#288 - Temperance
These cards are so interesting, in that they seem to be paralleled with my life. I just want to talk about Melchizedek for a bit. Having always been fascinated, even attracted to Melchidezek since I ever heard his name mentioned, seeing this being, I have a deep sense that it is the Risen Being after Death. Death has now given way to Temperance. Now, after we have lost everything, now when we have surrendered, we find balance, we find peace within ourselves.
The feeling in the card is one of complete tranquility. It is one of peace - the calm after the storm, the treasure after the surrender. When we surrender and give up things we once fought so hard to cling on to, we discover what is left is EXACTLY what is it we needed. That all of that gathering, that journey has been good and important, and useful, but now, we cannot take everything with us. We must essentialise - reduce the thing into what is left for us and then, from the essence we can draw the meaning. The previous part of the journey had been about building - and this is about letting go.
We have learned the lessons and now we learn that we must unlearn. We must give it up so that we can inherit. And that is what the crown at the end of the journey points to. From the waters of forgetfulness, come the waters of life. The waters of balance - and of course, this is the season of Michael. What more appropriate card is there than Temperance? We have fought and vanquished the greatest enemy - ourselves - we have willingly undergone the sacrifice, and so, we are now here.
The thing though is that it isn't some doing that we know we will receive a reward at the end of it. The journey is a genuinely terrifying and perilous one. It isn't like in the fairytales when the second, more cunning sister or brother, knowing that there will be a reward at the end of the process does it - then what happens is the person ends up being cursed by the fairy. Only one person can go on this road, no one else. And you must utterly surrender to the process - the process is everything. Detachment is everything. If you go into the process thinking that there is a reward at the end of it you will be sorely disappointed because the gain from the journey is never what you expected it to be and in clinging onto the expectation you will the miss your gift - what was meant for you.
The Angel, whom I have no doubt is a stand in for Michael, although not Michael, rather the Michael in us, has wings of fire - or red wings. They are the ego, the Will element. The wings which are unfolded and displayed to us in all their glory. The angel reveals itself to us and we are in awe. With one foot in water and the other on land, he symbolises the bringing to consciousness that which was hidden. The triangle and the square symbolise the nature of the human being on Earth. The triangle is that Trinity within us and the Square, the Earth. Also, altogether, with the angel, they symbolise the life of the human beings. The sacred three bodies - Spirit Self – Manas, Life Spirit – Buddhi, Spirit Man – Atma, bound by the four Earthly bodies: Physical body, Etheric body, Astral body, Ego or “I.
It is an elegant and beautifully compact card. It is a card of relief but also one that prepares us for what lies ahead. Just as there is always a calm before the storm, so too the Temperance card gives us sustenance before we head into the final stage of surrender. The final looking into the depths of our souls. Be brave, says the card, you are almost there, but now, now it is going to be the worst of the worst.
The Devil.
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