Talk:Temperance (tarot card)

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I removed the "Examples" section since it was entirely Original Research which Wikipedia does not allow. I left the "mythopoeteic interpretation" section because that may have come from a reputable source but it seems to be something based on personal interpretation like the "Examples" section. - DNewhall — Preceding undated comment added 17:58, 19 March 2006

Unverifiable and unbalanced content
The article is just personal opinions from an occult enthusiast about the nature and meaning of a particular tarot card. No peer reviewed books or journal articles are cited. No references or footnotes are given. When a new statement is added, the source needs to be cited, and the source needs to be verifiable, and reliable. Waite is not an unbiased, factual source on the history or evolution of tarot cards. The work can be cited properly, however: "Waite's opinion in his book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot ... etc" The other sources are definitely of questionable academic weight.

The card in question has a history of over 500 years in European card games in which it is used as trump card (see Tarocchi). The article is unbalanced in that it only features the recent uses of the card for divination. This makes the article biased due to its recentism. Since the article ignores use of the card for game play in Europe and other parts of the world, it offers an anglo-american perspective that raises NPOV issues. There are academic sources and sources from international organizations discussing the history and evolution of the "Temperance" card as well as its use in games. Such sources need to be utilized. - Parsa 07:57, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

The Influence of Copyists
It might be worth noting that a popular feature of this card today, the figure having wings, was due to an error by the French card makers. According to Michael Dummett's histories, the early Italian cards featured the figure seated on a chair with the corners of the chair's back showing above her shoulders. As the design was copied by various card makers, the chair became less obvious and the shape of the back curved. By the time it had reached the French card makers, they interpreted the curved corners as wings and made them obviously so. A kind of pictoral Chinese Whispers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Philebus (talk • contribs) 11:46, August 25, 2007 (UTC)