Oswald Wirth

Oswald Wirth

Joseph Paul Oswald Wirth (1860, Brienz, Canton of Bern – 1943) was a Swiss occultist, artist and author. He studied esotericism and symbolism with Stanislas de Guaita and in 1889 he created, under the guidance of de Guaita, a cartomantic Tarot consisting only of the twenty-two major arcana. Known as the "Arcanes du Tarot kabbalistique", it followed the designs of the Tarot de Marseille closely but introduced several alterations, incorporating extant occult symbolism into the cards. The Wirth/de Guaita deck is significant in the history of the occult tarot for being the first in a long line of occult, cartomantic, and initiatory decks.

File:Oswald Wirth Tarot Card Tower.jpg

Wirth Tower Card

His interests also included Freemasonry and Astrology. He wrote many books in French regarding Freemasonry, most importantly a set of three each explaining one of Freemasonry's first three degrees:

1. La Franc-Maçonnerie rendue intelligible à ses adeptes, tome 1: L'apprenti
2. La Franc-Maçonnerie rendue intelligible à ses adeptes, tome 2: Le Compagnon
3. La Franc-Maçonnerie rendue intelligible à ses adeptes, tome 3: Le Maître

See also

• The Divinatory and Occult Tarot
• Horst E. Miers: The Encyclopedia of Secret Knowledge. New American Library, ISBN 3-442-12179-5

External links

• Media related to Oswald Wirth at Wikimedia Commons
• Tarot of the Magicians by Oswald Wirth.
• Sample of the German Wirth-Tarot (6 trumps)
• Seminar Interlaken around Oswald Wirth near his birth place June 2014 Switzerland (in French)