The sixth card of the Major Arcana series, The Tower, heralds sudden changes, revelations, and brings new awakenings. Its imagery is one of destruction and demolition. A tower is facing assault from the forces of nature – fire, lightening, strong winds, and turbulent seas – as people fall from its windows to their demise.
Understanding the Meaning of The Tower
The appearance of this card in a reading can sometimes be unwelcome for some because of its foreboding imagery. But it’s necessary to remember that turning points and change in our lives are often accompanied by great upheaval. Ultimately this enables us to let go of old baggage, or habits and characteristics that hinder us so that they can be replaced with something better and new.
Tarot author Geraldine Amaral quotes Ernest Hemingway when he said, ‘The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.’ This idea of breaking down in order to rebuild is the central idea of The Tower card.
Relating The Tower Card To Our Lives
The structure of a tower itself can be thought of as rigid and unmoving. In The Tower card, the forces of nature are seen to be shaking up the structure just as our own set of rigid rules or beliefs, self-concepts and the roles we play need to be shaken up from time to time.
Perhaps we are holding on to misperceptions that are limiting us in life, such as the belief that we will never succeed or that the world is an unsafe place to thrive in. There may be deeply embedded prejudices towards others that we inherited during our childhoods that no longer serve us in our present lives.
The disruptive energy of The Tower will challenge such beliefs, or it may signal that something is occurring in our lives to overthrow our misperceptions. Situations such as divorce, bankruptcy, the loss of a job, a spiritual awakening or epiphany, unveiling of corruption, or being held personally responsible for one’s actions, could all be indicated by The Tower. It’s thought that the situation implied may be painful, but from the hardship comes much growth and permanent, dramatic change.
The Tower Card Offers Hope
Amaral sees the inherent beauty in the destruction of The Tower, describing it as the ‘“highest level of consciousness” – the moment when you see the fallacy in your thinking and behavior.’ When The Tower appears in a reading it's important to remember that it’s often 'darkest before the dawn'.
The appearance of The Tower suggests:
- A time to be more open-minded
- A sacrifice and letting go of something we held dear to us in order to make way for something better. This could be a lifestyle, a habit pattern, or a relationship.
- We are required to live in greater truth and alignment with who we really are or desire to be.
- Fuller richer times are ahead after the initial storm.
Like the Death card in the Major Arcana, the changes and transformation implied by The Tower card are usually permanent and absolute. And when we reach a higher state of awareness and enlightenment through chaos, going back to an old way of living and operating is no longer acceptable.
Source:
Amaral, Geraldine. Tarot Celebrations: Honoring the Inner Voice. Samuel Weisner Inc. 1997.
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