Milfoil
http://www.mary-el.com/14.html
This is the first Temperance card which has allowed me to really understand what temperance means to me. It is such a departure from every other temperance card I have ever seen and particularly from the typical RW that finally it made sense.
Temperance or moderation has been a part of every spiritual system from the beginning of human experience. Fasting and feasting are all part of this but beneath is the very human ability to override our animal instincts and urges, to 'temper' our actions and in this card we see just that. The raw, primal, instinctive and predatory urge of the tiger to hunt out and eat what it wants, when it wants it but in this image it is out of it's place, swimming through the cooling waters which so go against the instincts of most cats (but they can do it). Steam rises from his back, there is always a trade off, an energy released or a new balance found and in the distance, a small flock of birds (to me) represents the flight of or freedom attained from this mastery of the basic instincts.
This is the first Temperance card which has allowed me to really understand what temperance means to me. It is such a departure from every other temperance card I have ever seen and particularly from the typical RW that finally it made sense.
Temperance or moderation has been a part of every spiritual system from the beginning of human experience. Fasting and feasting are all part of this but beneath is the very human ability to override our animal instincts and urges, to 'temper' our actions and in this card we see just that. The raw, primal, instinctive and predatory urge of the tiger to hunt out and eat what it wants, when it wants it but in this image it is out of it's place, swimming through the cooling waters which so go against the instincts of most cats (but they can do it). Steam rises from his back, there is always a trade off, an energy released or a new balance found and in the distance, a small flock of birds (to me) represents the flight of or freedom attained from this mastery of the basic instincts.