''The Quality of Temperance is not Strained''

Temperance - the "Gran Esoterico" deck

The female figure of ''Temperance'' is a reference to the Soul. She is mixing up a blend of subtle energies for the evolution of the personality. The key to meaning in this card is its title, a pun on the process of tempering metals in a forge.
Metals must undergo violent handling, extremes of temperature, endless folding and pounding, but the end product is infinitely superior to the original ore, fresh from the earth and utterly unrefined. In this image, the soul volunteers the ego for a cleansing and healing experience which may turn the personality inside-out, but which brings out the gold hidden within the heart.
The 12 aspects of Temperance:

• The time is ''Now'' for self-healing ~ You are able to take responsibility for getting well, no matter what it takes. The quest for health could be on a physical, emotional or mental level, or it may have to do with paying off "karmic dues." In any case, the work is to clear up past dysfunction and address entangled emotions. The process will purge the toxic waste of unfinished business that disables you. When you are ready, mix your powerful medicine. This is the right time to start healing yourself.
• The Situation's call for transformation or awakening is being answered ~
  The Angel of Healing has been called in and the medicine is being mixed. Everyone intrinsically understands that healing will bring revolutionary change, including letting go of old views and timeworn styles of adapting. The problem has been largely associated with clinging too closely to the past. But past issues will be laid to rest when the problem is resolved. Significant objectivity will result as the group raises its awareness.
• You are challenged to assimilate changes need to be made steadily but gradually ~ Temperance in this position challenges you to gradually phase in changes in lifestyle and outlook, while letting go of old behaviors and thought forms. When we plant new varieties in a garden, we also clean out some of the old. It's not all accomplished in a day.
  Healing is a process, not an event. Be patient and persevere. Blend the medicine with careful attention to detail. Focus your will. Repeat the solution. Remember that too much is as bad as too little. Keep things in balance as you slowly and steadily change the composition of your energy from the old to the new.
• In your roots, history, you have evidence of transformation that others cannot even imagine ~ Temperance in this position suggests that in the past you either witnessed or experienced spontaneous healing or a supposedly impossible regeneration. You have been imprinted by a radical reformation from a fallen or a diseased state to a healthy, upbeat, creative and progressive one. This is a tremendous resource to draw upon. Evoke that role model from your personal history and use it to strengthen yourself whenever healing is called for.
• Given previous opportunities, you have mixed your own medicine and brought about your own healing ~ With Temperance in this position, you are now on the far side of resurrection. You navigated well through a transformative experience. You have demonstrated this card's essential message: "Physician, heal thyself." Aggrieved by the poison of the past, you created an elixir to neutralize it and help you rise above its negative effects. Good job! Now you can use your own skills and abilities to stay healthy, happy and holy. You have experienced wonderful rites of passage.
• Your Divine Master asks you to transform victim psychology into victory by bringing power to change out of the self ~ Temperance calls upon you to find healing power in the heart of the wound and transform your woundedness in the process. Such a process enables us to finally discard the attitude of helpless victim and become an active and dynamic force. We take responsibility for the impact our experience has on us, and we work with the experience until we extract its value. We skim out the dross, concentrate the essence and pour ourselves into a new shape. This alchemical process is not easy or necessarily enjoyable. It is, however, inherently redemptive.
  In order to develop the virtue of Temperance, prepare for some serious personal work ~ With Temperance in this position, it appears that an opportunity will come to speed up your evolution, but don't expect it to be fun. This process will force you to deal with blocked feelings until you break through the denial and resistance that keeps you stuck. Undertake this process with the courage of a good heart. It will help you free yourself from old resentments, self-pity and the secret list of grudges you keep. You deserve the purified consciousness that lies on the other side of this process. Seize the opportunity when it comes along. The benefits will be abundant.
  Don't allow fear of change to inhibit, block or paralyze you from liberating growth ~ We all feel a need to change yet are fearful of doing anything about it. We get stuck. It's important to remember that nothing you can lose is truly yours, and what is truly yours never will be lost for long. Your essential nature, your eternal identity, your basic quality of being is unique and permanent. No amount of change will rob you of who you really are. Release your attachment to appearing any particular way to yourself or anyone else. In turn you will free yourself to go through what is in front of you and gain the benefits.
  When you decide you are ready, a transformational advisor always appears to offer to work with you ~ ''When the student is ready, the Master appears.'' ~ Temperance in this position suggests that a highly developed individual is opening a door that will greatly speed your evolution if you let yourself go through it. If you do, you must be willing to strip away denial, defense mechanisms, excuses and resistance to change. When you shake yourself loose from your emotional armor, you will be free to accept this extraordinary offer. If you are immobilized and rigid, this potential ally will move on without you ~ the need for transformation is great and the time is short.
  Identify and acquire the ingredients that will most help you complete your mission; leave the rest behind. ~ Temperance in this position advises you to identify and seek the missing ingredients in your life. In addition, you must marshal your known skills and abilities and do what needs to be done to complete your mission. Prepare to use whatever practices, studies, lifestyle changes or community efforts that can assist you in this quest. A tremendous amount of benefit is available if you can organize yourself and be disciplined at this time.
  The world hungers for role-models who choose to heal and grow beyond their previous boundaries. ~ You have already familiarized with Temperance and have displayed the potential to become a healer. You are already displaying relevant skills in your chosen medium, music, to catalyze all manner of enablement ~ physical, emotional, mental and even psychic. The greatest test of all, however, is the ability to heal oneself. Choose to develop yourself consciously, and model what a restored and regenerated body-mind looks like. Humanity depends upon certain pioneers who choose to cultivate themselves and model what is possible.
  You are called to sacrifice pretense and posturing ~ "Practice what you would preach." ~ Temperance in this position requires that you take the healing potion yourself before you prescribe it to others. In order to heal or guide others, you must first overcome the demons in yourself. Make sure that you are living in alignment with your beliefs and philosophies.