From the Cosmic Tarot, Temperance; from the L'Oeil de Lotus, "Sadness:"
When the Temperance card shows up, I always think of Siddhartha Gautama. He began his life as a prince, living a life of indulgence, entitlement and excess. But when he realized the luxury he enjoyed wouldn't protect him from sickness, old age or death, he left home and became an ascetic. Siddhartha not only left behind the pleasures in his life, he also severely limited his food intake until he was virtually skin and bones. When he discovered this would not eliminate suffering either, he meditated until he awoke to the Middle Way. There were no extremes on this new path and no labels of good/bad. The inner resource he tapped into showed him how to sit in the center of the see-saw of his mind, unaffected by ups and downs.
The Sadness card uses the owl as a dividing line between an ebony and indigo night sky. It points out the tendency for humans to exaggerate how they feel. I don't just feel gutted, I think I feel a level of agony that no other person on earth has ever felt. But when I fall for that extreme way of thinking, I place myself on a mountain far away from people who have experienced this kind of pain. My "uniqueness" prevents me from accepting their guidance and wisdom. Do I want to be special, or do I want relief? I bet I know which option that owl would choose.
