Upright
Two things combined in the right proportion. Patience, gradual adjustment and the avoidance of extremes.
Major arcana 14 · Fire
Temperance
Reversed
Excess or imbalance. Something has been overdone, or two elements that will not mix are being forced together.
ArcanaMajor
Number14
ElementFire
PlanetJupiter
Yes or noMaybe
Keywordsbalance, moderation, blending
Where it sits in the sequence
The major arcana run 0 to 21 as a progression — the Fool's journey from unguarded beginning to completed cycle. Card 14 falls in the middle stretch, where the outward journey turns inward and gets tested.
The image
What is on the card
A winged figure pours liquid between two cups, one foot on land and one in water, an iris growing nearby and a crown of light on the horizon.
Every detail in the Waite-Smith deck was placed deliberately by Pamela Colman Smith in 1909, and reading the picture usually gets you further than reading a keyword list. Notice what the figure is doing, where they are looking, and what is behind them.
Temperance in love, work and health
In love
Patience and gradual blending of two lives. Compromise that works.
In career and money
Moderation and steady adjustment. Neither rushing nor stalling.
In health
Balance, moderation and healing that takes the time it takes.
Reading it in a spread
A card means different things by position. In a past-present-future layout, Temperance in the past describes something already worked through; in the future it describes a direction rather than a fixed outcome.
Read it against its neighbours rather than alone. Two cards from the same suit intensify each other; a major arcana beside a minor tells you the situation is larger than the everyday.