For the first time the complete 78-card Oswald Wirth tarot deck is available to collectors. Oswald Wirth, a famous Swiss kabbalist, occultist and practitioner of curative magnetism, was a disciple of Stanislas de Guaita, an important French occultist during the late nineteenth century. Aided by Guaita, and utilizing symbolical modifications suggested by Eliphas Levi, Wirth devised a set of tarot cards based upon the Tarot of Marseilles pack.
The designs by Wirth for the 22 Major Arcana cards first appeared in 1889 in a hand-colored edition limited to one hundred copies and entitled Le livre de Thot. Les 22 arcanes du Tarot dessines a Pusage des Inities sur les indications de Stanislas de Guaita. In the same year, Papus included small reproductions of the 22 designs in Le Tarot des Bohemiens, a complex work dealing with the tarot keys and their symbolism.
Wirth popularized Levi’s theory that the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet were directly related to the 22 Major Arcana or Keys. Thus, each of the 22 Major Arcana cards in the Oswald Wirth tarot pack contains the corresponding letter of the Hebrew alphabet in the lower right-hand corner, except for the Death card which is both unnumbered and untitled.
The 78-card Oswald Wirth tarot deck which accompanies this booklet includes the original 22 Major Arcana cards as designed by Wirth plus 56 newly created Minor Arcana cards in the style and design as Wirth might have envisioned them. The complete 78-card Wirth pack was printed by ACMuller, Switzerland, in stunning metallic colors. The designs are under exclusive license from Tchou Editeur of Paris.
• Complete with 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana cards in authentic color tones.
• The Oswald Wirth tarot deck is based upon original designs by the Swiss kabbalist, Oswald Wirth.
• The 22 Major Arcana cards include the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet as depicted by Eliphas Levi and popularized by Oswald Wirth.
• The 56 Minor Arcana cards include the four suits of Swords, Batons, Cups and Coins.
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