The Temperance Tarot Card Meaning – Love, Money, Career, and Health


Temperance (XIV) tarot card is the fourteenth card in the Major Arcana. Its meaning is about balance, peace, and patience. It’s about blending opposites and achieving unity. 

When it appears in a tarot reading, it is a sign to get in touch with who you are and what you value. Now is a fruitful time to solve your aspirations and set yourself goals. 

Temperance tarot card visual depiction and symbolism

The Temperance tarot card depicts a harmonious scene where the central character is an androgynous angel pouring liquid from one cup to another. The angel stands in front of a pond, one foot on the shore, and one foot in the water. 

  • The whole scenery resembles peace, harmony, and balance.
  • Pouring water from one cup to another is symbolic of balance and life’s flow. 
  • The white robe with a triangle on the chest symbolizes union and healing.
  • The gesture to have only one foot in the water implies caution. 
  • The versatile background of lush vegetation, blossoming flowers, rich lands, and rocky mountains represents life’s ‘highs and lows.’ 

Temperance Keywords 

Before jumping inside the Temperance tarot card meanings in love, money, and health, let’s look at the keywords related to this card.   

Upright Keywords: Balance, moderation, patience, positive confidence

Reversed Keywords: Imbalances, excess indulgence, need for re-alignment

Temperance Tarot Card Meaning – Upright 

When the Temperance tarot card is upright in a reading, it symbolizes moderation, patience, harmony, and positive confidence. It suggests that now is the time to patiently observe all perspectives and take the middle road. Quick judgment and responding with emotion will not do any good. 

Love and Relationships

Temperance suggests patience, moderation, understanding, and taking the middle path in love and relationships. 

If you are in a relationship, now is a fertile time to examine your actions, beliefs, and views with one another. Listening and attempting to understand each other will take you towards harmony and balance. By working together, you can resolve the issues that have kept your relationship back. Temperance is also a great reminder to appreciate the differences and opposites in each other. By blending them together is what makes the relationship rich and exciting. 

For those that are single, Temperance suggests seeking moderations and balance in all areas of life. When you are in harmony with yourself, it will be a fruitful time to find love. Temperance also encourages you to go for it if you have someone at sight. Hopefully, its appearance will give you a healthy gain in confidence to do this. The worst thing that can happen is that you are turned down. The upside is that you will finally know how the other one might feel about you, and you can move on. 

Money and Career

In money and career readings, Temperance reminds us to be observant of all perspectives and avoid extremes. It also gives you a positive boost in confidence. Its appearance marks a perfect time to think about your ambitions and set yourself goals. 

Make sure your professional and personal life are in balance. Don’t go to extremes with your work, and ensure that you have time for family, friends, and hobbies. Temperance also encourages involving a diverse group of people in your work projects. Everyone brings different skills and views to the table, which can result in a powerful combination. Blending opposites will result in unity. 

Regarding money, Temperance calls for moderation. Now it will be wise to avoid massive investments, extravagant vacations, or unnecessary spending. Make sure your income and expenditure are in balance and your assets are diversified. 

Health and Spirituality 

Also, in health and spirituality readings, Temperance denotes moderation. It is an excellent sign of balance of well-being with your mind, body, and spirituality.  

Regarding Health, Temperance can indicate that you are in perfect harmony with yourself at the moment. Alternatively, it can be a sign that you should seek balance with your mind and body. At this moment, it is wise to avoid extremes in exercise and diet. Moderation is the way to go. 

Regarding spirituality, Temperance reminds you to have patience and observe all perspectives on your spiritual path. Take everything in slowly and digest it well. Taking things slow will allow you to unlock your spiritual questions and will enable you to grow spiritually. 

Temperance Tarot Card Meaning – Reversed

Temperance tarot card reversed reveals that something is out of balance and possibly creating stress. It acts as a yellow flag to restore balance and moderation as soon as possible. When you receive it in a reading, evaluate honestly how things are at the moment. You should ask yourself, are you acting recklessly or letting temptation take you on the road of overindulgence?  

Love and Relationships

Temperance reversed meaning in love, and relationships can indicate that you are opening up too much too soon to the people you’re interested in. Nobody likes playing games, but you have to play it cool a bit, especially in the beginning. Unfortunately, there is a danger that the other person starts thinking that you come off as desperate when you are enthusiastic. Don’t force a relationship before you’ve gotten to know someone properly. Patience is the name of the game when looking for love.

For those in a relationship, Temperance can suggest that your expectations and desires are not in balance with your relationship. This can be causing some friction in your relationship. It is important to remember that nobody is perfect, and our expectations should be reasonable. 

Money and Career

When the Temperance is reversed in a career reading, it is a sign that something is out of balance right now. Your professional life is not flowing as smoothly as you had expected, or something just feels off about your current path. You should listen to your inner voice and make the needed adjustments to get back on track again. Remember to think in the long term, as rushed decisions can only make things more complicated. Think about where you want to be in three or five years and take aim.

