Along the path of our spiritual evolution (as seekers) and as we steadily progress through the difficult and trying tests leading to our personal spiritual transformation, we begin to change (upgrade) our views and prior understandings of God's intent and purpose for our life.

In the 14th Card of The Major Arcana (Temperance) we are shown the radiance and brilliance of that understanding as your Awakened Conscious Self in the form of the Archangel Michael. This card is intended to illustrate that you have learned to balance the spiritual with the material world and have left behind the willful ignorance and lower vibrational attitudes that impeded your spiritual advancement.

Throughout the entirety of the Major Arcana, we are constantly reminded that our successful advancement is predicated on our ability to be moderate (Temperate) and to learn to balance the extremes, passions and polarities of this 3rd dimensional world. It's by reacting and responding moderately to life's radical extremes and shifting realities that we can direct our physical and psychological energies toward the fulfillment of God's plan.

In the Temperance card we are reminded and shown ways to accomplish and maintain this flow and balanced rhythm within the backwash of life's opposing polarities. Before we examine them, I want to briefly reflect on the dynamics displayed in the previous (3) cards... the 11th-Justice, 12th-The Hanged Man and 13th-Death.

As you will recall, you the seeker came before Lady Justice (11) to decide if you were worthy and willing to proceed in your spiritual evolution. Having chosen to move forward, Justice granted you passage, but only after you voluntarily served your sentence (as The Hanged Man) to pay back your negative Karma. While serving as The Hanged Man (12) you learned to go within to solidify your bond with your Higher Self, promising to forsake forever all previous low energy habits, thoughts and denigrating actions. Finally, as a consecrated seeker, you physically shed all of your old physical body patterns (flesh) and became the skeleton of the next card Death (13). As Death you set out to totally eliminate and slay all prior core-thoughts and subconscious patterns (old tapes) that were the seed energy patterns responsible for your former lower-energy self. Having annihilated and vaporized these energy images, you were finally ready to build a new body, a new flesh, as shown in the 14th card TEMPERANCE.

Our ancient teachers always employed occult number sequencing within The Major Arcana of 22 cards. They knew that Numerologically the number (14) signified NEWNESS and CHANGE faithfully executed within a reliable framework of STRUCTURED, METHODICAL and PLANNED renaissance. When you add the digits of the number 14 together (1+4 = 5), you end up with the number (5) which stands for transformation, freedom and complete release from a former structure, reality, mindset or circumstance. The (14) therefore is a number (5), but it is a (5) arrived at by adding the separate numbers (1) and (4). Here lies the significance of the number (14)... the (1) Numerologically represents the God Force within us all and the (4) represents the universal qualities of propriety, logic, method and balance. That's why even though it's a single (compound) number, (14) is made up of a blend of both the qualities of the (1) and (4), which is precisely the essence and intended message being conveyed by the Angel Michael.

OK, let's take a look at Michael's way of illustrating this lesson for us... first of all, notice his feet. The left foot is poised on land (the conscious mind and our material world) and the right (the subconscious mind and our emotional spiritual world) immersed in the water pool of Divine Spirit. This is meant to illustrate that you finally have your conscious and subconscious minds in balance and are not allowing the negative temptations of passion, emotion or appetite to dominate.

In like manner, he holds two cups... from the left hand (our objective/conscious mind) he pours the healing essence and power of Divine Spirit (also blue in color like the pool below) into the cup in his right hand (our subjective/subconscious mind). When one is full, he reverses the action pouring spirit into the other. This is meant to show that in your perfected bodily state, Divine Spirit flows freely through your conscious mind into the subconscious and back again. It's a reciprocal cycle that maintains (like the image of a mirror) a state of health and perfection within both the image realities of your conscious and subconscious beings.

The flow of this spiritual energy unceasingly adapts, modifies and controls the psychic energies that stream from both your conscious and subconscious minds. It acts as a check valve or monitor to ensure the dignity, relevance and spiritual correctness of your thoughts and actions. On Michael's chest you see a square shape surrounding a triangle. The square signifies MATTER containing the triangle SPIRIT FORCE. The two work as one with SPIRIT acting as the central motivating and directing force for MATTER. Notice the path off to Michael's right... it signifies your future Path of Evolution. The path both ascends and dips in waves as it moves off into the distance. At its end are two mountains of Wisdom and Enlightenment (understanding). There is a radiant crown hovering above them. This signifies your path and future goal of complete mastery over the forces of your subconscious and all the forces of nature. When you reach that perfected state, you can truly say... "The Father and I are One". That is our goal to attain through the remaining (7) cards of The Major Arcana.

copyright 2003-2004, Joe Ivory, all rights reserved