In 1920 the United States outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcohol. In the same decade the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck, first published in 1909, was becoming the standard for English-speaking occultists. The card numbered XIV, Temperance, shows an angel blending two cups. The contrast between these two events is not accidental. Both are about control of desire, but one works from within, the other from without.
Temperance and Prohibition represent two fundamentally different approaches to restraint. Temperance, as a Tarot card and a virtue, is the alchemical art of balance: the harmonious blending of opposing forces. Prohibition, as a historical policy and a social movement, is the legal enforcement of abstinence: the absolute ban on a substance or behavior. The difference is the difference between integration and suppression.
Where the Two Paths Split: Inner Balance versus Outer Ban
The word “temperance” comes from the Latin temperare, meaning to mix or regulate. In classical philosophy it is one of the four cardinal virtues: the ability to moderate appetite and desire. Aristotle called it the mean between excess and deficiency. The Tarot card inherits this meaning but adds an alchemical layer. The angel on the card pours liquid between two cups, a direct image of the coniunctio — the union of opposites that produces a third substance. Temperance does not say “no.” It says “not too much, not too little, but just enough to transform.”
Prohibition, by contrast, comes from the Latin prohibere, to hold back or forbid. It is a legal and social mechanism that draws a hard line. The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1919 and effective January 17, 1920, banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors. The Volstead Act defined “intoxicating” as any beverage containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol. Prohibition said “no” absolutely. There was no room for moderation.
The two concepts share a concern with human appetite, but they address it at different levels. Temperance is a personal, spiritual discipline. Prohibition is a collective, legal command.
The History of Temperance: From Virtue to Card to Movement
The virtue of temperance appears in Plato’s Republic as sophrosyne, the harmony of the soul. It entered Christian theology through Thomas Aquinas, who placed it among the cardinal virtues. In the fifteenth century the Tarot deck, first documented in northern Italy around 1440, included a card called La Temperanza. Early decks showed a woman pouring water from one jug to another, a symbol of dilution and moderation.
The modern occult interpretation of the Temperance card was shaped by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888. The Golden Dawn assigned the card to the Hebrew letter Samekh, meaning “support,” and linked it to the zodiac sign Sagittarius. For them Temperance represented the path of the arrow toward the divine, a process of purification through balance. A.E. Waite, who designed the Rider-Waite-Smith deck with artist Pamela Colman Smith, kept the angel but added the alchemical symbols: the sun on the angel’s forehead, the triangle and square on the chest, the path leading to a mountain range. The card became a map of the Great Work.
The Temperance movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries drew on the same virtue but applied it socially. The American Temperance Society was founded in 1826. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), established in 1874, became the largest women’s organization in the country under Frances Willard. Willard was a suffragist and a Methodist, but she also had ties to spiritualism. She attended séances and spoke of the “spirit world” in her diaries. The WCTU’s campaign against alcohol was framed as a moral crusade, but its roots were in the same Protestant revivalism that fed the Fox sisters and the birth of modern Spiritualism in 1848.
The History of Prohibition: The Experiment That Failed
Prohibition as a legal policy grew directly from the Temperance movement. The Anti-Saloon League, founded in 1893, shifted the strategy from moral persuasion to legislative force. By 1916, 26 states had already banned alcohol. The Eighteenth Amendment passed Congress in 1917 and was ratified in 1919. It went into effect at midnight on January 17, 1920.
The consequences were immediate and paradoxical. Alcohol consumption did drop in the first years, but illegal speakeasies, bootlegging, and organized crime exploded. The federal government spent millions enforcing the law, but corruption was rampant. The Volstead Act was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933, the only time a constitutional amendment has been repealed. The experiment lasted thirteen years, four months, and eighteen days.
From an occult perspective, Prohibition is a case study in the danger of suppression. The alchemical principle of solve et coagula — dissolve and coagulate — teaches that forces cannot be destroyed, only transformed. Prohibition tried to destroy the desire for alcohol by law. It succeeded only in driving it underground, where it fermented into something more dangerous. The Temperance card, by contrast, shows a figure who does not block the flow but regulates it.
Symbolism and Meaning: The Angel and the Law
The Temperance card is rich with symbols that speak to the occult practitioner. The angel wears a square on the chest and a triangle on the forehead, representing matter and spirit. The path between the two cups is the alchemical process. The iris flowers at the bottom of the card are associated with the Virgin Mary and with purification. The mountain in the distance is the goal of the Great Work. Every element points to transformation through balance.
Prohibition has its own symbols, though they are less esoteric. The “dry” campaign used images of the saloon as a den of vice, often with racial and ethnic overtones. The “wet” opposition used the image of the government interfering with personal liberty. The most enduring symbol is the speakeasy itself: a hidden door, a password, a secret world operating beneath the law. In occult terms, Prohibition created a shadow economy, a kind of underworld that mirrored the conscious desire for freedom.
The difference in symbolism is the difference between integration and separation. Temperance blends. Prohibition divides.
Practices: How You Work with Each
In magical practice, Temperance is a card that appears in readings to counsel patience, moderation, and the blending of opposites. It can also be used in ritual as a focal point for alchemical work. A practitioner might meditate on the card before performing a coniunctio ritual, or place it on an altar when working with the element of water. The card does not forbid anything. It asks you to find the middle path.
Prohibition, as a practice, is about setting boundaries. In ceremonial magic, prohibition appears in the form of bans, wards, and taboos. A magician might prohibit certain actions during a ritual period, no sex, no alcohol, no meat, to build energy. This is not the same as Temperance. Prohibition in magic is a temporary discipline designed to concentrate will. It is a tool, not a virtue.
The historical Prohibition was a permanent ban, not a temporary discipline. That is why it failed. The human psyche does not respond well to absolute prohibition without a transformative goal. The Temperance card offers that goal: the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone, the union of sun and moon, the birth of the divine child.
Common Misconceptions
Temperance does not mean abstinence. The card shows a figure pouring liquid between cups. Nothing is being denied. The virtue is about finding the right measure, not eliminating the substance.
Prohibition was not solely about alcohol. The movement was also a vehicle for nativism, anti-Catholicism, and social control. The WCTU and the Anti-Saloon League were allied with the Ku Klux Klan in some regions. The occultist should understand that prohibition often masks other agendas.
The Temperance card is not about patience in the sense of waiting. It is about active blending. The angel is not passive. She is pouring, mixing, creating.
Prohibition did not end drinking. It changed the culture of drinking, driving it into secret spaces. The speakeasy became a crucible for jazz, flapper culture, and a new kind of social rebellion.
FAQ
Is Temperance the same as abstinence in Tarot?
No. Temperance is about balance and integration. Abstinence is a form of prohibition, which is a different energy entirely.
Did the Temperance movement have occult connections?
Yes. Frances Willard of the WCTU attended séances, and many temperance activists were involved in Spiritualism. The movement shared the same Protestant revivalist soil that produced modern occultism.
What does the Temperance card mean in a reading?
It usually advises moderation, patience, and the blending of opposing forces. It can also indicate a need for alchemical transformation.
Why did Prohibition fail?
Because it tried to suppress a human desire rather than transform it. The alchemical principle of solve et coagula shows that suppression only creates a shadow.
Closing
Temperance and Prohibition are two responses to the same human problem: the management of desire. One seeks to transform through balance. The other seeks to eliminate through force. The Tarot card reminds us that the middle path is not a compromise but a crucible. If you want to explore the Temperance card further, see our guide to the Major Arcana. For the history of occult movements that shaped the Temperance era, read our article on Spiritualism and social reform. And for the full context of the Tarot’s alchemical symbolism, visit the Tarot hub.