Sulis
Against a plain, black and white background stands a very beautiful heron. One wing is extended slightly and at it's feet is a ball of flame.. Water seems to drip from the heron's neck into the fire.
Temperance
Temperance is a card of moderation but it's so much more than that.. This is a fire card so it's not inactive, it's a card of action but of moderate and temperate action.. This card usually shows an angel, one foot on water, one foot on land and in his hands are 2 vessels which he pours one into the other.. Sometimes one vessel contains water and one fire, sometimes they both contain water... In decks like the Tarot de Marseilles and in later decks like the Rider-Waite-Smith, the water flows between the jugs on a diagonal; something that's not actually possible since water obeys the force of gravity and flows downwards....
Temperance, like the rest of the Major Arcana is a card of many meanings.
It can caution you to be careful, to be temperate, to use balance and moderation.
It's also a card about taking action to change things (to temper meaning to alter, harden, neutralise or counterbalance something).. Tempered metal is metal that has had it's hardness changed through heat..
This is also a card of alchemy, of mixing different things to get something new. So it's about adding something in, taking a trial and error approach as an alchemist does.. It's about knowing when the time is right to do something or to add something and again, this comes down to balancing ingredients, using care, avoiding adding something in excess.
This Temperance
In this card we have the water and fire mixing at the heron's feet so he could actually be the Temperance angel, the alchemist mixing opposing elements to get something new.
Herons are water birds but they are waders too, straddling both the realms of land, water and air since they are powerful fliers... Straddling different realms, different elements is seen as very magical just as places where different elements meet are magical places.. This fits well with the image of Temperance as an alchemist, using science and magic to find the Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir or Life of the magical formula to turn base metal into gold.
Heron's are associated with balance too - they have long, skinny legs and so they are seen as birds that take balancing very seriously.
I really like this card and as usual with this deck, the seemingly simple symbolism seems to be quite complex once you start to really look at it..
Any more info about herons or anything else to do with this archetype and this particular version of it are extremely welcome .
Temperance
Temperance is a card of moderation but it's so much more than that.. This is a fire card so it's not inactive, it's a card of action but of moderate and temperate action.. This card usually shows an angel, one foot on water, one foot on land and in his hands are 2 vessels which he pours one into the other.. Sometimes one vessel contains water and one fire, sometimes they both contain water... In decks like the Tarot de Marseilles and in later decks like the Rider-Waite-Smith, the water flows between the jugs on a diagonal; something that's not actually possible since water obeys the force of gravity and flows downwards....
Temperance, like the rest of the Major Arcana is a card of many meanings.
It can caution you to be careful, to be temperate, to use balance and moderation.
It's also a card about taking action to change things (to temper meaning to alter, harden, neutralise or counterbalance something).. Tempered metal is metal that has had it's hardness changed through heat..
This is also a card of alchemy, of mixing different things to get something new. So it's about adding something in, taking a trial and error approach as an alchemist does.. It's about knowing when the time is right to do something or to add something and again, this comes down to balancing ingredients, using care, avoiding adding something in excess.
This Temperance
In this card we have the water and fire mixing at the heron's feet so he could actually be the Temperance angel, the alchemist mixing opposing elements to get something new.
Herons are water birds but they are waders too, straddling both the realms of land, water and air since they are powerful fliers... Straddling different realms, different elements is seen as very magical just as places where different elements meet are magical places.. This fits well with the image of Temperance as an alchemist, using science and magic to find the Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir or Life of the magical formula to turn base metal into gold.
Heron's are associated with balance too - they have long, skinny legs and so they are seen as birds that take balancing very seriously.
I really like this card and as usual with this deck, the seemingly simple symbolism seems to be quite complex once you start to really look at it..
Any more info about herons or anything else to do with this archetype and this particular version of it are extremely welcome .