Card 14: Temperance

We explore Temperance as a profound threshold card representing spiritual alchemy after experiencing Death, examining how it guides us to let our spirit be an anchor as we hinge between loss and renewal. The card reveals how we merge past and present with awareness, magic, and nourishment to transform into something greater.

• Temperance comes after Death, requiring us to recognize our rawness while continuing forward
• The card isn't simply about balance—it's about alchemizing our spirit after difficult experiences, and how we've been changed and deepened by those experiences
• Our greatest growth often comes after periods of greatest challenge

Links:

Temperance Blog

Numerology of 14: 1 and 2 

Sagittarius Zodiac Sign

Background track is Room for Whatever is Left by Hanna Lindgren

My Links

Join our wolf pack by subscribing to the podcast, leaving a review, and following wolfchildmagic on social media. For personal readings or to attend events, visit wolfchildmagick.com or email wolfchildmagick@gmail.com.

Chapters

• 1:32 Introduction to Temperance Exploration
• 6:00 Upcoming Events and Housekeeping
• 12:05 Death to Temperance: The Transition
• 18:18 Beyond Balance: Redefining Temperance
• 27:17 Numerology and Sagittarius Connections
• 34:54 Three Ways to Read Temperance
• 43:18 Temperance in Popular Culture
• 52:15 Symbolic Imagery Across Tarot Decks

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:46

Hello and thank you for tuning in to the Wolfchild Magic Podcast. My name is Ashley, your Colorado witch, your card slinger, your wild little wolf child, and I am so excited to share in this episode with you today. Wherever you are at, as you are listening to this, I hope you are well. I hope August has opened for you beautifully. We are now in this liminal time where we're not in the height of summer but we're not in fall yet. We just had Lunasa at the beginning of this month, although technically, I believe correct me if I'm wrong that Lunasa is actually seen as an embodied sense through the whole of August because it's one of the cross-quarter days. So we're feeling the shift in the seasons, but we're not at the actual pinpoint of that season change that we get with the solstices and the equinoxes. I could be wrong, though. So, wherever you are at, I hope you are well.

Speaker 1: 1:43

We are going to be doing a deep dive into temperance today, as I've talked about before. These deep dives are an intention from me to you to take your hand and have you go into the thick of it with these cards, to really look at what we're seeing in the images and to read beneath the surface, to go beneath the tip of the iceberg and to really sit in the energies of these cards and see what comes forward. Now we have just gone through death, and I do have that episode, including every episode, from the full up to death. So if you want to start at the very beginning, you definitely can, but today is all about temperance. Now, before we get into temperance, though, if I can ask you to join me in the algorithm ritual and to review this podcast, give me an honest review, to rate this episode, to rate me, rate wolf child magic, and share this podcast with others. That is the best way for this wolf pack to get larger, and it is so appreciated.

Speaker 1: 2:43

I also want to share the upcoming events that we have going on, because if there is one that you can attend and you would like to join my wolf pack, I want you to know where to go, what to do all of the things. So the first is that on the 9th, I have my full moon ritual on patreon. Now, for 15 a month, you get a full moon ritual with me, you get merch, you get discounts, you get a monthly forecast that used to kind of be available to the public, but I would add in one extra card. Now the whole forecast is just for you, babes. So if you are looking to find some supportive connections, you're looking to explore and embrace more of the wild and the witchcraft within you, click the links in the show notes to go to patreon and pledge. Full moon ritual, just to be clear, is available at the highest tier but again for $15, you can't beat it. On the 23rd and then on the last Saturday of the month, I do have my two physical events that are hosted out of my home. Now these are the new moon ritual, where we do an oracle spread. We talk about some modalities, there's always a theme, we write the spread together and then we share in sacred conversation. The Wolf Pack is where we are doing some physical magic together. And if you are looking for, again, a supportive place, but you are in the Denver area, in Conifer, in Evergreen, in an area that is close by, please reach out to me at wolfchildmagic at gmailcom. I obviously do not want to be posting my real life home email or my home address, I mean, on the internet. So if you are looking for this and it sounds beautiful, reach out to me. I would love to talk to you.

