comes down to health and wellness. How do we determine these extremes? We definitely know we've hit an extreme when we don't feel well. When we experience hunger we know we are moving towards an extreme of not enough food, when we start to get full we are moving toward the extreme of too much food. No one wants to be hungry, weak, and tired, and no one wants to feel sick, bloated and weighed down either, so we fluctuate between a temperate range of eating and abstaining from food most of the time in order to achieve goodness for the body. Sometimes we fast, sometimes we feast, but mostly we stay toward the middle. And when we do this we feel ok. We feel like we are on track. If we often act in a way that is not temperate because of bad habits or addictions we don't feel happy or well.
But since nothing is objectively good or bad, hot or cold, up or down, light or dark in all situations and circumstances, how do we get to a notion of what is good or bad? Hot or cold? etc. What is the appropriate temperature? Is 90°F/32°C hot or cold? It is realtively hot, if we are talking about the weather outside, but too cold if we are cooking food in the oven. However, if the weather has been 110°F, then when it is 90°F outside it is cooler than it has been and feels better, and it may even feel really pleasant if the humidity is low and you have been swimming, and if there is also a breeze you might even feel cold when you are wet. However, if you are wanting the warmth of a hot tub, 90°F will seem too cold and not be really pleasant. And since we have a good idea of what is a comfortable range of temperature, we can say definitely that 90°F is "hot" weather (because it is a lot hotter that 72° which is generally comfortable), but, then, having "hot" weather isn't objectively good or bad either. In some instances it is "good" and in some instances it is "bad." For example depending upon the kinds of plants you want to grow. There has to be the correct mixture of conditions to make it good or bad or something that works or doesn't work for a given situation.
Slocan, BC : Yucca Valley, CA
In music when we have a single note it is neither good or bad, but suddenly when it is played with other notes the proportion of the frequencies between the notes becomes important. It may be harmonious or not, and the succession or combination of the notes played matters. And then, what the whole musical piece is trying to do is important as well. What mood is it trying to set? Sometimes atonal music is appropriate to set a certain mood for a scene in a movie, for example. If the audience is meant to feel unsettled then the music has done a good job and we call it good, but if the tone is meant to be jolly then that music would be bad. So it is subjectively either good or bad for music to sound dissonant rather than harmonious and no single note is good or bad in and of itself. And there is the problem of something good turning into something bad, the notion of "too much of a good thing." We can't even say absolutely that oxygen or water is good in this way. Hypoxia (not enough oxygen) and dehydration (not enough water) can kill a person, however, there is a such thing as getting too much oxygen or too much water that can make those things deadly as well (oxygen toxicity, water toxicity).
In addition to tuning and toning our bodies toward health by engaging with temperance, we also begin to affect what we think, feel and desire, or affect what we might call our tone / tune (both from PIE root *ten- meaning "to stretch). For example if you sometimes fast and sometimes indulge, you will appreciate your food in a different way than if you never fast or always indulge. If a person has not eaten all day, the idea of eating an apple might seem wonderful and be tantalizing, whereas if they were eating high calorie foods and desserts all day the idea of eating an apple might seem boring and unappetizing. In the long run things like stomach size and the microbiome of the gut are affected by how much and what we eat, which in turn effects cravings and mood. So by exercising temperance a person helps to calibrate their desires. We might say we stretch (*ten-) ourselves in either direction to find the place in the middle (in one case we stretch the time between eating, in the other we stretch our stomach). If you know what is good for you, for example, to consume a certain amount of calories per day, then you know it is extreme to consume far less or far more than that amount and especially for extended periods of time and, so you might set some limits on how often or for how long you will engage in such activities. Therefore engaging with temperance is to engage with proper times and seasons, temporibus et temporibus.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;a time to break down, and a time to build up;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;a time to seek, and a time to loose;a time to keep, and a time to cast away;a time to tear, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;a time to love, and a time to hate;a time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV
The OE says of tempus,
But as the root sense of tempus seems to be 'stretch,' the words in the "restrain, modify" sense [*such as temper and temperance] might be from a semantic shift from "stretching" to "measuring" . . . from PIE *temp- "to stretch," an extension of root *ten- "to stretch", with derivatives meaning "something stretched, a string; thin." -temper, OE
We could say Temperance is about proper timing or intervals, the tempo, between different types of actions, namely between the pleasurable and adverse. We do have the saying a stretch of time, so we use the word "stretch" (*ten-) to sometimes mean an interval or length, which can both be measurements.