Also, regarding money, the Temperance tarot card encourages you to take aim at your long term economic goals. Small investments can become big ones in the long run. Remember to keep balance in your life when you are doing this. Find the middle ground where you can be comfortable but still have some capital to put into savings and investments.  

Health and Spirituality 

Temperance reversed in Health readings may reflect you feeling anxious and stressed. Something seems to be out of balance. It can be related to your mind battling with which direction to take on some big life questions, or it can be connected to how you feel with your body. See the reversed Temperance as a sign to take a moment to listen to yourself and what you want. Consider doing some energy work and meditation to bring you back into balance.

Regarding spirituality, the Temperance reversed is a sign of imbalances in your spiritual being. Have patience at this moment and try to avoid frustration and stressing about it too much. You can try regaining balance by taking your attention somewhere else. Be more with friends and family and try to share spiritual experiences with them. This can bring you back on your path and give you the energy to restore balance. 

Temperance tarot card Yes or No

Temperance represents the need for balance, peace, and patience in the seeker’s life. It encourages to seek the middle road rather than one extreme or the other. Therefore, in questions that can result in a Yes or No answer, the answer is leaning towards yes, but only if approached cautiously. 

Temperance tarot card Combinations

When combined with other tarot cards, the Temperance reminds us to keep balance and have patience in our actions. Let’s observe some interesting tarot card combinations with the Temperance. 

Death and Temperance

Death is the card that comes before Temperance in the Major Arcana. It brings inevitable transformation and changes in our lives. Seeing it combine with the Temperance tarot card is a sign that you need to stay calm and patient in this moment of change. It is not wise to make sudden decisions when your emotions might prevent you from seeing clearly. 

The Hierophant and Temperance

The Hierophant is a card of spirituality and traditional values in any tarot card combinations. His bits of advice are strict, conservative, and literal. Therefore having Temperance on the same spread is a sign of toning down the message of the Hierophant. A bit like a filter, it is advising to listen to his advice but still take a more gentle approach. 

The High Priestess and Temperance

The High Priestess, just like the Temperance, likes to look at things from all perspectives. She considers the wealth of feelings and emotions around her and trusts her intuition. Having it combine with Temperance is a sign that it is time to retreat and reflect. Everything is not what it seems. You must go forward with patience and caution and avoid making hasty decisions. 

The Fool and Temperance

The Fool brings us joy and new beginnings in any tarot card combination. Having Temperance follow him is a reminder to approach your new journey with caution and not be so foolish. The long and tedious middle road will get you to your goal safer than short and dangerous short cuts. 

Chariot and Temperance 

The Chariot is triumphant when he goes forward. He has a whole lot of willpower and energy to take action. Temperance, on the other hand, brings moderation and patience to this tarot card combination. This combination is a sign of positivity to go forward but reminding to approach things with caution. 

Temperance – Element, Astrology and other associations

Here are the associations with the Temperance tarot card.

  • Element: Water
  • Planet: Moon
  • Astrological sign: Sagittarius
  • Key dates: Late autumn

Temperance tarot card as a personality

Temperance is a beautiful personality who is friendly to everyone. Discrimination is not in Tamperance’s dictionary. Characters with Temperance’s essence believe that differences and opposites make the world better and stronger. 

These people are open to different views and adventures. They take their time and observe all perspectives along the way. You won’t see them taking a lot of risks as they prefer the safer middle road. 

Temperance tarot card as feelings

Temperance is all about balance and moderation. Although there is a lot of warmth with this card, there is no whole lot of emotion. Everything is in harmony with its feeling. 

When asking tarot how someone feels about you, and the Temperance shows up, it could signify that the person has moderate feelings. However, this doesn’t mean that things won’t change. The person just likes to take things slow because they are cautious by nature. 

General questions of the Temperance tarot card

Lastly, let’s go over some general questions that are associated with the Temperance tarot card. 

What does the Temperance tarot card mean?

Temperance expresses the need for balance, patience, and moderation in your life. You should take the middle road, avoiding extremes, and maintain a sense of calm.

What does the Temperance tarot card reversed mean?

Temperance tarot card reversed represents imbalances, excess indulgence, need for re-alignment. It reveals that something is out of balance and possibly creating stress for the seeker.

What does the Temperance tarot card mean in a love reading?

Temperance in a love reading signifies that your current or potential relationship has the right balance. Your personalities are in peaceful collaboration. Alternatively, it can indicate that there is a need to find balance and understanding in a relationship. 

Is Temperance a Yes or No tarot card? 

Temperance is not explicitly a Yes or No card. In questions that can result in a Yes or No answer, the Temperance is leaning towards yes, but only if the issue is addressed with caution. 

Eliana Sousa

I am a Tarot lover, a student, and a reader. I live in Portugal and enjoy sharing my Tarot discoveries here at TarotFarm.

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