Speaker 1: 4:21

The last thing that I want to highlight is that I am now wholesaling tarot decks and selling them both in Rocky Mountain Punk. I have talked about this store till the ends of the earth and I will continue to do so because I love them, but I am now a vendor in there selling those decks. I have hand-picked some decks for them to have on hand for those who want to buy tarot decks in person. I am also getting ready to sell them on my website. So my stock is building. It's a little bit slow going right now just because I can't afford or I don't have the space to buy like 200 decks, so it's a little bit of a process here, but I'm very excited to start offering decks and talking about the ones that I use and I love, and I want you guys to know about them too. So look for that in Rocky Mountain Punk and, coming soon, on my website. All right, all of the housekeeping is done. It's out of the way.

Speaker 1: 5:11

Now let's go ahead and do a deep dive into the temperance card. Before we get into the beauty of temperance, though, we need to back up a bit. We're going to do a little bit of a highlight of how temperance comes in after death. Again, that deep dive is available. I think it's like the second episode down from this one, or the third or something. So go and listen to that for that full narrative.

Speaker 1: 5:34

But just to look at how these two are hinging on each other, when we are in the energy of the death tarot card, we are in the physical act of death and destruction. Now what that means is that so we had the first line of the major arcana, removing the fool. So just cards one through seven, that is the creation line. Then we have line two which starts with strength and or justice and then goes to temperance, and that is the destruction line. And then we move into the third line, starting with the devil, which will be the next deep dive, ending with the world, and that is the evolution line. You can see many different names for these different lines of the major arcana. I think I've seen I know I've seen life, death, rebirth. I think I've also seen like mind, body, spirit or something like. I've seen a few, but this is just what makes the most sense to me.

Speaker 1: 6:32

In the entire second line we have been moving into destruction as an archetype. We have been moving into destruction and death as a process, as a cycle, as an inevitability. We cannot get away from death because life and death go hand in hand. When something is created, something else is destroyed, or the very thing that was created has to be destroyed. So we've done all of that and with death, we now have gone through the physical cycle or the metaphorical cycle of like losing a job or a relationship or something not a physical death, but some form of loss has taken place, even if that loss is an energy, even if that loss is a behavior, a pattern, a state of mind, a way that we approach things, whatever it is okay. So we've done all of that. Going through death it has now happened. Now there is a void, now we come out of that cycle and we have this sense of being really raw and really tender and we're trying to get back up on our feet. We're trying to keep going. But this whole cycle has taken a lot out of us. Right, moving through the second line of the major arcana, moving through the destruction line, is no joke. It is no joke and I am here to tell you that if you are in a space where you have been moving through that baby. You are doing incredible work Because we have just done so much Again. We've been building and building and building, and then, with the death card, the death cycle happens, the destruction happens, the void is made, something has been lost.

Speaker 1: 8:28

And temperance is often talked about in a space of being all about balance and moderation. I'm not going to say that's never part of the equation, but I'm here to push back on that narrative because there has to be so much more to temperance than just finding balance, because if you look at the layout of the major arcana, we are not even done yet with this loss, this void opening, because after temperance we go to the third line, the evolution line, and we start with the devil and then we hit the tower. So we're not even out of this chaos, this frenzy, these forces that are pushing and pulling and these cycles that are just doing all their work on us and we're in some ways just kind of along for the ride because we don't have a lot of control in any of that. And so temperance, in my mind, has to be so much more than just balance, because there's too much energy before temperance with death, with the hanged man, with justice or strength, and then after temperance with the devil, the tower, the star, I mean there's just too much going on for it to just be about like, don't make big decisions this week. You know what I mean, and that is why, in these deep dives, I strive so heavily to really go below the surface with you, because there is so much meat on the bone than just balance and moderation.

Speaker 1: 10:07

So when we look at temperance in relation to the layout, it has to be more than just balance and moderating and not leaning into extremes. Baby, we're already in there, we're already in the extremes. Hello, we are literally getting ready to face down the devil and the tower. We are still in the space of the extremes and I totally forgot to mention this. But please click the link on the blog, because that has all of this information in written form.

Speaker 1: 10:40

I will also, at the end of this episode, be going into the symbolism from all of my decks so we can see similarities and differences in how temperance is depicted and let that deepen how we read this card. I apologize for that. That is usually at the very top of what I say at the beginning of the episode, but I wanted to highlight some of those other things. So click the link, follow along in the blog with us when you are able to do so, because we are again gonna look at the symbolism. There are some links in there as well, but we're already in the space of extremes and temperance is not here to wash all of that away and dilute it down to just being in this space of like simple balance and harmony and mindfulness and not doing anything extreme for a while.