It is actually natural to connect the idea of stretching with measuring given the history of architecture. In fact the origin of the word temple is said to come from EITHER *temp- / *ten- "to stretch," or *tem- "to cut." And in ancient Egypt,
The stretching of the chord laid out the measurements for a templeBefore they constructed a sacred building . . . the ancient Egyptians would preform a foundation ceremony known as "the stretching of the chord." One part of this ceremony was the laying out of the building's perimeter by stretching a chord between sakes in the ground. -Met Museum
So the stretching of the chord measures out the appropriate parameters (boundaries) of the building. And the notion of *tem- meaning "to cut," is present in the Greek temenos "sacred area around the temple,"literally "place cut off," from stem of temnein "to cut."[OE] And what determines where it is "cut off" from the rest, but how far it stretches?
Although the two root word meanings (of *ten- "to stretch" and *tem "to cut") don't seem to have a lot in common at first, they do actually work hand in had. When you mix (temper) something you may be "cutting" it, like you can cut the harshness of alcohol with a mixer, which also stretches the liquor (you have more liquor left over for the same quantity of beverage), or you can cut the spiciness of a food with a creamy condiment, which stretches the overall amount of dinner you have to serve because you have more, and hopefully the more you have is even improved in flavor, but you can also ruin something by cutting it too much, such as adding too much water to the coffee. This cutting would be stretching your coffee too thin so that it isn't even enjoyable anymore. When we mix two substances together we may dilute one or the other, or contaminate them (such as adding mud to drinking water). So not all mixing is good and not all mixing is bad, it just depends on the desired result and the ingredients and proportions used. Was the mixing temperate? Did it achieve a good outcome?
Halloween Tarot - by Karin Lee, art by Kippling West
"A witch carefully mixes her ingredients. Self control and moderation. A good combination of choices. Make safe decisions, but don't be afraid of trial-and-error methods. Working well with others."
Atum, Tem, Temu [itm(w), tm(w)] was an ancient Egyptian god identified with Ra (the sun) at the completion (tm "to complete, to finish") time of the day, sunset, which we could say is the "autumn" of the day, when the sun is cut(*tem-) off by the horizon and night begins. The sun rising and setting measures the day. It cuts the day into parts, the sunrise, when night is finished, and sunset, when daytime is complete.
Atum-Ra in the form of Mau / míw "Cat,"was said to guard the sacred Ished (iŝd) tree, literally "fruit" tree, the Egyptian Tree of Life, which in this particular story with Mau is identified with the persea tree, from the name given by the ancient Greeks, περσέα, to the Memusops laurifolia [at other times the ancient Egyptian sacred tree is identified with other trees such as the Sycamore].
Mau cuts Apep with a khop at the base of the Persea Tree - Temple of Seti I, Abydos, c. 1290-1279 BC
But since Ra was born each morning from this Nut "tree," we might say that Ra was born from her persea. And in certain funerary texts, such as The Book of the Dead and other Coffin Texts, Ra is said to split (pesesh/psŝ "split, divide, separate") or is splitting (pŝn) the Ished tree each day, defeating the serpent Apep / Apophis (Gk.), so this would literally be the crack (splitting) of dawn, daybreak, when the sun emerges out of the opening/mouth of the eastern sky, or, we could say, from Nut's pussy,
r' - "mouth" , which is an opening
when the night is completed (tm), or is split off / divided (psŝ ) from the day as it was in the beginning.
God saw that the light was good, and he separated [badal] the light from the darkness. Gen. 1:4
Reminding us of the scarab beetle (kheper), the one with a badal "separated" body, or a "split" (*bheid-) crack down the middle of its back between its sheath wings). Called Khepera the morning aspect of Ra, the sun.
