It is time for a little gem from Germany. Ever since Ciro Marchetti introduced Kipper into the Divination Community with his gorgeous Fin de Siecle, I have been a true fan of the system. A system that originates in the German speaking countries in Europe. So, it is logical to finally focus on one of the Kipper-specialists: Hildegard Leiding, and her Leiding Wahrsagekarten Kipper.
Kipper cards are similar in size to Lenormands. In other words: tiny. The Leiding Wahrsagekarten Kipper is no exception. The cards come in a little transparent plastic box without any logo or print. There are 36 of them, including two blanco ones. Since there is no LWB, which is such a shame, because I would have loved to hear Leiding’s own take on this deck and on Kipper especially, I have no idea why there are two empty ones. Probably to use as a ‘carte blanche’ in a reading, or with your own drawing when another card has been damaged.
Look & feel
The blanco ones have the same logo as the 36 normal ones on the back, a beige, white bordered back that seems to have a coat of arms. I don’t know if there are any Kipper-readers using reversals (I highly doubt it), but if you want to: alas, with this coat of arms it is immediately clear that a card is upside down.
The card stock is good, with a little gloss lamination. I don’t see them getting chipping or scratches any time soon. Unless you have a dog eager to eat your decks, you won’t have to worry about its quality.
It’s a good purchase, especially considering the price (I payed E12,50 for it). Yes, despite the mini-size it still has borders and again they are not useful, nor aesthetically pleasing, but luckily with Kipper you need to get less from the art than with Tarot, so I am letting it slide…
Back to the 90-ies
Hildegard Leiding took the Original Kipper Cards as an inspiration but did give her own ‘finish’ to the Leiding Wahrsagekarten Kipper. A modernization in art to begin with, which gives the whole deck a little ‘countryside’ feeling and the watercolors are pretty and easy to look at. It is in no way comparable to the bold colors of the Fin the Siecle, but also pretty distinctive from the Original Kipper deck that is much, much older and shows a different style (Biedermeier time, mid 1800’s. Think Empress Sissi ;-)).
Even though Leiding modernized the deck in art, nowadays it can give you a few smirks and grins if you see the depictions. It did for me, but not in a bad way. The deck is still pretty, but it is always fun if you can read a typical decade off the cards. In this case the nineties of the last century. The Leiding Wahrsagekarten Kipper was printed in January 1995 and it shows. Checkout the dude on card 34 for example and the cellphone he holds…it has an antenna! The same goes for the clothing style – we women were almost as badly dressed as in the 80-ies – or the cars shown.
Kipper make-over
The whole deck is based on the Original Kipper cards, but in the Leiding Wahrsagekarten there are a few differences. Not in meanings and numbers – very important to both Lenormand and Kipper -, but in portrayal and the words you can read on the cards. In a way she has made reading with this deck a little easier, because some of the meanings have replaced the regular word. Or the image shown is more symbolic and therefore fast to grasp. One of the clearest differences is 19 Coffin, which is named Abschluss/Neu-beginn (End or new beginning) and which shows a coffin in an apartment with the balcony doors open, showing you a beautiful view. You can see the sea, the sun shining. Yes, you will need to say goodbye to something, but the sun is rising; helping you to something new. It is very reminiscent of the whole XIII Death/Transformation/Butterfly concept.
Some other cards that have gotten a little makeover are 28 Erwartung (Expectation), which is now renamed 3 Monate Geduld (3 months patience). She chose to use the meaning of the card, rather than the original Kipper noun. Another one, a personal favorite, is 8 Falsche Person (False Person), which is renamed Falsch. I particularly like the symbolism. You see a man standing in front of the mirror. He looks normal, but a bit stern, and next to him you see a dead rose in a vase. But then look in the mirror. All of a sudden he’s wearing a big sneer and the red rose is alive again. This is obviously someone wearing a mask, the wolf in sheep’s clothing. There are a few more that have gotten a new title, usually connected to the actual meaning of the card (16, 3, 31 etc), but you can better experience that for yourself.
Relationship reading
Like I had already found out with Marchetti’s deck, the Kipper mostly focuses on your private life, not what is happening ‘outside’ (which is more Lenormand). You can see that from the pictures, but you notice it in readings as well. For some reason it is at its strongest when you ask about your direct personal life and relationships. For the purpose of this review I did try a career reading and it came true a few days after, so that was cool. But I still prefer the Leiding Wahrsagekarten Kipper for my love-life or the relationship with friends. It just really shines then, because it has the right cards to show me. According to the mini-deck interview I did, it will especially help you if you’re considering important changes in your life or if you want to know about future developments on difficult/tragic situations. Yep, that screams my love-life. Kidding…a bit.
For non-German speakers this deck might be tricky in the beginning. If you already know the system, the numbers and images will guide you enough to get used to it quickly. But if you’re new to Kipper and your German is rusty you will need a thesaurus (or Google Translate) to get you started. But don’t let that stop you. The cards are very easy to read, despite the language-issue. Besides, they are good quality and still so close to the Original Kipper deck that – for example – a tarot reader wanting to cheat with a Kipper deck for once, can very well start with this one.
Conclusion
For me the Leiding Wahrsagekarten Kipper was my second Kipper deck (I have two others, the Original Kipper deck and Mystiches Kipper, both by Regula Elizabeth Fiechter) and I have not regretted buying it ever since. The art is pleasant to the eye, it has good card-stock and the adaptions to the words and imagery are done in such a way it actually makes sense instead of confusing you.
I am still bummed out the deck does not come with a booklet to help me along and that it has a simple plastic box with no logo or anything to make it distinguishable. But for its price one can’t expect too much in the ‘extra department’. If you were looking for a Kipper, the Leiding Wahrsagekarten Kipper is definitely in the Top 3.
All Hildegard Leiding’s work can be bought from her (own?) publishing house in Germany, but as always I have provided a link to Amazon as well.
| Author or artist | Publisher | Publication |
|---|---|---|
| Hildegard Leiding | Verlag Weisse Reihe Heppenheim | January 1995 |
