Wirth-influenced decks

Rider-Waite –
Pentagram on or above the head of the Devil
Solar symbol on the Head of the angel in Temperance
Flower in Magician card
Path/road in Moon card
Suggested the Hermit lived in the wilderness/grotto etc

Thoth-
Path/road in Moon card
A crocodile in Fool card (this may predate Wirth/Papus T.O.T.B., I am not sure)
Pentagram/Adam Kadmon in Hierophant (suggested by Wirth in Tarot of the Magicians)
Wirth was the first to have Hebrew letters printed on the major arcana, as far as I know

Masonic (by Grimaud)
Almost all of this deck seems to be based on Tarot of the Magicians (a little bit based on Papus as well). The author took much of what Wirth wrote in his book and used it for the imagery on this lovely Tarot pack.
Adam Kadmon on The Hierophant
The Hermit has a key and is standing in front of a grotto
Too many to mention as most is based on Wirth writings, in fact many of the images look to be exactly the same as the Wirth drawings in T.O.T.M..

More to come on this subject later as I am quite a fan of Wirth, right now I have to get to work. I like the U.S. Games Wirth deck and I still consider it my number one favourite pack of all time.


Freddie

Sphinx figures and stars on canopy on The Chariot?

Checkerboard floor on Popess?

Book symbol on Popess?




Freddie

Teheuti said:

..... I even like the matching with the Picard Minors although the suit/element correspondences are not matched.

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As Wirth had no minors I assume you mean the LoS Wirth minors do not match the suit/element correspondences given by Picard. So, please remind me of Picard's suit/element correspondences, and let me know what correspondences LoS have suggested.

About "The Czech Tarot of Lasenic's". I think I heard that Lasenic studied with Wirth in person while he was in Paris. (I wonder if my memory is correct...?)

And Wirth's deck was probably one of the sources Domenico Balbi referred to in creating his TAROT BALBI. For example, the children in THE SUN card hold a lyre in their hands together. This should be derived from Wirth's drawing. (See the attached image.)

WOW! Is there a third version of Wirth's deck?

I'm aware of the 1889 version (there's one on ebay right now btw), and the 1926/7 version, but neither of them have the lyre on the Sun card.

Sumada said:

As Wirth had no minors I assume you mean the LoS Wirth minors do not match the suit/element correspondences given by Picard. So, please remind me of Picard's suit/element correspondences, and let me know what correspondences LoS have suggested.

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Yes, Wirth only created Majors. The LoS Universal Wirth Minors are taken from Eudes Picard. In his book, when talking about the Magician, Wirth associates Fire with the Wand, Water with the Cup, Air with the Sword, and Earth with the Coin. The Picard Minors are associated with the Wands as Fire, Cups as Air, Swords as Water, and Coins as Earth. This is very apparent in the symbolism on the cards themselves.

Thanks for that Mary. I seem to remember the Picard correspondences now (as you say the imagery says it all; butterflies on the cups etc.), but somehow I must have missed the bit in Wirth's description of the Magician.

kenji said:

For example, the children in THE SUN card hold a lyre in their hands together. This should be derived from Wirth's drawing. (See the attached image.)

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Very interesting. I had never seen this version of a Wirth deck. Please, please tell us more about it.

Could the harp/lyre have been a reference to the 1664 Mitelli deck - also called the Tarocchino Bolognese - in which the Sun is Apollo with his lyre?

The Egyptian tarots have a woman playing a harp on the World card - but that's different.

I once had the US Games Oswald Wirth deck, it was actually my first, and it had metallic paint backgrounds and was really ugly. Good thing I found other decks otherwise I wouldn't be here at all. I subsequently gave it away. Does anyone have it? How "Wirth" is it?

closrapexa said:

I once had the US Games Oswald Wirth deck, it was actually my first, and it had metallic paint backgrounds and was really ugly. Good thing I found other decks otherwise I wouldn't be here at all. I subsequently gave it away. Does anyone have it? How "Wirth" is it?

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I think it is the worst of the Wirth decks, but may have been based on the 1927 deck that Kenji showed us.