Speaker 1: 11:29

Again, not to say that that's entirely wrong, but there's just to me. I've never liked reading it this way because, temperance, there's just too much going on, there's just too many things happening, we've grown too much from all the work that we've done, and the rest of the major arcana and all the cards that are yet to come are insane. So it just doesn't work. For me it does not work and we see this also in the numerology and in the zodiac sign. That rules temperance. So first, the numerology temperance has the numerology of 14 or 5, and 5 is a challenge number. If we look at the fives in the tarot, they are all challenge cards, but they're also very threshold cards. Fives and temperance have a lot of threshold magic in them because we have to face the situation in front of us.

Speaker 1: 12:29

We can't't deny it. We can't lie about what's going on, especially coming after death. We can't deny how we're feeling. We can't deny that this hurts, that there's a pain, there's an ache, that we're tender, that we're a bundle of raw nerves. We have to approach the situation as it is, approach the honest truth and then say I will rise above this, I will pass this threshold and be greater for it. It feels weird to say that it really does, especially when we look at some things in our life Before we get into the rest of temperance.

Speaker 1: 13:11

I want to highlight this by asking you to think of a moment when you suffered a huge loss, when something big came in, whether it was physical, like you lost a person or a friend or an animal, or there was a metaphorical loss of like a relationship, a dream, a job, a state of being, whatever it is and I want you to think about how much that caused you pain and then how you grew and rose from that pain. And a lot of these things are things that we would never choose. For me, obviously, it would still be my cats. I am still very tender and I ache over that constantly. I'm not better for it that I lost my cats. I would never say that and that's just not true. What I am better for is the fact that that grief could have consumed me. That grief could have turned me away from Grizzly's love, from the love of my wolf pack, from the love of my job, of my family, of my friends. It could have made me the most hard insensitive, stoned off, walled away person, and it didn't. In fact, I am softer because of it. My heart is more open because of it. Because if I stone my heart away from feeling the pain of that, I stone my heart away from feeling the love that I still have for my cats. And that's why I want you to think of something in your life where this has happened, because that is temperance doing its work on us. That's another reason why I can't just read temperances, just balance, because when we emerge from death, from the death card, in so many ways, we are not in a space to even be mindful, to find balance. We're just trying to find our fucking feet again. We're just trying to pick ourselves up, and I feel like it's a pretty big, tall order to ask us to find balance, which is a near impossible task after we've come through death. To me again, that just does not make sense. If we look at the numerology of 14, I really feel like this speaks to what temperance is going to teach us, which is that temperance is all about letting your heart be open and finding this connection into the bigger picture.

Speaker 1: 15:50

The number 14 is a number of expressing personal freedom. This is from the Affinity Numerology website, including independence and self-determination. The number 14 is curious and interested in pretty much everything. Yet the number generally has one or several self-assigned goals. It's easily distracted by other, generally fleeting interests. However, it tends to reorient onto its primary goals after experiencing what the other interests had to offer. A person with 14 and a prominent position in their chart generally is comfortable interacting with others and may become an involuntary leader. As an overview, the composition of 14 is freedom, self-determination, curiosity, wit and conscientiousness. And then from this other website which is linked well, they're both linked, but you get what I'm saying. It says that 14 is a number of communication, networking, the union of opposites and business innovation. The number has an excellent sense of balance and timing. You would say that the right things happen at the right time and you master the subtle art of situational awareness and communication. The 14 in balance is very good at networking, business communication and, at the same time, being very agile. You attract good friends, good deals, fast money and are always in the right place at the right time. You're good at bringing people together and creating harmony between different people and social groups to eliminate divisions and prejudices.

Speaker 1: 17:19

Temperance is here to align us into something bigger. It is not simply about balance. In the short term, it's like you have gone through this huge loss, but do not lose faith, do not give up, do not shy away from the rest of this journey, because all that you have been through is building you up into this space. All that you have been through is moving you and merging you into something bigger than you ever even thought of you, into something bigger than you ever even thought of. And that's where I think the balance kind of comes in is that it's not about us anymore. As we've been moving through the creation line and then through the destruction line, we've seen it how it's not about us, but now, in temperance, we are fully in a space of asking for help, asking for guidance, asking for signs. We are alchemizing into something bigger and, in a way, we still, again, don't have a lot of control over that. But the great thing about temperance is that, just as we've looked at the numerology, where it's all about creating successes and also building bridges, when we look at the zodiac sign that rules temperance, which is Sagittarius, we see these energies as well. So from this article that is also linked, it says Sagittarius is a fire sign.

