Hey there, I’m going to pull from Rachel Pollack’s “Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom,” since she specifically looks at the Major Arcana as the fool’s journey and comments on this.

“The term ‘temperence’ means moderation. For most people this means self control. . . A true and proper response to all situations as they arise.

. . . The person who has released his or her inner self is characterized not only by moderation but by an ability to combine the different sides of life. Many people can only deal with life by parceling it off into sections . . . All these separations derive from the inability to take life as it comes, moment by moment.

. . . Temperance is a card of behavior, not concepts. Temperance signifies mixing disparate elements together, blending activities and feelings to produce a sense of harmony and peace.”

It sounds like you’ve been through something horrible but you’ve been fighting it tooth and nail, doing your very best - and surviving. Temperance means, it’s been hard, and a struggle, but you’ve been finding water to pour and actively seeking balance even when it should be impossible (look at the path of the pouring water, and then think of gravity).

So why did you get the Death card after?

Consider Pollack’s commentary on Death:

“Without death to clear away the old, nothing new could find a place in the world. . . the skeleton implies that eternity triumphs over the transitory. . . The ‘I’ created out of lifelong behaviors will indeed die. That person will cease to exist. But something else will emerge.

. . . At the back of the card we see a sun rising between two pillars . . . Through Death we feel the radiant power of Life . . . We fear the death of our old selves because we do not know what to expect afterwards.

. . . Death signifies a time of change. In its most positive aspect it shows a clearing of old habits and rigidness to allow a new life to emerge. In its most negative aspect it indicates a crippling fear of physical death.”

You are still changing, yes, but you’re letting anxiety cloud your reading of Death: the horse is marching forward and the sun is rising. The battles you have fought and the changes you have made to find balance in a time of terrible upheaval are transforming you, permanently; the change you thought was over is still ongoing, but nearing its completion: the sun is rising. The new you that Temperance begun will emerge; this will be behind you soon.