Pouring water
The angel of Temperance pours water from one cup into another. Waite calls it the essences of life passing from chalice to chalice.
In the tradition
Mixing water into wine was the everyday sign of moderation in the ancient world, and the old Temperance cards show a winged woman pouring from one jug into another.
Behind the angel a path climbs into the hills toward a crown that Waite says is seen only vaguely. On the Star the pouring is outward, into the pool and onto the land, and Waite there quotes the line from Revelation about taking the water of life freely.
In the cards
Aquarius, the Water-bearer, is the sign the Golden Dawn gave to the Star.
Sources
- A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910). Waite's own guide to the deck he designed with Pamela Colman Smith, with each card's divinatory meanings.
- Various, The Bible (King James Version 1611; the Latin Vulgate, 4th century). The source of much of the Temple, Eden and Revelation imagery in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
Updated October 9, 2026.
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