Speaker 1: 18:48

Known for their adventurous and outgoing nature, sagittarius individuals are guided by their ruling planet, jupiter, which gives them a sense of optimism and enthusiasm for life. Personality-wise Sagittarius people are typically friendly, gregarious and open-minded. They enjoy being around others and they thrive in social situations where they can learn something new or share their own knowledge with others. At the same time, however, sagittarius and individuals can be impulsive and impatient at times, looking for constant stimulation from new experiences. And then this other website says curious and energetic sagittarius are the travelers of the zodiac. Their open mind and philosophical viewpoint motivate them to wander around the world in search of the meaning of life. They are an extrovert, always optimistic, full of enthusiasm and ready for changes. This is a sun sign of individuals who are often preoccupied with mental work, but when they find grounding, they show their ability to transform visions and thoughts into concrete actions and circumstances.

Speaker 1: 19:59

This is going to be so pivotal when we talk about how to apply the work of temperance, because if you still have this zeal for life, this optimism, this sense of wanting to find the meaning behind or the why behind the situation, especially after death, especially after all that we've kind of gone through, and we're still wanting to show up and look at the rocks underneath and see into the details and find the meaning behind these situations, that is where we merge in such a beautiful way and we alchemize our spirits in such a beautiful way that it's not negating death or the loss that has happened, but it's saying I will transform for the better because of this, because to let this consume me is not an option, to let this take from me my sense of wonder, my optimism. My sense of wonder, my optimism, my sense of adventure, the need for freedom, the need to travel this world and to have new experiences and to learn different things that enrich my life. I would never be able to do that if death just took everything away from me and I became a shell. And that is what temperance is here to teach us is how do we keep going and transform, find the meaning and allow things to connect us and move us into that bigger picture, while at the same time recognizing and holding those aches, those pains, those tender spots as part of our truth as well.

Speaker 1: 21:33

The first way that I read temperance is that it is an invitation to let your spirit be an anchor as you hinge between loss and renewal, and the reason for that is because there's a huge liminality to temperance. We are not out of the darkness. We're not out of these destructive forces. We still have a long way to go before we see the light. However, we are in such a better position and we may not even realize it at the time, but with temperance and with death, we are moving into an incredibly deep alignment of spirit, and that is why I read the card temperance as your spirit being an anchor, because, whether you can see or feel it or perceive it or not yet, you're actually in a very deep alignment to your future, perhaps to your purpose, to the path ahead to whatever is happening in your life, perhaps to your purpose, to the path ahead to whatever is happening in your life, but it's it's hard to see and feel that right now, because we're so tender and raw coming out of death and we still have a ways to go.

Speaker 1: 22:44

So there's this liminality to temperance. It's kind of like being on a life raft on the ocean and there's this sense of everything feels dark and scary and we're vulnerable and we've already gone through a huge experience and we're not out of that huge experience. But at the same time, the life raft of spirit, the anchor of spirit, means that we learn how to hold firm amidst the chaos. We learn how to steady our spirit, steady our hearts, steady especially our mind, before we continue the journey ahead, because our mind could be arguing um no, thank you, like I already see the things that are coming. I want no part of that. And heart is over there, like I'm really afraid, and spirit is going. We got this, we got it, we just got to keep going. Okay, let's take a moment, let's catch our breaths, let's anchor, find a sense of support, find a sense of stillness, of grounding. We have to keep going. We can't go back because we've already been through the experience of death and we may not want to go forward, but we have to go forward because we can't stay here, like temperance actually tells us, like we can't stay in this space it's kind of beautiful, but it's only beautiful and that it's setting us up for the path ahead again, in that deep alignment that we may not be feeling or perceiving or seeing, and when we can anchor into the spirit and receive our guides, receive our signs and trust. Amidst all of that. That is where we merge and hinge into something so much bigger, and the bigger hasn't even come in yet.

