Temperance: tarot meaning, upright and reversed

An angel pours between two cups with one foot on land and one in water.

Upright

integration · measure

Combine different needs through proportion, patience, and repeated adjustment.

Reversed

imbalance · excess

Opposing demands may be poorly mixed; haste can disturb a workable rhythm.

In a reading

The position gives this card a particular task: a description of the situation, a challenge, or guidance. Read its image and meaning alongside the other cards and the question that brought them together.

Golden Dawn correspondence

Zodiac sign: Sagittarius. This is the attribution in Book T.

Sources

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. These notes are original interpretations of the Waite–Smith imagery, informed by that text.