The Pope raises his hand to bless and holds the symbol of his office. Before him, smaller figures receive instruction, authorization, or entry into a community. The fifth card speaks of transmission, shared rules, and the connection between a person and the institution in which they choose to place their trust.
The Pope of the old tarot decks belongs to the religious order of Christian Europe. The Hierophant of the Waite-Smith generalizes this function and integrates it into the architecture of the Golden Dawn. Both images evoke a recognized authority, but the letters, astrological signs, and temple details arise from different constructions.
The Pope in the earliest tarot decks
The Pope is attested in Italian tarot decks from the 15th century. The Visconti-Sforza example at the Morgan Library shows a veiled pontiff wearing the triple tiara, blessing with his right hand and holding a cross in his left. The card represents a recognized religious office before becoming an occultist allegory. Morgan Library, Visconti-Sforza Tarot, The Pope.
In the Tarot de Marseille, two figures stand before him. Their size and posture indicate a relationship of teaching, ordination, or reception. The Pope does not work alone: he transmits knowledge within a community and speaks from a role that transcends him.
Iconographic reference. The blessing and the acolytes place the card within the realm of transmission. Depending on the question, the Pope may be a guide, a teacher, an adviser, an institution, or the shared rule that allows a group to remain united.
From the Pope to the Hierophant
Mathers names the card “Hierophant or Pope” and connects it with mercy and benevolence. Papus and Wirth place it under the letter He in the French sequence. This attribution follows directly from Daleth–Emperor.
The Golden Dawn assigns Vau and Taurus to the fifth arcana. In the Waite-Smith, the pontiff becomes the Hierophant. The triple crown, triple cross, crossed keys, and two ministers make up the external power of organized religion. Waite contrasts it with the High Priestess: she guards withdrawn knowledge, while the Hierophant represents declared doctrine, public ritual, and recognized hierarchy.
What ancient authors attributed to it
Mathers highlights mercy, benevolence, goodness, and generosity. Reversed, the Pope becomes excessive indulgence, weakness, or poorly exercised generosity. The card is therefore not merely rigid: its shadow may also stem from an authority that no longer knows how to set boundaries.
Waite associates the Hierophant with marriage, alliance, seeking the counsel of a wise man, mercy, and goodness. He also adds servitude and captivity, reminding us that belonging to an institution creates both support and obligation. In a spread, the Pope asks what is being transmitted, in whose name, and with what commitment.
Meaning in a spread
In a favorable reading
The Pope favors competent advice, teaching, mediation, entry into a community, and the formalization of a commitment. It may indicate a person with the experience required to pass on a method or an institution capable of recognizing a union, qualification, or role.
The card invites you to ask for help without abandoning your judgment. It may also place the querent in a position to pass on knowledge in turn, provided they respect the responsibility attached to that role.
In an unfavorable reading
The Pope may indicate rigid dogma, morality used to control, dependence on approval, or advice given without competence. Conversely, it may signal indulgence that perpetuates a harmful situation, authority that is too weak to enforce the rule, or a commitment made to satisfy the group.
Love, work, and finances
| Area | Favorable reading | Shadow aspect | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Love | Recognized commitment, shared values, mediation, or a union project. | Family pressure, a relationship maintained out of duty, imposed morality. | Is the commitment chosen by the people concerned? |
| Work | Training, mentoring, validation, belonging to an institution. | Doctrinaire hierarchy, empty procedure, advice without competence. | What authority can actually validate this step? |
| Finances | Qualified advice, collective framework, regulated funding or agreement. | Dependency, imposed conditions, trust granted solely because of prestige. | Does the advice make the person giving it accountable? |
| Study or transmission | Structured teaching, initiation into a method, passing knowledge on. | Repetition without understanding, secrecy used to create submission. | Does this knowledge make the student more independent? |
How to read its associations
The Pope brings counsel, transmission, the common rule, and institutional recognition. The neighboring card specifies what receives this blessing, teaching, or obligation.
| Association | Possible dynamic | Point of caution |
|---|---|---|
| Pope + High Priestess | Declared teaching and reserved knowledge complement each other. | Distinguish what can be passed on from what must remain confidential. |
| Pope + Emperor | An institution brings together temporal authority and moral legitimacy. | Preserve checks and balances. |
| Pope + Lovers | A choice leads toward an alliance, commitment, or recognition. | Reject any pressure on consent. |
| Pope + Justice | Advice, arbitration, a contract, ritual, or commitment receives an official form. | Check the applicable rule and impartiality. |
| Pope + Devil | A doctrine or authority becomes entangled with interest, desire, or dependency. | Risk of control and guilt-tripping. |
| Pope + Tower | An institution, teaching, or authority is called into question. | Separate the necessary function from the structure that has become abusive. |
| Pope + World | Completed transmission, recognition by a community, or successful integration. | Do not confuse recognition with blind conformity. |
Correspondences according to the schools
| Reference | Attribution | Historical significance |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Trump or major arcana V | Fifth numbered trump in the French series. |
| Italian tarot decks | The Pope, tiara, blessing, and cross | Religious authority figure attested in the 15th century. |
| Tarot de Marseille | Pontiff and two acolytes | Image of transmission, blessing, and hierarchy. |
| French occultism | He; mercy and teaching | Attribution found in Papus and Wirth. |
| Golden Dawn | Vau and Taurus | Distinct system from the French sequence He–Pope. |
| Waite-Smith | Hierophant, crossed keys, ministers, and triple cross | External religion and hierarchy become the center of the card. |
| Element | Earth in the zodiacal reading of Taurus | Golden Dawn correspondence, not a universal attribution of the Tarot de Marseille. |
| Stone, plant, and season | No stable historical attribution | Contemporary lists do not form a common heritage. |
| Reading words | Transmission, advice, commitment, institution, alliance | The card connects a person to a rule or community. |
| Shadow aspect | Dogma, dependence, weakness, harmful indulgence | Authority imposes or renounces its responsibility. |
Choosing a tarot deck to work with this card
To find this arcana in a complete deck, compare the Tarots de Marseille, the Rider-Waite-Smith, and all of our divination tarot decks. If you are just starting, also consult How to choose your first tarot deck?.
Reference sources and texts
Morgan Library, Visconti-Sforza Tarot, The Pope ; S. L. MacGregor Mathers, The Tarot, 1888 ; Papus, Le Tarot des Bohémiens, 1889 ; Oswald Wirth, Le Tarot des imagiers du Moyen Âge, 1927 ; Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911.
