The Psychedelic Swiss Tarot - Major Arcana - outsider art as mirror of the psyche
Few tarot cards force you to stop and look. These do. The Psychedelic Swiss Tarot is based on the work of Adolf Wölfli, a Swiss artist who spent most of his life in a psychiatric institution and created an enormous visual universe there.
His drawings are complex, almost obsessive, and filled with symbols that do not easily fit into any tarot tradition. Kisses from IBIZA has translated the 22 cards of the Major Arcana into this format. The result is a deck that works more as artistic object than as traditional reading tool.
What you see on the cards
Wölfli's style is characterized by horror vacui: the fear of emptiness. Every part of the card is filled with patterns, shapes and small drawings. It takes time to penetrate the image.
The images are not built on Rider-Waite-Smith or other classic iconography. Instead you see Wölfli's own language: spirals, symmetrical compositions, fragmented human forms, abstract structures. This is not illustration of a meaning, but a visual story that opens as you look longer.
The cards measure 70 x 120 mm. That is smaller than standard tarot cards, which makes them more compact in the hand.
Who this deck works for
This deck is published for collectors and people who do not separate art from spirituality. It contains only the Major Arcana, so it is not intended for full 78-card tarot readings.
Many people use it as a source of inspiration or meditation tool. You draw one card, place it in front of you, and observe what comes up. The absence of fixed meanings forces you to make your own associations.
Place one card under a reading lamp and notice which details you only see appear after a few minutes. Wölfli's work unfolds slowly.
About Adolf Wölfli
Adolf Wölfli was born in 1864 in Switzerland and spent most of his life from age 31 in the Waldau psychiatric clinic near Bern. There he began to draw and write, and produced thousands of pages of drawings, musical scores, stories and collages.
His work was discovered by art historians and psychiatrists, and he is now considered one of the founders of Art Brut, or outsider art. His legacy is managed by the Adolf Wölfli Foundation in Bern.
Specifications
- Number of cards: 22 (Major Arcana only)
- Card size: 70 x 120 mm
- Language: English
- Weight: 150 g
- Publisher: Kisses from IBIZA
- Artist: Adolf Wölfli
- Style: Art Brut, outsider art
Questions we often get
Does this deck include a guidebook with meanings?
The publisher does not mention a guidebook in the product specifications. This deck asks for your own interpretation, not prescribed meanings.
Why are the Minor Arcana missing?
This deck concentrates on the 22 archetypal cards of the Major Arcana. It is designed as artistic interpretation, not as a complete working deck for 78-card readings.