Khepri / Khepera / ḫprj — ḫprr [beetle] / ḫpr "coming to be"+ r [mouth] + í [reed leaf] + Ra god determinative
So to complete something can mean to divide it or cut it off, like a movie is complete when it is cut . . . The End. Tem (aka, Atum) "the finisher," completes the cycle of the day (day, night, morning) and emerges as Khepera, by splitting, that is, cutting (*tem-) the world tree, . . . timber! . . . which is identified with the goddess, who is identified with the sky and the cosmic tree (Milky Way), whom Ra enters by way of her mouth at sunset and exits from the opposite opening at sunrise. In the guise of Mau (a form of Ra) slaying Apep . . .
Nut as the Night Sky, Papyrus copy based on late Egyptian temple at Denderah, Getty Images
Mau / míw, is the word for "(male) cat" in ancient Egyptian, but it is said to be given to Ra, in the Book of the Dead, because of a [confusing for us] play on words with the word mi "like, similar, identical," and the word miw "cat." So this could give some clarity as to why there are these images of a "cat" slaying the serpent near the Persea Tree.
We don't have to believe that Ra is actually a cat, he is just being called "Cat." Probably similar to how Jesus is called "The Lamb of God" or the Holy Spirit is pictured as a dove. We aren't supposed to believe that Jesus is actually a lamb, nor are we to believe that the Holy Spirit is actually a bird.
Lamb of God - Cathedral in Florence, Italy (18th century)
Holy Spirit Dove - from center of the wall in the back of the High Altar st St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
These are just ways of illustrating certain attributes belonging to the person or concept. All these stories are metaphors to describe complex subject matter with symbolism. Such as in the Bible how Jesus uses many different parables to describe one thing from various angles. For example, The Kingdom of God is described as both a hidden treasure and a fishing net (among others). So also with the ancient Egyptian stories and "gods," called nṯr (s.) / nṯrw (pl.), perhaps we could say "nature / natures"(instead of our word "gods"), there may be many overlapping concepts, such as Ra being called one name in the evening (Atum / Tem) and another in the morning (Khepera), or being equated with different animals (cat, beetle, ram, falcon) and the sun.
Here is the passage from one translation of The Book of the Dead which explains why Ra is named Mau "The Great Cat."
ir miw pfy aA nty psS iSd r-gs.f m iwnwra pw Ds.f Dd.tw mid r.f m Dd siA mi sw m nn ir.nfxpr rn.f m miw
That great cat {miw} beside whom the ished-tree {iSd} was split {psS/pesesh} in Iunu {iwnw/Anu/Heliopolis}
or, from a different translation,
I am the Cat which fought near the Persea Tree in Anu. . .
This male Cat is Re himself, and he was called 'Mau' because of the speech of the god Sa, who said concerning him: 'He is like (mau) unto that which he hath made; therefore, did the name of Re because 'Mau.'
and another,
I am the Great Cat, who frequents the Persea Tree in Heliopolis. . .
Who is that great Cat? It is Ra himself. For Sau said. He is the likeness (Maȧu) of that which he hath created, and his name became that of Cat (Maȧu)
- page 37., Ch. 17, Sir P. Le Page Renouf, Knt, completed by Prof. E. Neville, 1904
A further hypothesis is added in the footnote for this passage from the Renouf / Neville translation above. It states that the word for cat is also similar to the word "shining" which is said of the sun:
mȧȧu - milk jug in net hieroglyph mi + reed leaf hieroglyph i + quail chick hieroglyph w/u + cat hieroglyph míw = Mau / Ra
mau -eagle and sickle hieroglyph ma + quail chick hieroglyph w/u + sun with rays determinative hieroglyph = "shinning"
But it is also true that to be "like" God is to be "shining" (or a shinning one), so they are all related. [It is clear how much variation and lack of uniformity there is in transliterating and translating Egyptian hieroglyphics to English from these examples. The ancient Egyptian language had a number of sounds which are not found in the English language, and are not simply or accurately represented with the Latin alphabet].
