The Tower

This is the Tarot card that I drew today so you can see it has been challenging to say the least :)

THE TOWER

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite (1911)

Part I: The Veil and its Symbols

16. The Tower struck by Lightning. Its alternative titles are: Castle of Plutus, God's House and the Tower of Babel. In the last case, the figures falling therefrom are held to be Nimrod and his minister. It is assuredly a card of confusion, and the design corresponds, broadly speaking, to any of the designations except Maison Dieu, unless we are to understand that the House of God has been abandoned and the veil of the temple rent. It is a little surprising that the device has not so far been allocated to the destruction Of Solomon's Temple, when the lightning would symbolize the fire and sword with which that edifice was visited by the King of the Chaldees.

Part II: The Doctrine Behind the Veil

Occult explanations attached to this card are meagre and mostly disconcerting. It is idle to indicate that it depicts min in all its aspects, because it bears this evidence on the surface. It is said further that it contains the first allusion to a material building, but I do not conceive that the Tower is more or less material than the pillars which we have met with in three previous cases. I see nothing to warrant Papus in supposing that it is literally the fall of Adam, but there is more in favour of his alternative, that it signifies the materialization of the spiritual word. The bibliographer Christian imagines that it is the downfall of the mind, seeking to penetrate the mystery of God. I agree rather with Grand Orient that it is the ruin of the House of We, when evil has prevailed therein, and above all that it is the rending of a House of Doctrine. I understand that the reference is, however, to a House of Falsehood. It illustrates also in the most comprehensive way the old truth that “except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”

There is a sense in which the catastrophe is a reflection from the previous card, but not on the side of the symbolism which I have tried to indicate therein. It is more correctly a question of analogy; one is concerned with the fall into the material and animal state, while the other signifies destruction on the intellectual side. The Tower has been spoken of as the chastisement of pride and the intellect overwhelmed in the attempt to penetrate the Mystery of God; but in neither case do these explanations account for the two persons who are the living sufferers. The one is the literal word made void and the other its false interpretation. In yet a deeper sense, it may signify also the end of a dispensation, but there is no possibility here for the consideration of this involved question.

UPRIGHT

An energy of releasing – sometimes explosively – old ways of life, old habits, old patterns, old ideas and expectations.

Abrupt and sudden change, unexpected events, adversity, calamity, setback.

Flashes of intuition.

Shattering of old illusions.

Breaking free of restrictions.

Catastrophic change.

Change of residence.

New job.

Loss of security, bankruptcy.

Freedom and enlightenment.

Fighting within the home, separation, divorce.

Some day you’ll thank me for this.

No pain, no gain.

Being shocked into your senses by a sudden event.

Accidents, acts of God (hurricanes, tornadoes, floods).

Catastrophe through acts of god (hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves).

Wake-up call.

The collapse of an old way of life.

Coups, revolutions, governments overthrown.

An accident.

Rid yourself of binding social conventions and false beliefs. The structures imprisoning you must be shattered before you can achieve enlightenment.

The more entrenched you are in a phony lifestyle, the more disruptive the change will be.

“Every one of the Goddess’ signs is like a thunderbolt shooting into this world of ours, devastating in it’s ability to destroy our whole perception of existence” – Peter Kingsley ‘Reality’ Pg 162

REVERSED

Continued oppression.

Mental bondage.

Coping with change.

Being involved with an ongoing change affecting your outer world.

Living in a rut.

Following old ways.

Trying to stave off a Tower experience and maintain the status quo.

The trauma is over, things will never be the same – time to pick up the pieces and move on.

You feel boxed in, hampered, confined.

Restriction of freedom.

Chance for a new start.

Roll with the punches.

Liberation.

Enthusiasm.

A crisis that is basically over except for the fallout.