Diana said:
This is another fact that historians will argue about forever. Half say there were two, and the other half say they were three. The Roman Catholic Church, as well as the Orthodox Church are adamant - there were three. (The Roman Catholic Church actually joined the Orthodox Church on this later on - before that, the High-Up Guys seemed not to agree about this....)
I believe there were only two... everything I have read makes me believe that it is once again the Roman Catholic Church who is making up their usual fibs and myths and legends just to please themselves when they say there are three
Not just Roman Catholic or Orthodox - as far as I know, all Christian Churches take the gospels as, well, gospel! - and the gospels mention three Marys. Including the oldest Churches (Syriac, Palestinian, Chaldean, etc). I'm not sure what they believed before the gospels were written and the canon was closed. I have no stake in the subject and have not seen other sources. Does it really matter?
The Papesse is just as likely to be a figure of a great churchwoman (St Scholastica was mentioned but there were many such great figures in the Middle Ages), or a great heretical figure (e.g. a Perfect woman leader). Or likelier still, not one single historical figure. A Symbol. Just as The Pope is not really a real Medieval Pope, but a Symbol of what A Pope should be.
Phoenix Rising said:
Somehow I don't think the catholic church would of given any woman a high position in church. Didn't they just put Mother Mary in there so that they could draw the Pagans into there church. They knew that they Pagans worshipped Goddesses
Strangely, nevertheless, women, especially up to the Counter-Reformation (things have gone downhill since) managed to make important places for themselves in the Church - as Abbesses of great houses, as founders of orders, as patronesses, as mystics. Jesus, of course, was always surrounded by women and valued them greatly. Women played a pivotal role in the Early Church, despite some of the mysogynistic pronouncements of some of the Church Fathers.
I don't think it was the Church (the Eastern or the Western Church) particularly who was mysogynistic - all Middle Eastern and European society reserved a secondary role for women. The Greeks might have had goddesses, but they kept their women hidden away and unlettered. Women had no standing in Roman law. In ancient Jewish tradition, women had power and influence in the home, but none outside it (this is still the case in very orthodox circles).
I am not a Catholic, but I read some unwarranted and unfair attacks on the Catholic Church on this thread using the Tarot as support. Personally I cannot see that the Tarot can be misused in such a polemical way. It is a beautiful book for spiritual development, not for attack. The figure of the Papesse is undoubtedly mysterious, and we will continue wondering about her. She is a wonder, too! She is the key to that book, I believe.