Carla, thank you for pointing out this deck to me. I hadn't known of it, I've been out of the ritual magic scene for quite awhile, but I love the Golden Dawn synthesis. The Cicero's version is the best I have seen - I'll have to get it!
In the Portal ritual, two images of the Temperance card are shown - one called the "Early Form" and one called the "Later Form". The early form is the alchemical one, a woman with a 5 pointed crown with the eagle and lion, and scorpion and goat, mixing fire and water in a cauldron. The later form is (more or less) the traditional one of Temperance.
This diagram of the layout of the Temple for the ritual shows their placement behind the altar (and behind the Hierophant) to the East (top middle, Path of Samekh (25th Path))
(from Crowley,
The Equinox, vol. 1 number 2, page 285
http://fr.scribd.com/doc/115726184/Aleister-Crowley-Equinox2 )
The meaning of the Early Form is described -
"The Hierophant Inductor shows the Philosophus the 14th Key of the Tarot.
The more ancient form shows us a female figure crowned with a crown of five rays symbolising the five Principles of Nature, the Concealed Spirit and the four Elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. About her head is a halo of Light. On her breast is the Sun of Tiphereth. The five-rayed crown further alludes to the five Sephiroth of Kether, Chokmah, Binah, Chesed and Geburah. Chained to her waist are a lion and an eagle, between which is a large cauldron whence arise steam and smoke. The Lion represents the Fire of Netzach, the Blood of the Lion; and the Eagle represents the Water of Hod, the Gluten of the Eagle; whose reconcilement is made by the Air in Yesod uniting with the volatised Water rising from the cauldron though the influence of the Fire beneath it. The chains which link the Lion and the Eagle to her waist are symbolic of the paths of [Nun] and [Ayin] , Scorpio and Capricornus as shown by the Scorpion and the Goat in the background. In her right hand she bears the torch of solar fire, elevating and volatizing the Water in Hod by the fiery influence of Geburah; while with her left hand she pours from a vase the waters of
Chesed to temperate and calm the fire of Netzach."
The description in the Ritual as published by Israel Regardie et al. seems to combine elements of both versions, without stating explicitly which is which.
See e.g. pp. 11-12
http://api.ning.com/files/kcdwAksco...l/TheCompleteGoldenDawnSystemofMagicVol.7.pdf
The Portal ritual symbolizes the passage from the First to the Second order, the doorway to the "Vault of the Adepts" of the next grade, Adeptus Minor, 5=6. The four grades from Zelator to Philosophus each represent an element, Earth, Air, Water, Fire. The Portal ritual symbolizes the equilibration of all of these, their sublimation into the element of Spirit, hence the alchemical language and Tarot imagery for the Path of Samekh from Yesod to Tiphereth. The Path of Samekh is the direct way, between the Paths of Nun and Ayin, which are Death and the Devil in the Tarot, and are present in the ritual diagram above.