So the one who splits the tree and defeats Apep, is the one "like the ones he made," and this also happens to be like (mi) the word for cat (miw). And this seems to be like (mi) the passage in Genesis where it states,
This is the written account of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them to be like himself. Genesis 5:1, NLT
That God made man to be (miw) "like" himself, after his own likeness (miw-ness). Therefore God is like (miw) the ones he made [*w/u ending is used in hieroglyphics to indicate plural], and they in turn are then able to be reborn from Nut as Ra is. Such as in this utterance:
Recitation by Nut the greatly beneficent: The King[*the deceased] is my eldest son who split open my womb; he is my beloved with whom I am well pleased - Sarcophagus Texts Utterance I
another translation,
To say by Nut, the brilliant, the great: This is (my) son, (my) first born, N[*name of deceased]., opener of (my) womb; this is (my) beloved, with whom I have been satisfied. - 1. Nut and the Deceased King, Utterance 1
A pesesh-kef ritual knife [psŝ "to split / to divide"- kf "flint"], which had a split end, was used in a "splitting" ceremony called, the Opening of the Mouth (wpt-r / wepet-er), which was a ritual enactment of a type of rebirthing process for the diseased.
Atum-Ra as the Great Cat, Mau, was said to "split" pesesh /psŝ the Ished, aka, Persea Tree each morning and was depicted slaying Apep with a knife next to the tree which is a metaphor or parable about the birth of the sun from the sky each day. The sun "splits" the sky as it emerges on the horizon,
which is the sun being born from the goddess who is the sky and who is the tree. As the sun rises above the horizon it is visually separated from this image of the horizon, which consists of the mountain hieroglyph with a disk (the sun) rising from it [as above]. We could say visually that the mountain hieroglyph [ḏw/Dw, below], which is similar in shape to the pesesh-kef symbolizes the moment the umbilical chord is cut. Dw (mountain hieroglyph) is also a component in Dwa "surgical knife." Cutting the chord is an act done after a baby has successfully been born or survived the dangerous birthing process. Before modern times it would have been a major concern that a baby could get stuck inside the birth canal or have an issue with the umbilical chord being prolapsed or wrapped around the baby resulting in the death or great harm to the baby or both the baby and mother. The splitting of the tree and then chopping the head of Apep would symbolized a successful birth when the newborn is fully separated from the body of the mother. So perhaps separated from evil, i.e., Dw "evil" (mountain hieroglyph N26), or triumph over the present danger.
It means that the navel chord of the Osiris N. has been cutAll the evil [Dw] of it is removed - Book of the Dead, Ch. 17, Allen part a, Section 8
The sun then separated from the horizon continues to rise into the fullness of the day. So again, Mau, who is Ra, splitting the Ished tree and defeating Apep can be seen as a metaphor for Ra (god) being born from (splitting), and then being separated (cutting the chord) from, the goddess Nut who is the tree, at dawn. To be similar to this god, Ra, enables one to be born anew each day as he is, thus defeating evil.
Then because Ra is born each day from the goddess this literally makes him the fruit of her womb, and therefore the fruit of Tree of Life, the Ished, which fruit is said in the book of Genesis [3:22] that when eaten gives eternal life. And in the ancient Egyptian tradition, "it [the sacred tree] gave Eternal Life and the knowledge of the Divine Plan, a map of destiny," which would make it "the way(map), the truth(knowledge) and the life" John 14:6, and so be like the body of Christ.
Jesus said to them, "Very truly [Amen, amen] I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. John 6:53
So it is interesting that Nut in fact "eats" this "fruit" each evening, she swallows the disk (of the sun) into her mouth, like a holy communion,
The Blessed Sacrament Displayed in a Monstrance (giving off mad solar vibes) for Adoration
This "like"ness of Mau, also strikes similarity to the archangel Michael [mi "who"+ ke "like" + el "God"]"who is like (miw) God,"
The Latin phrase QUIS UT DEUS? "Who is like unto God?" is upon his shield, from Hebrew מִיכָאֵל
who defeats the evil "ancient serpent" in the Book of Revelation,
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. . . The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. . . Revelation 12:7, 9
So this likeness to god, Mau, defeats the forces of darkness and chaos (isfet) who is the serpent Apep / Apophis. He cuts / chops it with a knife called a khop/ḫp, or we could say "knifes" it, which is to cut (*tem-) it, and finishes (tm) it off, all in good time.
