March 23, 2010 - Temperance

I wanted a map from Psyche. I wanted to know where I'm supposed to be going this next stretch of my life. I didn't want subtle signs. I didn't want to search for clues, to rush off like Holmes, the game afoot. I wanted a moment of clarity and I got it. So today I asked what I needed to know to make that map, that vision of my future, a happy reality? And this angel showed up -- Temperance.

This card calls the reader to be temperate, to avoid excess, to find the middle ground, the middle road. I think of Mark Epstein's book on desire and the middle road where we are drawn to life by hungers but not ruled by them. We live not in a state of excess or denial, but in the slender draw of yes, of breath, of beat, of life. The middle road has never been easy for me. I jump in with both feet. I love with every fiber of me. I may be a Libra, but Temperance is not my strong suit. Apparently, it's time to change that.

This card also calls for the reader to maintain his or her balance, to experience harmony, to achieve equilibrium. It calls for the bringing together of opposites, within and without, and foster cooperation. The card asks us to feel centered and secure which requires us to find our center and trust in it.

It is a card of health and healing. It speaks of renewed vigor, of recovery, of well-being. You don't just get by, you flourish. I'm ready to flourish. It's been a long, long time. And I want to trust this health. I don't want to spend my days worrying if another heart attack will come and when. I want to live my life fully, every day.

Joan Bunning writes: "In fact, to temper can mean to modify by adding a new component. By combining and recombining, we come up with the ideal mixture or solution." It brings to mind the alchemical process of life, the combining and burning away, the new combinations which are heated in their turn, over and over, experimenting, living the life of try and try again, of the goal of the Philosopher's Stone, the divine marriage, the fully embodied soul, the well-lived life.

I made myself an angel on that card of my future. Maybe this was my hope, to become the angel of temperance, feet in both worlds of body and soul. Food for thought. As for how it all goes, as always, I'll keep you posted.