Speaker 1: 24:29

The next way that I read temperance is that it speaks to merging the past and the present with awareness, magic and nourishment. This is an invitation to cultivate an ability to see into the present moment and the expansive beyond. So in this card we are standing on the precipice of the past and the future. Again. We have already gone through the destruction process. We can't undo that, we can't unring that bell and we can see even further into our past before we got to that space and we might be fighting with some of the truths around that we might be saying I never wanted this to happen, I wish that this didn't happen to me, and yet we're still hoping that things are going to not only get better, but that things are going to move us to the end of this chapter. We're kind of in this space of like. We hope that this comes to an end. We've seen the journey we've already gone through and we raise our eyes towards a hopeful, aligned and wild future.

Speaker 1: 25:42

And so at this present moment, as we stand between the past and the future, we are asked not to find balance again, not to push on this. But it's not about finding balance. It's about cultivating and bringing us into a supportive and aligned space. So that could include balance, but that may include actually taking some very extreme risks or choices. That some people would say that's not temperance and I would fully argue it is because sometimes to deepen that alignment we have to go even further, to the edge cliff, to the cliff's edge. I mean. Sometimes balance requires a very extreme or heightened choice or action or whatever it is, to bring us into what is within the best for us and our wants and our needs. So in temperance, we are asked to bring our awareness to the ways that we are changed and still changing.

Speaker 1: 26:45

Again, we're not done with this work. We are asked to bring the magic, because we now understand that there is this energetic current or undertow to the physical world. We see it how. There's this deepened force that moves with us and between us into all the living things and to the living embodiment of the world itself. We are also asked to nurture and nourish and tend our spirit, because we've been through a lot and if we were just to get up and to just go charging forward, yeah, that is out of balance. We need to take time to cultivate a supportive, rooted foundation. We need to take the time to talk to ourselves, to talk to the divine, to recognize where we still need to surrender, where we need to stand up and dust ourselves off and dry our eyes and do that work.

Speaker 1: 27:48

We are in this space where everything is kind of hinging and pushing into the present moment and then from there we go forward. But we're in that liminal space again, and so here we are, kind of alchemizing and alchemizing and alchemy is going to be a theme that's very present with temperance, because, as we're in this space of suspension, we're not out of the work yet, but we're in a much better space, just like the process of alchemy, where the impurities of base metals are extracted and removed so that the gold may be created. We are removing attachments, lessons, egos, behaviors, patterns or physical things in our world that hold us back. So as we transform, as we've gone through the work already, but as we're kind of in that liminal space with temperance, it is showing us that there is something bigger than us and that we are a part of it. We've learned about the natural laws from justice and the universal understandings that apply to all things. We've learned how to start the process of surrender with the hanged man and then, through this hinge of death, this physical act, temperance is reminding us that we are actually a fingerprint of the divine. And as we surrender into the present moment, that is what allows us, through that humility and through that sense of being humble, to see past the present moment and into the big picture.

Speaker 1: 29:26

The last way that I read temperance is that it speaks to this connection to the divine or the bigger picture, and the space of that moment is held with honor and wisdom, not just for how we get up and kind of keep going, but for how we take a moment to just let the energy wash over us. If you've ever been through I mean mean we've all been through a situation even situations for the good where a significant change was made. With temperance we have a moment to appreciate and to think and to express gratitude and to again kind of catch our breath. It's this pause before the journey begins again. And so, in temperance, we're kind of at this space where, in the present moment, we can finally see the forest for the trees. Not only do we see the forest for the trees, but we realize how beautiful the trees are and how lush the landscape is through which we've been walking.

Speaker 1: 30:41

In temperance, we have this moment where we're again, we're softened and things just kind of plant in us a more appreciative energy or at least a more humble energy that can lead to a very big connection again to the divine, to our purpose, to the journey that we're going to keep going through. Whatever it is. When we get to temperance, it's this pause for us to just be and to just take stock, to root in, to reflect. You know there's that saying gratitude is attitude and like, in a way I kind of hate that saying because sometimes like it, I just don't want to feel that and it's kind of dumb and cliche, but it's also kind of true, like there's a truth to that, that the hardest moments of our lives have made us who we are and when we practice gratitude. It's not dampening the pain, it's not lessening the hurt, like if I was to just use me as an example. Again, when I look at my cats, there's still so much pain around that. The gratitude which softens my pain is the memories that I have of them and the love that I have of them and the ways in which they made me a better person, and I'm grateful that I got as much time with them as I did, and it wasn't enough, but I could have five lifetimes with them and it wouldn't be enough.

