Life Lessons: Temperance
In another of those spectacular acts of synchronicity, this month’s card has been chosen for me. Recently, TABI (Tarot Association of the British Isles ) were approached by the Tarot Guild of Australia. In a very flattering email, the editor of their new magazine, The Wizard, told us that their site has great content, and asked if they had any articles on Temperance. Now, as a contributor I feel flattered. I love flattery, as far as I’m concerned, flattery will get you everywhere. So I am happy to oblige, and to have my Life Lesson card chosen for me and hence I am focusing on Temperance this month.
And it actually happens to be quite an apt lesson, one that I perhaps need to hear. “Why?” I hear you ask, “Is something wrong?” See… I am a little bit psychic after all! But like all good psychics, I am ready to admit when I am in the wrong. So I’m going to give you a little bit of insight into my problem.
As most of you know, we at TABI have been upgrading the system over this last year. We have an amazing new platform, and we have an amazing team of contributors. And until now, I have been blessed. Working as a lone wolf, it was easy. I have to set long deadlines, since I am a traveller, but it has been relatively straightforward and stress free getting everything up and set to publish during my travel breaks. I am proud: of my work, and of the contributors. The posts are fantastic. Thank you all!
And I’m grateful. To TABI for giving me this chance to grow. To Joanne, the webmaster who has done an amazing job of establishing their new platform. Her feats and achievements are largely unsung… but I hear that wave of silent applause travelling around the world of tarot as you read this; and I hope she does too! And to ShrinkingSunflower, who has gallantly helped catch me up on the heavy task of transferring over some of the old posts (a task where my enthusiasm had waned) , and is starting to pick up on some of the new posts too.
But there is a spanner in the works. A new person has jumped into our cosy little team. I am being told to change the way I work. Not asked, but told. And I am not happy with it, since the changes will make my task more difficult. Admittedly, it will make communications with the growing team more transparent, but these are changes we had already started to gradually introduce ourselves.
Therefore I have been resisting this new hand on the reins, and it’s chaffing my mouth. Now, I’m a bit of a stubborn old mule, so if it comes to a choice between having to work harder, or digging my heels in and refusing at the gate if I think the bar has been set too high, then I’m probably the sort of steed who will walk away, and go focus my attention elsewhere. Last year my focus was on learning to use Tarot as a tool. This year it is herbology, and the steady flow of decks and tarot books from Amazon has dried up, and is being replaced with plant reference guides.
So what does Temperance have to teach me this month? This card, from the Paulina Tarot shows a dainty figurine, balancing pirouette style on a diamond. She reminds me of the figurine in the music box I had as a child, turning round and round, gracefully dancing on cue, until I needed to jazz it up a little, and would stick my finger on her so she would stop. But the base would keep turning, so when I would let go, she would spin round even faster, until she caught up… and then I would get bored and close the lid on her. So maybe my disgruntlement is being caused my my need for new challenge, now the blog is running well?
Now here is my lesson to be learned: Temperance holds up her two cups evenly out to each side, with liquids rising up from each (one silver and one gold) and over her head, joining together in healing balance. She brings to mind harmony and serenity. Possibly I am being reminded that the healing process comes when these two apparently very different fluids mingle together. They each provide an equally important part of the final product, and they don’t fight when they come together. Ever flowing, they simply blend in, fitting in with each other, neither trying to change the other, but simply coming together as they are, bringing their own special contribution, and each playing their own part until they blend together perfectly as one. This is a case where the sum is, for sure, greater than the parts.
So it seems I need to learn to compromise too, and welcome the new ingredient as it joins us, rather than expecting everybody else to bend over to accommodate me and my ways. Now I feel quite humbled. The message the Tarot has to teach us is amazing.
And then, to top it off, here’s what the Little White Book has to say:
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