Androgynous looking St. Michael's
(1) slaying a beast wearing a floral headband
(2) Italian school end of the 17th century. . . looking pregnant holding a knife and scales
The home of the Ished tree in ancient Egypt was at the Sun Temple of Atum-Ra in Heliopolis, One word that was used for "house" with the connotation of "place" or "enclosure," and sometimes "temple," in ancient Egyptian is the word pr /per. So it is interesting if we play around with this pr itm / Per Tem "House of Atum" [and there was such called place with this name, i.e., Pithom, from the romanized form of the name in Hebrew taken from Egyptian (pr itm). Its exact location is somewhat uncertain.], if we reverse Per Tem , we get the word tem-per 🙌 ! And since Atum /itm is thought to be derived from the verb tm "to complete, to finish," this would be a house that is complete or finished (so we could say "brought forth, born," therefore, post Per Tem / partum) like a person or thing tempered or exhibiting temperance. Like something in balance, as is a person who has the proper relationship between their parts in the "temple" of their body and is therefore whole and holy. Like paradise. And if we say, a per "house" dice "cut/cubed," it is a house cut off from the rest; a temenos "sacred place, sacred enclosure."
Shadowscapes Tarot-Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
". . . Holding opposites apart from one another denies their power of unity. By drawing them together to merge in a measured fashion, and understanding what one bestows upon the other, a beautiful synthesis can be created. . ." -Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and Barbara Moore
An image of God.
Often times things are heated and cooled in order to temper them. Glass and metals(iron, steel) are heat treated to make them stronger and in the case of glass to make it safer for people to be around such as car windows and shower doors. The experience of heat and cold like a sauna / cold plunge combination is good for a person too. A person who is exhibiting temperance isn't a person who only dwells in the rage of the middle or mild (the temperate). Exhibiting tempered behavior is, rather, the product after engaging with extremes and thus creating a medium or middle that is good. For example, it is healthy to exercise which stresses the body and raises the heart rate to its maximum (extreme) bpm, and to also meditate or sleep which lowers the heart rate and reduces stress. On average, the heart rate will be between these two. To build up muscle mass the muscle fibers need to be torn, that is, used to a breaking point (extreme), then given time to rest and recover. Doing both these kinds of things helps to create overall health in the individual, all of the time. If the person never engages in these more extreme activities health is not achieved. If a person lives life only taking cat naps and never committing to hours of uninterrupted deep sleep, then they won't ever be fully awake and engaged while they are up, but rather sleepy and unenergized. However, if a person has the right balance of sleep and awake time, they can operate at their best. If a person never indulges in good food they may be constantly in the state of craving it, or if a person never indulges in rest, relaxation and recreation they will get get burned out. But if a person always indulges in food and drink and never works or abstains, they will start to feel bad physically and may get dissatisfied and bored with what they have.
For this reason this somewhat unusual interpretation of the Temperance card in the Spolia Tarot is thought provoking,
Spolia Tarot - artwork by Jen May, design by Tara Romeo
This is a card of extremes, no matter what you have heard. It's about the combining of opposites to create something new. Our hermaphrodite (the combination of the male and female into a new body) is standing among monsters, other opposites that have come together to create something new.It's about combining extremes rather than running around between them, going from a rabid meat eater one day to a hardcore vegan the next, or abstinent one day and a drunkard the next. It's about finding a middle spot, not in the sense of moderation but in the sense of holding the tension.
Earlier decks came with other virtues like prudence and charity. Those cards fell out of favor, but we honor Temperance's sisters with the irises that represent the virtues.
-Jessa Crispin, Spolia Tarot, Temperance
It is helpful to highlight this understanding that temperance isn't prohibitive of extremes. And the notion of holding tension "a stretched condition," absolutely pertains to temperance. However the point is to make something well and good (like an image of God), not necessarily to make just anything, like a monster. So, it isn't clear how this card is trying to inform us about Temperance with these figures, or why experiencing extremes is part of temperance. . . or what that orange thing in the background is. 🍊🤔
Yet it is fine to have monsters. 👹 Monsters do have a place in this world. The polar regions and the bottom of the oceans are kind of monsters to us, as are quasars and black holes. Zeus allowed for the children of Typhon and Echidna (who were monsters) to remain on earth so that they could be worthy opponents for heroes. The hero is made in overcoming adversity and defeating evil. Without adversity there is no possibility for the hero (who overcomes adversity). However, monsters as monsters are not creatures that are themselves creatures of temperance. They are, rather, monstrosities, from Latin root monere "admonish, warn, advise". They are more a warning of what happens when you start to get too out of alignment (too extreme). Monsters are the embodiment of a boundary.
