According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, Temperance is described as the following:
A winged angel, with the sign of the sun upon his forehead and on his breast the square and triangle of the septenary. I speak of him in the masculine sense, but the figure is neither male nor female. It is held to be pouring the essences of life from chalice to chalice. It has one foot upon the earth and one upon waters, thus illustrating the nature of the essences. A direct path goes up to certain heights on the verge of the horizon, and above there is a great light, through which a crown is seen vaguely. Hereof is some part of the Secret of Eternal Life, as it is possible to man in his incarnation. All the conventional emblems are renounced herein.
So also are the conventional meanings, which refer to changes in the seasons, perpetual movement of life and even the combination of ideas. It is, moreover, untrue to say that the figure symbolizes the genius of the sun, though it is the analogy of solar light, realized in the third part of our human triplicity. It is called Temperance fantastically, because, when the rule of it obtains in our consciousness, it tempers, combines and harmonises the psychic and material natures. Under that rule we know in our rational part something of whence we came and whither we are going.
Your card today shows an androgynous angel pouring a mysterious substance between two large goblets. This is the Temperance card, and it is all about balance: the angel is balanced between the genders, the substance is poured between two cups, and the feet are separated with one on water and one on land.
The Temperance card “tempers, combines and harmonises”. So, if we are invoking the Temperance card in our own life, we are being summoned to consider the balance in our days. There are many areas in our life where we can aim for balance, but today, let’s think of the substance in the angel’s cup as the substance that fuels our bodies: food.
Nutrition is a concern in our life every day, multiple times a day. Ask yourself today if you are taking the time to make sure the food with which you nourish your body is meeting your needs.
Balancing Our Nutrition
When it comes to finding balance in our nutrition, we might think of a healthy eating pyramid. A pyramid like this explains how many grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, proteins, fats, and sugars we should be eating daily, and how much we should have of each type of food in order to balance our diet.
These pyramids have changed over the years, with the amount of produce growing to outweigh the number of grains, and substitutes for dairy and meat being added to the rankings. With so many different nutrition schemes out there, it may be best for you to think of nutrition pyramids not as prescriptions, but as guidelines.
You likely know instinctively about how much of certain types of food you should be eating for your nutrition. If you are a vegetarian, then you wouldn’t be consuming meat, but you would still need to make sure you had enough protein sources to balance out that need in your diet.
Similarly, you know when you are treating yourself on occasion with something decadent or indulging consistently in an unhealthier pattern of eating.
To work on balancing our nutrition today, we can start by being mindful of what we are putting in our bodies. Before you eat each meal today, ask yourself if you are checking off the food groups that you know you should be including. Are you getting your healthy fats? Your proteins and veggies?
When it comes to grains, are you picking whole wheat over more processed white bread options? Whole wheat can help fill out your vitamin and mineral needs for the day.
If you have any doubts about whether you are meeting your nutrition needs, consider making an appointment with your doctor and discussing if you should go for a blood test. A blood test can help you check up on how your body is doing. If you find out that any of your stores of nutrients are lacking, you and your doctor can make a plan to move forward with vitamins or targeted healthy eating strategies.
Finding Your Temperance Today
Temperance is about moderation, and moderation operating on a spectrum between extremes is what gives us balance. Remember to stay thoughtful today. The choices of balance that you encounter may not be extreme—you may not be offered one option between a slice of chocolate cake or a carrot—but you can still keep balance in mind.
If you are the angel on the Temperance card, imagine that one goblet contains veggies and the other treats. The substances in both goblets make up the food we eat in our day, but we get to choose how much liquid from each goblet goes into the mix. So make your mix one of temperance today.
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