XIV · Temperance
Sip by Sip
- Moderation
- Patience
- Flow
Upright
Temperance is the arcana of the right measure: two things poured together slowly until they hold. At home the measuring is done by mouth. Water taken one sip at a time with long pauses between them, or a coat put in order strand by strand in a square of afternoon sun, begun, abandoned, resumed. None of it can be hurried, and every attempt to hurry it has been noted.
Reversed
Reversed, the measuring moves inward. The pacing happens where nobody can see it: a slower morning, a long stretch of doing very little that turns out to have been the plan. Your companion is finding their own proportion rather than matching yours. The blend is still being poured, quietly, and it asks only for unhurried company.
Reversed is not bad news here. It is the same energy turned inward instead of outward.
In the dog deck
Rushing gets you nowhere. Today slow is best—a leisurely pace, time for sniffing, time for rest. Balance wins.
Try today Walk half your usual speed and let them spend twice as long investigating scents.
In the cat deck
Grooming in Sunlight
In a patch of sunlight, taking time to put themselves in order one strand at a time. Today is about balance—when to move and when to rest matter equally.
Try today Find a sunny spot and spend five quiet minutes simply watching them groom.
Other cards
- 0 The First Adventure
- I The Treat Conjurer
- II The Window Watcher
- III The Cushion Queen
- IV The Sofa Sovereign
- V Sit, Stay, Repeat
- VI You and Me
- VII The Leash Sprint
- VIII Brave and Steady
- IX Under the Covers
- X The Doorbell
- XI Treats Divided Fair
- XII Belly Up
- XIII The Bath
- XV The Forbidden Shoe
- XVI The Flowerpot Crash
- XVII The Dawn Walk
- XVIII Night Watch
- XIX Sunbeam Bliss
- XX When You Call Their Name
- XXI All Here Together
This is tarot for fun. We rewrote the Major Arcana for dog life; it predicts and advises nothing. Nothing here relates to health or behaviour decisions.
Card art is the Rider–Waite deck (1909, public domain).