It's not clear what we are supposed to think about the hermaphoditic figure in the picture either. Are they a monster? Hermaphrodite comes from Hermaphroditus, the name of the child (a combination) of Hermes and Aphrodite who, in some accounts, was apparently born male and later joined into one body with the female nymph, Salmacis. So these were two separate people, male and female respectively, who were put together, but not born as a single intersex individual. Historically, the term hermaphrodite has been associated with such words as "monster," such as the Old English word scritta said in the Online Etymological Dictionary which was "used to gloss[*explain, define] Latin hermaphroditus,"[OE] and means something like "monster, goblin." According to this article, the word entered the English language generally carrying a negative connotation when applied to humans.
"Hermaphrodite" seems to have entered late Middle English, via Latin from the Greek, . . . When applied to animals, and especially human beings, however, the word usually implied monstrous malformation. This was the case even when it was used in a more figurative sense to describe effeminate men or virile women. . . The Lancet, Hermaphrodite, Jane Seymour
However, in actuality every human being is always a combination of both masculine and feminine qualities and characteristics regardless of their sex or gender. We are all hermaphroditic in that sense. We are all a mixture of these dual polarities. And we are all one thing (humans, man, mankind, adam). We start out as little androgynous embryos until our sex genes (chromosomes) kick in and our organs develop in a particular way around week six or seven of gestation, when at that point we begin to differentiate or we could say we are "separated," however both men and women are made from a mixture of the genetic material of a sperm and egg, and both masculine and feminine individuals produce both testosterone and estrogen, in their bodies, just generally in different proportions. The people who are born as intersex, whom people might think of as being "hermaphrodites" are not different in this respect, they are just more extreme examples in the sense that they are a less typical expression (as a percentage of the population), as well as other LBGQTIA individuals, and so have historically suffered discrimination because of this in many societies. Whereas people who are identified as either male or female at birth and who also identify with that same given sex and gender are less extreme in that they more typical, but at the same time these individuals are more extreme in the sense that their sex and gender expression falls more extremely to the side of one polarity over the other (either the masculine or feminine). However, cases of very extreme polarized gender identification are rare as well, such very manly men who look, act, think and feel entirely in stereotypically "male" ways, or very feminine women, who look, act, think and feel only in the most stereotypically "feminine" ways. Most people fall in a more temperate range.
To speculate about the picture of the orange thing behind the hermaphrodite with the plant on top. . . upon reflection, it seems likely that it is meant to represent a play on the term "hermaphrodite." Instead of a combination of Hermes/Aphrodite, like Hermaphroditus, it is a combination of their Roman counterparts, Mercury and Venus.
(1) Composite picture of Venus from three different missions
The Earth, on the other hand, is an appropriate mixture of yin and yang qualities. Some areas are more extreme than others (polar regions, deserts, etc.), but on a whole it is measured, it is suitable for abundant life. It is not exactly half fire (one hemisphere) and half ice (the other hemisphere). And even though the Earth is always exactly half light and half dark, it is not always light and dark in the same place (like a planet that is tidally locked to its star). Those polarities are just part of the mixture which creates a temperate habitat. In much the same way, even though people generally appear to be outwardly EITHER male or female, the whole gamut of sex and gender expression within the human population is a model of temperance. De todos ha de hater en el mundo. Because each individual person is by their very nature, a unique image of God (who is the exemplar [mȧȧu] of temperate mixture) and this, of course, does not prohibit less usual expressions, such as persons who are intersex, transgender, homosexual, etc.
Yin/Yang, drawing by Wesley Stupar, @WesleytheArch
And then, according to what we know about temperance, it makes the utmost of sense that the image of God, which image is also expressed in all people as one body, would consist of separate images of God having a range of ALL possible combinations, from the most usual to the most extreme, rather than something so absolutely binary and black and white as a world that is always half day and half night in the same place, or the idea of creatures that are made to be entirely and absolutely only male or female without any mixing. In this sense, the "aberrations" who are a split of male/female, i.e., "hermaphrodites," are just part of a complete world of expression.
