Temperance traditionally symbolizes balance, moderation, discipline, self-control, harmony between the spiritual and material aspects, taking the middle path, spiritual healing, strengthening the spirit through moderate behavior, calm and serenity.  Temperance represents a balance of mind and body, integration of energies; synthesizing opposite forces in your life; balancing alternatives to reach an equitable compromise; tempering one's appetites, moderation.

"Positive:  You are using your particular creative talents to the maximum.  It's appropriate for you to be combining materials, resources, people or ideas into beautiful and wonderful new forms
Upright:  You are blending tangible, physical elements or factors to make new wholes.  You may be an artist, alchemist, baker, party-giver, or grass-roots organizer.  You're using your special talents to creatively produce a tangible product." - Gail Fairfield

Temperance, integrations, alchemy - all of these fit this card.  This is something which I am always working - blending the various facets of me into a balanced and dazzling whole.  I have sometimes felt almost schizophrenic in my approach to live.  I try to compartmentalize areas of my life and don't blend them.  My Tarot world rarely interacts with my Doll world.  My family life almost never interacts with either my Tarot or Doll worlds.  I often work very hard to keep my work and private life very separate.  I don't like blurred boundaries because I feel a strong need for a sense of order and clearly defined limits.  For many years I was extremely uncomfortable with "gray areas".

As time goes on I have come to appreciate the value of gray but I also realize that I'll never be completely comfortable with it.  I prefer black & white, straightforward situations.  I prefer right and wrong to be clearly defined and not subjective.  Of course that is not reality.  Reality is that life is full of shades of gray.  It is the black and white areas that are a rarity.  And what I do to much is cling to the idea that I can force experiences, people and situations to fit my preferred black and white mold.  

In learning to accept the shades of gray in life, I have also learned that it is okay to let various areas of my life bleed into each other.  There will always be aspects of those interests that will not mix well but that is okay too because what they all have in common is me.  I am at the center of this universe and I can mix and merge and meld it together in whatever way I see fit.  I am a combination, an amalgam of earth, air, fire and water; of the physical, the intellectual, the passionate and the emotional.  Learing to integrate and combine them in ways that allows me to explore all my various facets is healthier for me and probably healthier for anyone who needs to deal with me.

In light of this, the message of Integration/Temperance reversed is that what I need to prune is my attitude and approach to keeping things compartmentalized and segregated.  I need to allow myself to fully experience these areas of my life and see where they will take me next.