Speaker 1: 32:12

The lesson of temperance is that we are forged in the fires of adversity and we come out stronger and more resilient. Temperance teaches us that our spirits are ready. We are wild spirits and we have always been ready to grow and to evolve and to reclaim and to do the work that we need to do on the deepest of soul levels to help ourselves. And certain things happen we can't control. What we can control is how we approach the next phase of this journey, and it isn't something outside of us that moves us into our evolution. It is the internal understanding and wisdom we have gained that points us home to that aspect and to that fact.

Speaker 1: 33:00

Temperance from pop culture. I'm also going to put a poll up or one of the questionnaires up on my Instagram stories and I invite you to share where you have seen these themes from movies, from books, from music, from whatever it is. I think that this is a great way to learn the tarot is to see where these references are made in real life or in stories that really move us. I shared a video of one on my blog because I think it so fully speaks to this and, shocker. It is from a movie that I do not like at all, but we will get to that.

Speaker 1: 33:45

The first instance that I want to highlight and share is from the Lord of the Rings, when Frodo says to Gandalf I wish the ring had never come to me, I wish none of this had happened. And then Gandalf says so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the ring, in which case you were also meant to have it, and that is an encouraging thought, the reason why I think this speaks so beautifully to temperance is because, on one hand, when we look at what Frodo is saying, I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. That goes back to what we were talking about, about moving through that destruction and that death cycle, and that's already happening to Frodo, dear thing, he's just the sweetest little character.

Speaker 1: 34:43

But the hobbits were not accustomed to seeing this level of violence, to being warriors like this, to seeing this evil in the world. The hobbits, before this happened, like the worst thing that happened to them was getting caught stealing farmer maggots crops, you know what I mean. They lived in such a little bubble and on one hand that's beautiful. If all you do is sing and drink beer and eat food and sleep and you know smoke pot, I mean that's kind of a cool ass life. But at the same time there's no growth in that and that is why when Bilbo comes back and then Frodo comes back, they're kind of outliers in the Shire now because they have been tainted in some ways by the darkness, but they've also been touched by that much bigger picture.

Speaker 1: 35:37

So bilbo, and then frodo and sam and mary and pippin come back and they are deepened from this experience that they've had, and not entirely in the best way, like frodo has the wound from weathertop and he will bear that the rest of his life. And they have seen this evil in this world, which means that they can't pretend that it doesn't exist anymore, whereas the rest of the hobbits would never eat, would never fathom of saying yes to this journey and going on this adventure, because who would say yes to that? That's insane, that's unfathomable to them. And yet these characters of Frodo and Sam and Bilbo and Merry and Pippin show that radical acceptance means that, yes, we become deepened in ways that we didn't choose and we didn't ask for. And Frodo even says that he's like I wish this didn't happen, because he wants to be the old Frodo. He wants to go back to just running with through Hobbiton without a care, and the worst thing again is just these very small little inconveniences. And now he is facing evil and violence and death and destruction on such a huge level and he wants to go back to the old Frodo where these thoughts were never there.

Speaker 1: 37:01

But Gandalf, who is one of the greatest characters like and by greatest I mean the most powerful comes in and says you know, it's okay to feel this way, so do all people who go through this, but but that's not for them to decide, meaning like we don't get to choose at how life comes in on us and all that any of us can choose is how we take the time that is given to us and make it count. We make it count by recognizing there are other forces at work in this world, not just the will of evil. So when Gandalf says that to Frodo, he's saying the force of the divine is with you too. There are forces of good with you, frodo. You have the force of your friendship and of this fellowship. You have the force of carrying the light and of changing the course of this world. You have the force of radical acceptance, which is a strength that even many of the most powerful characters in that pantheon do not have. And then, of course, we go on to lose Gandalf, like not too long after that. So it just kind of keeps getting worse for sweet Frodo.

Speaker 1: 38:11

But in this moment I think it just so beautifully highlights what temperance is speaking to of like. This has happened. We're not the same. And now? What do we do? Now we recognize where we have been changed, deepened in ways we did not want or did not ask for. But we also see where the good and the divine are with us, and that is what gets us through and that is what makes us get up and keep going on this journey. So the second example of temperance showing up in pop culture is from a movie I don't like, but I had to share this because it speaks so beautifully to temperance, and that is from the Wizard of Oz. So I'm going to play you a little audio clip and then we're going to talk about it.