It is interesting that in Old English, a term used to mean "hermaphrodite" was wæpenwifestre, literally, "penis-woman-who is," which is equated with the term bæddel (hermaphrodite; a person who is divided male and female) which is similar in sound to בדל (badal) "to be divided." If we compare these words to the concept of another similar sounding word, beetle, as Kepera in ancient Egypt, who is the morning aspect of Ra (the sun) who "divides"(badal) /splits the day, not unlike the God of Genesis, then we can say that it is not necessarily a monstrous thing to be to be "divided," or to be a mixture, but rather, it makes one to be like God. For even God (who is represented by the sun metaphorically), has this certain "nature" with respect to creation, where he is born, grows in strength, declines in strength, and dies and must be reborn/resurrected. Whereas, the "monster," i.e., the warning, is Lucifer, who refused to be humbled, and so being an extreme light, then became an extreme "darkness"/evil. . . too hot to handle!
Satan (Lucifer) in his Original Glory - William Blake, 1805
Betelgeuse Star, artist's concept (A) and (B) illustration NASA
Satan, Sitting on a Throne in Hell, AI art generator
Like the star ("sun") of a hell world that never rises or sets, so it never "suffers" the experiences of birth, change, and death with respect to its planet, a Dark Lord whose extreme light and heat scorches one side of the world while, at the same time, the other half freezes in eternal darkness with only an eerie unchanging liminal twilight space between the two hemispheres. Rather than being tempered light and dark, like the God of creation, who will turn the f*uck "off" sometimes, 🌞👁😎 but always comes back . . . and those made to be like him. So, it is clear that dividing the day was actually an act of temperance creating a measured day, rather than creating a monster world that has no "day," but rather eternal day on one side and eternal night on the other. In the same way by separating the two sexes, humanity was tempered, rather than somehow being creatures who are only male or female, or entirely half male and half female, but not a mixture.
Temperance isn't straight up bilateral equilibrium, half yin and half yang. ⚫️⚪️ It is a mixture of the two (and there is always the yang in the yin and the yin in the yang).
In this way we could call the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Tree of Temperance. Rather than existing in an eternal state of equilibrium or stasis, mankind tasted the extremes of goodness (ecstasy) and adversity (agony) and were, in the end, made to be something different by the mixture. In fact they were made to be "like God" [Gen 3:5] in this.
O happy fault, that merited such and so great a Redeemer!
O Felix culpa, quad talem ac tantum meriti habere Redemptorem! - Exultet
That is, a redeemer who dies and is resurrected, so that we being made like him also share in the same resurrection.
For if we have been united together in the likeness [homoíoma] of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, - Romans 6:5 NKJV
So we are like God in the experiences of death and rebirth, which is a type of knowledge (experiential) of good and evil. In God the Absolute, there is no evil, just a perfection of the ALL (both polarities, both yin and yang. . . feminine and masculine, dark and light, conscious/awake and unconscious/asleep, nothing and everything), both the knowable and the unknowable, however, in mortal creatures (God made flesh) who experience time, there is the experience of evil. This is why Yahweh Elohim let Adam and Eve know that they could not . . . should not eat the fruit of "the tree of the knowledge of good [tov/tob] and evil [ra']," for, "in the day" that they ate of it they would die [Gen. 2:17] (obviously, they were not prevented from doing it, but they were warned of the consequences). And what is "a day"?
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends; With the LORD a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. -2 Peter 3:8
As the crafty serpent assured Eve, they did not die immediately, however they did eventually experience death . . . just like God.
Tommaso Masaccio, Brancacci Capel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, Fresco [detail], 1427
The previous card on our "Fool's Journey" is Death XIII. Death takes us to one extreme, we experience a boundary, Temperance as card XIIII takes us back toward life, the space created around and between birth and death, sunrise and sunset, day and night. When we go toward the extremes we gain knowledge. We find what is too much and therefore learn what is temperate and appreciate it. We learn that sometimes less is more and sometimes more is less.
