Among uneducated people symbols took the place of written characters in early days, so, since these knots conveyed a sound and a meaning, a number is also indicated by the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These letters or numbers that were occasionally placed on the early Atouts have the greatest value when deciphering the attributes found on the Tarots, since each one has occult significance attached to it, evidently placed there with the intention of assisting the early fortune-tellers to decipher their meaning, although omitted in the later books of Thoth-Hermes, when they were used only for amusement or gambling. II. LA PAPESSA (THE FEMALE POPE) This card is supposed to represent Isis. She is typified by a seated female figure with two pillars behind her, between which hangs a curtain indicating her temple. She is crowned with a triple tiara, and has an open book in her lap. This goddess instructs and persuades. Law, erudition, and occult science are under her protection. As the first female figure among the Atouts, she represents the priestess of the temple of Thoth, also Eve, also the mother. When a woman is the inquirer, this card represents her, instead of the Pagat, which represents a man inquirer. The name of Papessa, given to this card by the modern Italian card-painter, seems to be a corruption of Isis. The former name is misleading, and has no connection with the original meaning of the figure, for it has nothing in common with the mythical Pope Joan of the Roman Church, while all the attributes show that the figure represents Isis, or, perhaps, Tashitum, the consort of Nebo, called "the Interceder." "The Italian card-makers," says de Gebelin, "named numbers II and V of the Atouts, mother and father, or Papessa and Papa;" but he declares "their emblems are Egyptian and the triple phallus worn by number II is the one borne by Isis in the _Fête des Pampylies_, where Isis joyfully receives Osiris. It is the symbol of regeneration of plants, or spring." The card is also supposed to represent Juno in the Roman mythology. "The attitude connects it," says the same authority, "with _la haute magic_, since it is the first of the symbols of the Emerald Tablet, one of the books of Thoth, that was discovered on the mount of Nebo." Wiltshire says: "Believers in magic find occult meanings in the hands of this figure." Roman women sacrificed to Juno on their birthdays, as she was not only the goddess who presided over maternity (making Mercury her messenger, who carried the child to its parents) but she was also the protector of women. Part of the great book of Thoth, called the Ritual of the Dead, said to have been written with the finger of Thoth, and generally placed with a mummy, says: "I am yesterday. Yesterday is Osiris. Phthah goes around. The divine Horus prefers Thee. The god Set does so in turn, as well as Isis, whom thou hast seen." The Hebrew letter on the second Atout is Beth, which hieroglyphically