The Tarot de Besançon Mystery: Why Some Decks Fired Their Pope

Today's Lesson In certain regions of France and Switzerland during the 17th and 18th centuries, something peculiar happened to tarot decks: the Pope and Papess cards vanished, replaced by Jupiter and Juno. This wasn't an artistic whim—it was religious survival. The Tarot de Besançon emerged in areas where Protestant influence made papal imagery politically dangerous for cardmakers and sellers. Rather than abandon the tarot structure entirely, printers simply swapped out the controversial religious figures for classical deities. The deck still worked, the numbering stayed intact, but the imagery became safe for commerce. What's fascinating is that this wasn't a one-time regional quirk—it tells us something crucial about tarot's history. Tarot survived for centuries not because it was sacred and unchangeable, but because it was flexible and commercial. Cardmakers adapted to their markets, their politics, their customers. The same archetypal position (say, card V) could hold a Pope, Jupiter, or in later occult decks, the Hierophant—different costumes, same essential role in the sequence. This reminds us that tarot's power isn't locked into any single imagery system; it's in the structure, the journey from Fool to World, and the relationships between positions. If you're exploring different decks today, look for these historical…