Joseph Paul Oswald Wirth (5 August 1860, Brienz, Canton of Bern – 9 March 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.[1] Known as "Les 22 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.[1][2] The Wirth/de Guaita deck is significant in the history of the tarot for being the first in a long line of occult, cartomantic, and initiatory decks.[2]
His interests also included Freemasonry and Astrology. He wrote many books in French regarding Freemasonry, most importantly a set of three volumes explaining Freemasonry's first three degrees.
Wirth is best known as the author of Le Tarot des imagiers du Moyen Âge (1927), translated and published in English as The Tarot of the Magicians (1985).
On 28 January 1884 Wirth was initiated in the regular Scottish Rite Masonic Lodge La Bienfaisance Châlonnaise affiliated to the Grand Orient of France. In 1889, he joined the Scottish Rite Travail et les Vrais Amis Fidèles where he became Grand Master. In 1898, the latter lodge was admitted to the Grand Lodge of France.[3]
- ^ a b Decker, Ronald; Dummett, Michael (2002). History of the Occult Tarot. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. pp. 177–185. ISBN 0715631225.
- ^ a b Dummett, Michael (1980). The Game of Tarot. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. pp. 126–127. ISBN 0715610147.
- ^ Françoise Jupeau Réquillard, La Grande Loge Symbolique écossaise 1880-1911, ou les avant-gardes maçonniques, Éditions du Rocher, Monaco, 1998, p.165, n. 13.