Speaker 2: 39:01

You've always had the power to go back to Kansas. I have. Then why didn't you tell her before? Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself. What have you learned, dorothy? Well, I think that it that it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Anne, and it's that if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard, because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with. Is that right? That's all it is. But that's so easy. I should have thought of it for you. I should have felt it in my heart. No, she had to find it out for herself.

Speaker 1: 39:53

now, those magic slippers will take you home in two seconds I think this clip so perfectly speaks to temperance and it touches on something that we haven't talked about yet. But in this clip, you know, glenda tells her that she's had the power to go home this whole time and scarecrow's like why didn't you tell her? And glenda goes I because she wouldn't believe me. And that's really at the heart of this clip was that dorothy had to go through this journey, through the good parts of it, through the bad of it. She had to learn the harsh truths of herself and of the power that she really holds. She had to learn the harsh truths that, like the Wizard of Oz, is a complete fraud. And she had to go through all of that and learn the lesson in the reflection, like look at all the things that I've done. I was pushed, I was tested and I came out stronger than before. And so when we get to temperance, it's not enough for someone to just say you know, you've been through this experience and you're connecting into something bigger. Just take some time and see how you're doing that, and do that With temperance. It is a card of self-discovery, it is a card of alchemizing, of connecting to the bigger picture, of connecting to the rebirth of ourselves after we've gone through hard situations. But we can't just have someone teach us that, like riding a bike or learning a second language. We have to experience that and then see where we have merged, where we have connected to deeper parts of us, because the journey forced us to Temperance is also a deep, deep card of self-discovery for that very fact. So those are the two instances for pop culture references that I have. There are so many more. I will have that Instagram poll up for you to comment and share the reference that speaks to you.

Speaker 1: 42:11

I will briefly mention one as we get into the card images, which we're going to do now, but I definitely encourage you to let pop culture teach you how to read the tarot. It's one of the best ways to read, in my opinion, because it's not simply memorization, it's connecting the dots of where we see these cards embodied, starting with Angel, of Alchemy and Swan. We have here this beautiful swan that's moving kind of off of the shoreline in the background and moving towards the water, and it carries the symbol of the triangle, which is the divinity, the holy trinity mind, body, spirit around its its neck. But swan speaks to connecting to the elements of air, water and earth and we need to kind of have that sense of divine trinity within us, because we need the air to see with clarity, we need the water to lean more deeply into intuition and into the emotional processing of the journey that we've been on, because that's where some of the deepest reflections and teachings are going to come. And we need the element of earth to take steady, mindful steps going forward towards that integration, towards that which we're trying to do, which is again connect to the bigger picture, as we will see once we finally get to the world. So we have here a beautiful representation and I just love the spirit animal tarot deck it is so gorgeous.

Speaker 1: 43:41

Next, we have temperance from the grimalkin's curious cat tarot. We have this adorable white cat standing at this threshold where this gentle stream is meeting kind of the turbulent raging ocean, and then we have this abundance of fish that's kind of moving between the two and it's kind of precarious. There's kind of an edge here and that shows the impermanence of temperance, that it's not meant to be something that we stay in in perpetuity, but we have to kind of take what we can from the situation, take the abundance that is there and then move forward, find gratitude and peace in the moment and let go where we need to let go. That's how we grow. And then from the shadowscapes tarot, we have the essence of both a phoenix and a dragon coming out of this orb that this angelic being is holding. The minute that I saw this image, it made me think of Inside Out where, after Joy and Sadness, finally get back to headquarters after they've been on their own journey. And the memories that Riley has now are neither just yellow joy or blue sadness, they're the together like kind of the bittersweet memories.

Speaker 1: 45:00

And again, that is a perfect example of temperance, just showing that the pop culture references just abound everywhere. From the Hush Tarot we have a reference here to the need to be authentic, as we've talked about. We see this woman removing the mask of the raven and she sits in the company of this finch or this swallow. And there is a need, with temperance, to remove the facades, face the future head-on with authentic eyes, while listening to those who support, who love us, who are our familials, you know, who are in our wolf pack, because we still have a journey to go through and those things will see us through the times ahead and help us remind and return to that sense of self-discovery and that connection to the divine that we've cultivated in this space of self-discovery and that connection to the divine that we've cultivated in this space From the herb captures tarot.

