Symbolism in the Art Nouveau Borders of the 1927 Oswald Wirth Tarot cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 03 Aug 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rusty Neon	03 Aug 2004
As those who've been reading the Oswald Wirth Tarot deck thread will know, the interesting Art Nouveau borders of the 1927 cards were apparently added by Wirth himself. Here's a link to scans of all 22 cards from the 1927 deck (from the present-day Éditions de l'Aigle reproduction). As you will note from looking at those cards, the border detail is different for each card. Those borders look like they contain details that are symbolism rather than being mere decorative detail. I'm curious as to what symbolic meanings Wirth intended to depict by each of the various borders. Input would be appreciated.

Lee	03 Aug 2004
Hi Rusty, I don't have Wirth's book yet (I'm waiting for the English-language edition which I ordered), but in Kaplan's Encyclopedia Vol. 3, there's an illustration shown which Kaplan says is taken from Wirth's book, which shows all 22 symbols. Do you have that diagram in your edition of the book? Perhaps Wirth doesn't discuss these symbols? Anyway, Kaplan says that "Some of the symbols are incorporated into the borders or images of the 1926 Wirth Tarot." Indeed, when I look at the scans of the cards, I can only find a few of the symbols on certain cards, but other cards' borders seem to be without the symbols. I would list the cards and describe the symbols for each, but presumably you already have that diagram that shows the symbols in the book? -- Lee

Rusty Neon	03 Aug 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Lee [...] but in Kaplan's Encyclopedia Vol. 3, there's an illustration shown which Kaplan says is taken from Wirth's book, which shows all 22 symbols. Do you have that diagram in your edition of the book? Perhaps Wirth doesn't discuss these symbols? Anyway, Kaplan says that "Some of the symbols are incorporated into the borders or images of the 1926 Wirth Tarot." Indeed, when I look at the scans of the cards, I can only find a few of the symbols on certain cards, but other cards' borders seem to be without the symbols. I would list the cards and describe the symbols for each, but presumably you already have that diagram that shows the symbols in the book? Thanks Lee. Upon checking in the book, I do see a chart of 22 symbols (or idéogrammes, as Wirth uniquely terms them) towards the very end of the book. About the chart, he writes [and i translate]: "Restored to the sobriety of ideograms, the 22 arcana can constitute a symbolic alphabet that is easy to draw on numbered pieces of cardboard, that the seer can handle in preference to a tarot that is painted and illuminated." But nowhere explicitly does he indicate to the reader that they're incorporated into the card borders or images. :) As Kaplan says, I can see right away that some of those symbols are incorporated, some way or another, into the borders. However, it will take some meditation or reflection on my part to verify whether each card contains its respective symbol somewhere in the border or in the image. Thanks for the pointer. I must confess that I haven't read the Wirth book from cover to cover, but rather only certain portions that give card descriptions.

Rusty Neon	03 Aug 2004
P.S. In the Marseilles decks, the Death card is numbered but is not titled. In the 1927 Wirth cards, the Death card is not titled but the numbering for it is done differently than for all 20 of the other trumps. The difference is that, while the other majors' titles are part of the card name caption on the bottom of the card, the Death cards number - 13 - is in the top left hand corner as part of the border.

Penelope	04 Aug 2004
"According to the Egyptians language is attributed to Taautos who was the father of tautology or imitation. He invented the first written characters two thousand years BC or earlier. Taautos came from Byblos, Phoenicia, that shows a continuous cultural tradition going back as far as 8,000 B.C. Taautos played his flute to the chief deity of Byblos who was a moon-goddess Ba'alat Nikkal. Note: Taautos was called Thoth by the Greeks and the Egyptians called him Djehuti. The mythology of Taautos appears in that of Thoth and Dionysus, or Njörth the snake priest who was, at times, the consort to the moon-goddess. The snake priest was also represented by the symbol of a pillar, a wand or a caduceus. This symbol would itself become a god Hermes or Mercury. The Greeks equated Thoth with the widely-traveled Hermes. According to Egyptian tradition Osiris traveled the world with Thoth. Under the protective umbrella of Hindu culture, snake charmers playing their nasal punji echo the same tradition. Alphabetic writing was already well established in the Late Bronze Age at Ugarit where a cuneiform script was used. The Phoenician alphabetic script was borrowed to write well before the first millennium BC." Phoenicia Org: http://phoenicia.org/alphabet.html .

