10/3/11—Getting Into Balance

Today's Draw: Temperance from the Infinite Visions. Is your life in balance? Do you know what balance looks like? What's in your mix?

The Temperance card is all about balance—the kind of balance that keeps you prepared for life, the kind that keeps you calm in the center of the storm. We tend to think of balance as equal parts of two or more things. We also think of balance as something we have to give up to have what we want. Or as that thing we can't seem to achieve. As a sword hovering over heads. Or as our main source of guilt.

The card shows a woman deftly preparing a potion for an anxious soldier. You can see lovers embracing out the window, indicating she has a rare alchemical talent. But she doesn't measure out equal parts of any of the ingredients. In fact, she doesn't seem to measure any thing very precisely at all. She feels her way through it. Like a flock of birds knows when to turn, she knows just how much to add of any given ingredient...because she is part of the mystery. As it moves, so does she. 

We hear a lot about having balance in our lives. It's usually parsed in terms of mothers who work. Somewhere out there, there seems to be a measure of what amount of work is correct and what amount of family is correct, as well as how many drops of time for yourself is in the recipe. Even though the exact numbers don't exist, we hold ourselves up to them, nonetheless.

Like with the lady in the picture, balance isn't about a recipe, it's about the individual. And the formula for one person is different than the formula for another. It's not something someone can tell you, it's something you know within. And it's about more than two things. It involves multiple facets. Nobody can look at your mix and say it's right or wrong, nor can you look another and determine for them. 

You know whether or not you're in balance. If you are, good job! If you're not, now's a great day to start doing something about it.