Temperance Tarot Card Meaning

Temperance upright

A winged angel pours water between two cups, one foot on land and one in a pool, with a path leading up to a distant light. Waite reads it as the blending of the inner and outer sides of life. Mix, adjust, and do not rush: small, steady corrections bring the right result.

Temperance reversed

Waite reversed lists disunion, unfortunate combinations and competing interests. Something is out of proportion — too much work, too much spending, too many people's demands. Restore the balance before going further.

A reversed card (What does Upright / reversed card mean?) is one drawn upside-down.

Is Temperance a yes or no?

Upright: Leans yes. Yes — gently and in moderation. The answer favours the patient, balanced route.

Reversed: Reversed, Temperance reads as a gentle no: imbalance, excess, clashing interests.

The yes/no lean is BornClock’s reading convention drawn from the card’s meaning — Waite himself did not assign one.

Symbolism in the Temperance card

What appears in the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith picture, as Waite describes it:

• Water poured between two cups — blending and balancing
• One foot on land, one in water — the practical and the emotional held together
• Sun sign on the forehead — Waite: a link to solar light
• Square and triangle on the chest — Waite: the "septenary", a seven-part symbol
• Path rising to a light and faint crown — Waite: a hint of the highest attainment

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation.

Reversed: things connected with churches and religion; disunion, unfortunate combinations, competing interests.

Source: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910, public domain). Some of Waite’s 1910 fortune-telling meanings are old-fashioned; the plain-English reading above is ours.