smleite	04 Aug 2004
We can easily see Aleph in Le Bateleur, Beth in La Papesse, Gimmel in L’Imperatrice (?), Daleth in L’Empereur (but drawn like a Greek Delta), He in Le Pape, Waw in L’Amoureux, a kind of Zayin in Le Chariot (but no Heth in Justice, thought the whole picture looks like one)). Teth is obviously in L’Hermite, Yodh is fairly represented in La Roue de Fortune, the same with Kaph in La Force. I can’t see Lamedh in Le Pendu, but he looks like one himself; Mem is in card XIII (and the Hebrew Lamed is in the upper left corner, in front of the numeral), and Nun is in La Temperance (in front of what seems to be the astrological symbol of Aquarius, similar, by the way, to Mem); Samekh is in Le Diable; Ayin is everywhere in La Maison-Dieu. It takes a big imagination to see Pe in L’Etoile, and where is Tsade in La Lune? Qoph is in Le Soleil, but some letters are still missing. Sin should correspond to Le Fou, but I can’t see it, unless it corresponds to the symbol in the upper left corner, that looks more like the Hebrew (and also represented) letter. I guess Tau is in Le Monde, disguised as the crossed ribbons in the garland. Res could be in Le Jugement, exactly behind the bearded man rising from the tomb. Besides this, there seems to be a crown, or a trident, in Le Bateleur, a dragon in La Papesse (in the upper right corner) followed by a snake, and further down by a (kind of) Ankh; also the already mentioned symbol of Aquarius is in La Temperance, and, of course, several small Yods take the place of sun “particles” in Le Soleil and Le Jugement. Here follows a good presentation of the Phoenician alphabet: http://www.ancientscripts.com/phoenician.html Silvia

Lee	04 Aug 2004
Pardon me for being dense, but are we saying that there are Phoenician as well as Hebrew letters in the borders on the Wirth cards, besides the aforementioned symbols devised by Wirth such as the crown for the Magician, etc.? -- Lee

smleite	04 Aug 2004
Well, I am… I thought Penelope was more or less doing the same... and the Phoenician letters are clearly depicted, in most cases. But I’ve seen this deck for the first time when Rusty Neon posted the link, so I guess I really have nothing more to add to this interesting discussion. Silvia

Fulgour	04 Aug 2004
Phoenician Alphabet The Phoenicians were great traders who travelled all around the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast of Europe, and possibly Africa. The word 'Phoenician' comes from a Greek word thought to mean 'dealer in purple.' The Greek and Hebrew alphabets are thought to have developed from the Phoenician alphabet. Aramaic, a language which was the lingua franca of much of the Near East from about 7th century BC until the 7th century AD, when it was largely replaced by Arabic. Classical or Imperial Aramaic was the main language of the Persian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires and spread as far as Greece and the Indus valley. Proto-Hebrew/Early Aramaic alphabet

Rusty Neon	04 Aug 2004
Quote: Originally posted by smleite Well, I am… I thought Penelope was more or less doing the same... and the Phoenician letters are clearly depicted, in most cases. But I’ve seen this deck for the first time when Rusty Neon posted the link, so I guess I really have nothing more to add to this interesting discussion. Silvia I'd be interested in any examples of depictions of Phoenician letters in the Wirth card borders that fellow list-members may come up with. Thanks!

Fulgour	04 Aug 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Rusty Neon I'd be interested in any examples of depictions of Phoenician letters in the Wirth card borders... 13 (upper right corner) Phoenician Mem under Hebrew Mem 11 (upper right) Phoenician Kaph 4 (top center) Phoenician Daleth 1 (under right elbow) Phoenician `Aleph 2 (next to headdress, to your left viewing) Phoenician Beth 6 (middle, both sides) Phoenician Waw 9 (top center) Phoenicain Teth Etc., thoughout. ~ Enjoy! :laugh:

smleite	05 Aug 2004
I’ve drawn the letters on the borders in almost every card, but can’t post it. If someone wants to give me an email address, I will send the image. Silvia

telcontar	16 Aug 2004
First of all, thanks a lot for the link. Since I read somewhere that Crowley had an Oswald Wirth deck, I wanted to have a look at it, but somehow it never happened- until now. Probably you all have seen the sign of Leo in the upper left corner of La Force? But since nobody mentioned it so far, It might be a constructive thing to say. Have you considered there might be rather a heth in Le Fou than a Sin? I think it might be a lying heth in the upper right corner. And I also think, I can nearly see tsades in the Emperor... Don't you think there might be the "real" signs hidden in ther borders? Or that the people from the Golden Dawn just assumed, the best things must be hidden and dreamt meaning into the borders, like we do now :) Just some heretical ideas...

The Symbolism in the Art Nouveau Borders of the 1927 Oswald Wirth Tarot cards thread was originally posted on 03 Aug 2004 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.