Tarot of the Animal Lords: Major Arcana: Temperance, The Devil, and The Tower

Temperance: This card depicts a flamingo pouring water from one pitcher to another one, which is sitting on the ground. She is standing under a grove of trees, which are far from her village that is off in the distance. A slight breeze shakes the leaves, giving a sense of movement to the scene. The flamingo watches a mallard migrating, while a grebe broods on her eggs, nearby. The card gives a sense of quiet contemplation of choices yet to be made. Between leaving and staying is Temperance that seeks the balance between the two. Perhaps the flamingo will leave someday, but not today.

The Devil: A he-goat represents the devil in this card. He stands at the maw of a red-rock cavern, patting his buddy, the toad. Behind the pair, the full moon rises with the bats flying out to catch insects. With their jaunty poses and red eyes, the pair exudes a sense of malefic magic. Their air of nonchalance entices people into their web of promises. However, once someone enters the cavern, they become lost. The card suggests think before entering or end up being stuck forever.

 The Tower: A beaver is falling headlong as he is inundated by logs and water. At one time, loggers held drives to guide their sawn logs down river to the mills. Often, a log jam would occur and the logs would pile on top of each other. A logger would need to go and pull out the key log, holding back the others. This usually resulted in the death of the logger who did the task. This Tower is the raw energy that has been pent up rushing out, killing everyone in its way. How the beaver ended up this way is something for the reader to puzzle out. Was he the heroic logger or the builder of a faulty dam?


Other entries in this series:

The Fool to The Emperor

The Hierophant to The Lovers

Strength to The Wheel of Fortune 

Justice to The Hanged Man

Death
Star, Moon, Sun