Speaker 1: 45:58

We have the first kind of reference here to the traditional symbolism of temperance, which is where we have kind of two separate entities, two parts, two polarities. Like in the Rider-Waite, it's two different cups and an angelic being is pouring one cup into the other, but the way that it's being poured is not physically possible because it's diagonal, showing the alchemy, but it's also showing it's the metaphor of bringing the polarities together. So here, with the herb crafter's tarot, we have camellia, which is the plant used to create tea. We have the dried herb and then the pot of tea, the water, and that's where the equation of temperance is Bringing the magic of both together to create something even better than themselves. Different things come together and create an outcome better than the sum of their parts.

Speaker 1: 46:45

From the mystical dream tarot, we have this woman tending this garden and she's connecting to the alchemy of the elements in order to turn this hard soil into something that can grow all of these beautiful roses. What I love here about this depiction is that we have this sense of the journey is still coming, with the mountains in the background, and mountains mountains are always a symbol or not always, but often a symbol of something needs to be overcome. There's something that is calling us to rise into this challenge. And yet here, this woman is kind of taking pleasure in the simplistic, and this garden still transcends past her because it's going to bring pollinators, it's going to bear fruit, it's going to grow things and it interconnects the living force that permeates through everything. So I really love this depiction for that fact. Moving on to the Bird King Tarot, we have the moose nibbling on the Emanita muscaria mushroom, which is a poisonous mushroom that was used in careful, balanced doses by Siberian shamans to achieve a high that helped them connect to the divine. What I love here in this image, or at least in the implication, is that there's a sense of knowing your limits, there's a sense of knowing where the limitations are in a situation, and that goes back to that balance. But I think it speaks more to a sense of sometimes our limits will allow us to stretch past what would be considered balance, but that still creates a balance, because that's what we need From the Nightmare Before Christmas tarot, we see Sally creating one of her infamous brews, speaking again to how two different things come together and make something bigger than the sum of their parts, with that little smoke or aroma poof of the skull coming up.

Speaker 1: 48:42

From the Darkwood tarot, we see the horn being or angel mixing these cups of water, the life force of life and and again it's kind of in this way that would not happen if it were not magical. It doesn't make physical sense and the cups represent the polarities of life and we stand in in between those polarities and that liminal space is where the magic is found, and then we use that magic in order to go forward. The tower awaits in the distance, but for now we need to kind of pause and understand and then merge. From the Tarot of Dragons. I love this depiction because we have the dragon, with the element of air, pouring a cup of water into one that is being held by the turtle, which is the element of earth, and then we have the water very present in there. So again, we have a lot of elements here in this depiction or in this card, but especially air, water and earth is so important because that is how the building blocks of nature and growth are really made. So I love this depiction here.

Speaker 1: 49:55

Temperance from the Wild Unknown shows the heron, and what I want to highlight here is that herons have a symbol, or are a symbol of self-reliance, patience, transformation and wisdom and wisdom and all of these things are needed to approach our past for lessons and understanding, but also for our future, to create and manifest what we want and what we need. The frog from the guardian of the night tarot is balancing halfway in and out of the water, so she is nourished, but she's also grounded and stable. The crow tarot shows the very traditional iconic symbol or reference that we see in the Rider, waite and stuff, where the crow is standing with one foot on the earth, one foot in the water, pouring the cups from one to another, recognizing where we need to be grounded but also let go and surrender into the flow of life and there's that ebb and that flow and the wisdom that comes with that. And then, finally, we have temperance from the Astara Tarot. This is one of my personal favorites because it shows this woman holding this box, which is kind of the box of life, and hinging at this box there's all prey animals, you know, on one side kind of flowing in and out, and then on the other side is predator animals again, those polarities, showing up and speaking to how. This is where life and magic is found in the space of the both, and that is the episode.

Speaker 1: 51:23

Thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate it and I hope that this episode did help you in learning how to deconstruct some of the narratives that we see associated with this card and look at it from a much broader and deeper perspective so that when you pull this card forward in either your own readings or in readings that you do for other, it has just so much more weight and breath and life given to it. Again, it's truly a beautiful card. I would like to thank my patrons Deb Guy, bobby McDermid, lisa Zimmerman, nicole Smith, tracy Lanham, kim Hartnett, chris Rhee, Miranda Snow, colleen Toohey, charlie Ruggles, shannon Konendyke and Makai Rose. Thank you all so much for your support in me and in Wolf Child Magic. It is so appreciated and until next time, my dear listener, take care Bye, thanks for watching.