The Esoteric Symbology of the Rider-Waite Tarot Temperance By Gary Shook Having passed the gateway of Death the seeker now arrives at Temperance. Before him stands the Archangel Michael, the Angel of Fire, who shall act as guide and counsel for the Fool's journey to come. Michael's depiction here is a natural one, as angels stand as intermediaries between the worlds of matter and spirit. This bridging of the worlds is depicted here by Michael's stance. One foot is on land and one foot in water—the land representing matter and water the spirit. Temperance as a virtue is the taking of the middle path between extremes. As the seeker's path before him is narrow and the chance to fall from it great, he would do well to listen to the counsel offered in this card. While balance is a meaning that can be drawn from this card, its context is different here. This difference can best be seen in the two cups the archangel holds. He is pouring a liquid from one cup to the other, and this is often given the attribute of the balancing of the spirit with the material. An earlier symbology recognized during the Renaissance is the diluting of wine with water. Here one is not balancing the two, but, as the title of the card suggests, tempering them. Symbology Michael is seen as a being that is both of the spirit and of matter. This is depicted by his physical body (as material) and in his solar crown with radiant halo around the head. Another symbology for this is in the square and triangle on his chest. The triangle represents the Spirit as seen in the Holy Trinity. The square represents the material world as depicted in the four Elements, Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, which were seen as the four Elemental building blocks of matter. A key thing to note here is the triangle is pointing up. This is important because it denotes the material is ascending to Spirit, or that the seeker's path is one of climbing up to godhead rather than its descent into him. There are four colors that are important in this card. The background color is gray which represents balance and integration. Michael's robe color is white for spiritual purity, and his wings are red for his Elemental correspondence of Fire. The gold of the sun rising in the background, along with the cups, the triangle, and Michael's hair and solar crown are all spiritual. The irises can be seen as relating to the goddess Iris. Iris is a psychopomp. She helps souls in the crossing from the land of man to the spirit realms beyond by cutting the silver cord to release the soul from the physical body. In the Death card the sun was shown setting between two pillars to the far right of the card. In Temperance the sun is depicted as rising between two mountain peaks. Also note there is a path that leads up to the towers and down from the peaks in the respective cards. As the sun's setting in Death corresponds to that card's ending, the rising sun of Temperance is one of beginning a new process. The shape of the sun in Temperance is that of a crown, and as such depicts the Fool's entry into the spiritual realms.
This is part of a series of articles on the esoteric symbology of the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Dr. Waite spoke to us not in words, but in hidden symbols. Symbols are truly the universal language expressing ideas in a way that, with study and contemplation, all can understand. But this understanding may not be the same for everyone who seeks it. While symbols do speak to all that will listen, they may say different things to different people. To truly understand the archetypal symbology of the Tarot, you must listen to a chorus of voices, not just one. Read as many different explanations as you can on the Tarot, and then the true meanings of the symbols will naturally come to you from within.
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