We can tend to idolize the extremes when we haven't been there . . . Like Lucifer, the most beautiful being of light 😇🤗, who wanted to be equal to God . . . by being ONLY Light 👿👎👇. Or like Pinocchio who thought he would be happy if he didn't have to go to school, and that Pleasure Island would be a fun place to live. When we think we will be happy if only we were able to go to an extreme. . . I would be happy if . . . if I didn't have to work . . . . if I had more (sex, drugs, wealth, power, etc), if I were better than everyone else. . . " But once we understand how we feel when we go too far in any direction, we no longer idolize the extremes, instead we know that our only happiness lies in traveling between the extremes in a measured fashion 😅 Jiminy Cricket! 🦗
No polarity is objectively good or bad, however, going too far in the direction of a single polarity is not good, so we sometimes set certain boundaries for our own good. We can get into trouble before we know what is happening like when we drink too much alcohol in a short amount of time and it is more than our body can process. We need to decide in advance how much we can safely drink and stick to that range. . . or we suffer the unpleasant consequences.
Silly Sammy Slick
sipped six sodas
and got
sick sick sick.
-Dr. Seuss' ABC
And hopefully we don't go too far and die, like by testing what mushrooms are good to eat by eating them!🍄☠️
Temperate behavior can conceal experience of the extremes within itself. When we see a temperate person, we do not see their whole history, we only see them acting in a way we say is temperate. When we see a person drinking one soda, we don't see their reasoning behind this decision or see the times when they have made, or times they will make different decisions. And this speaks to a certain problem with how to address temperance with another person. How can anyone be told how to be temperate? Is it simply by mimicking actions that are considered to be temperate? Not necessarily! This is why the father of the prodigal son gave his son his inheritance rather than restricting him. His son needed to see for himself, and thus become temperate through his own experience of the extremes, his experience of pleasure and pain, excess and lack. But the brother who stayed at home was indignant. If there is not a visceral understanding of why the particular actions of temperance are profitable then they won't be adhered to unless by way of force. For example, some people don't smoke because they aren't allowed to, but others don't smoke because they don't want to smoke, or they tried smoking and didn't like it, or they did like to smoke but didn't like the health consequences of smoking so they stopped. We can't really say that the person who is being prevented from doing something is actually acting with temperance.
There comes a time when a person has a certain level of maturity, that they need to be free to experience the consequences of their own choices. We prevent babies from running into the street, and we tell them what they can eat and when they have to sleep, but we don't micromanage the behavior of adults. A person can be forced to practice "temperate" actions, but it is more important what they choose to do when left to their own devices. A person can also freely choose to mimic the behavior of a seemingly temperate person (to act with temperance) in order to grow those muscles, but ultimately to be temperate they will need to acquire the correct understanding, or they risk becoming intemperate again.
Book of Thoth Egyptian Tarot - Alister Crowley
"Vista Interiora Terræ Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem"
So, in this respect, we could say that there is a bit of an art to Temperance,
Art (n.) "skill as a result of learning or practice," from Old French art (10c.), from Latin artem (nominative ars) "work of art; practical skill; a business, craft," [OE]
as there is art to creation itself.
Although the Word of creation is singular it is not simple, it is mutifaceted (multi "faced"), it is fractal (from Latin fractus "interrupted, irregular," literally, "broken"), and holographic (every part is "written in full"). Creation was made not just by creating light, but by separating the light and the dark and mixing them into cycles; days, weeks, months, seasons, years, aeons, etc. Within the cycles creating stars, galaxies, planets. . . a planet suitable for life, life, and human beings. It was a singular act 💥, a separation, a splitting , something was born from nothing, but then a lot of mixing occurred which created a lot of different things from the basic building blocks, i.e., from "nothing" and something, dark and light, stillness and action, down and up. . . Not so unlike a painter creating something extraordinary out of just one thing, i.e., brush strokes, but using and mixing dark and light pigments, using thin or thick lines, this or that placement, etc., etc., to create different scenes and forms.
Even light itself is not singular, but, rather, it is divided into a whole spectrum of colors and frequency of wavelengths, some which are visible to the naked eye, and some that are invisible. It's not all black and white.
Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Gen. 9:14-15
And even though we are each an image God who is the light 😇, there is also a way in which we are divided or broken into a rainbow spectrum of images of that same light.
Who is like God?
