Ah, Iris, the lovely Goddess of the rainbow! I have to admit, Temperance is my favorite card in the deck. The rune is wunjo, the rune of joy. The astrological sign is Sagittarius, the teacher of truth, enthusiasm, tolerance & beauty.
The angel is actually a hermaphrodite (the child of Hermes & Aphrodite), showing a balance between the sexes.
The triangle inside the square on her (it's) robe represents the female (triangle. trinity. Goddess) being protected by the natural law. Remember Justice had the circle being protected by the law. Temperance is protecting the woman. (Hmmm.. maybe that's why I like this card so much) :-)
The cups are the sub & super conscious again. The water flowing between them is actually going from the lower cup to the higher one, signifying raising from a lower plane to a higher one.
Notice the path in the background, again leading to the sun.The flowers are Irises, of course, sacred to the Goddess of the rainbow. The angel has one foot on dry land (the material world) & one foot in the water (the watery place of the emotions) again symbolizing the balance between logic and the emotions.
Invoking Iris in your meditation can assist you in integrating two or more important issues in your life. She can assist your process of experiencing your life as an art form that is both tempered & balanced.
ASSIGNMENT:
Your goal is to integrate the important issues in your life. Are there a couple of issues that you feel are not related to each other? Sort thorough the deck, face up, and pick a card for each one of these issues.
For instance, if you feel your love life and your work life are totally unrelated to each other, you may pick the Lovers card and the 3 of Pentacles. Pick the cards that represent these issues to you.
Now, ask Temperance to show you a way to integrate these areas of your life and make your life more tempered and balanced.
Shuffle the deck and lay out one card under each card you picked, then lay one more card out between the two issues.
Look at the cards you laid out for each issue. what does it tell you about the issue? It should give you an added insight into the situation.
The last card should tell you how to join these situations in a healthy manner.
ALTERNATE ASSIGNMENT:
Look at the symbols on the Temperance card. (Tell us what deck you are using), and tell us what those symbols mean to you in your life right now.
