Iris: The Goddess of Hope

Iris was a Greek goddess, messenger to Zeus and bringer of hope and emotions. In tarot she is an important figure, specifically to the Temperance  card. Even if your card does not feature the winged goddess you can probably find her traits littered throughout the card, such as Iris flowers, named after her, or a rainbow.

Greek mythology tells us of the story of Iris and how Zesus used her as a messenger, sometimes travelling on a rainbow. One story i recall tells of how how Zesus used to send Iris to the underworld with a golden cup. The gods of the underworld would drink from the cup. This cup detected if they lied or did any evil, and if the did they would be banned from Zesus’s party, also Iris was said to have carried her messages within the cup and simply pour them into the hand of the receiver.

From learning a little about Iris, her symbolism and her story you can now incorporate that into your understanding of the temperance card.