The Tarot of Marseilles In the Tarot of Marseilles, the Pope wears a red cape and a blue robe, with his right hand raised in a blessing gesture. When the tarot was invented, the Pope controlled a large portion of central Italy, so the papacy was not just a religious authority, but was a political and military force as well. In modern decks he is called the Hierophant, applied by Antoine Court de Gébelin in the 18th century. According to Gébelin, the title Hierophant was used for the chief priests of the Eleusinian Mysteries in Ancient Greece. Gébelin was the first thinker to begin interpreting the Tarot as an arcane repository of esotericwisdom. He asserted that the primitive worldwide civilization had been advanced and enlightened, and that the Tarot contained a secret philosophy, driven underground by mainstream religion. According to Gébelin's theory, the priestes of Ancient Egypt had used the Tarot images to illustrate the Book of Thoth . He connected the Tarot cards with...