XVI The Tower - 'The Wrath of God'
The Fool leaves The Devil's influential sphere in one of two states of mind. He's either won the battle with his inner demons and feels now stronger than ever, or he's still vulnerable to The Devil's tricks and his spirit is weakened. This will affect how he deals with the next archetype. At number 'XVI' in the Major Arcana, 'The Tower' is about to shake every foundation The Fool has worked so hard to build.
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| 'The Tower' variations. Left: The Manuscript of Initiations Tarot. Right: Touchstone Tarot |
THE TOWER - The Wrath of God
KEYWORDS
Catastrophe. Sudden change. Upheaval. Extreme physical or psychological shock. Accidents. Mental breakdowns. Relationship breakups. Natural or manmade disasters. Sudden illness. Tragedy. Destruction. Life changing revelation. Love at first sight.
Silver linings. Escaping disaster. A curse becomes a blessing. A conscious drastic change. Destroying traditional foundations. Surviving tragic events. A premonition.
THE LIGHT
The Tower is very rarely a welcome card in a reading, except maybe in one particular circumstance which I'll get to in a moment.
The imagery and symbolism leave very little to the imagination. It usually portrays a tall building struck by a powerful bolt of lightning, causing a raging fire and considerable structural damage, forcing people to jump out of windows, in a desperate attempt to save themselves from the inferno inside. It inevitably brings up memories of the World Trade Center Towers reduced to rubble and dust on September 11, 2001 in New York City. That fateful day was a devastating real-life example of The Tower archetype. One blindsiding, brutal event that changes our reality forever. How many of us Tarot enthusiasts stared dumbfounded at our TV screens and saw The Tower come to life right before our very eyes that day?
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| 'The Towers' from the Urban Tarot - First Edition by Robin Scott |
The Tower's frightening unpredictability, coupled with the physical and/or emotional suffering it causes is what makes it such a distressing card. Its consequences are catastrophic and irreparable. This archetype represents all manner of tragic events such as potentially life-threatening accidents; sudden serious illness; natural or man-made disasters; severe physical injuries or mental breakdowns; betrayals and relationship breakups.
The Tower is cruel and random. It represents the inherent unfairness of life, when bad things happen to good people. If The Tower appears and our life turns to shambles, the only solution is to rebuild it all from scratch, hopefully with a much better plan and a much stronger, solid foundation. This card can also signify the shattering of an over-inflated ego that needs to learn the meaning and the value of humility. Sometimes, pain and suffering are the only way this lesson can be truly assimilated.
Thankfully, unexpected and drastic change can sometimes be a positive development. This card can represent a life-altering revelation, idea or epiphany that forces us to completely change the course of our existence. It can be scary and the prospect of starting over is daunting, but there is no question of turning back once that realization strikes.
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| Whimsical 'Tower' variations. From left to right: The Happy Tarot, Forest of Enchantment Tarot and Nicoletta Ceccoli Tarot |
Another positive aspect of The Tower is actually, believe it or not, the stuff fairy tales are made of. Have you ever experienced that exceedingly rare, irresistible, life changing feeling of falling in love at first sight? There you are, minding your own business, when suddenly this stranger appears in your life and changes the very fabric of your being from the very first moment you meet. You can no longer imagine life without them. The French refer to love at first sight as 'Le coup de foudre', which literally translates as lightning strike or thunderbolt. Of course, it can still be a devastating situation if the affected parties are already romantically involved with other people. Let's never forget that this is The Tower we're dealing with, after all. Even in its more positive form it's still a force like no other, with potentially destructive consequences.
THE SHADOW
The shadow Tower is a much less intimidating card. It represents the ability to see the silver lining in any difficult situation. In its shadow aspect this card turns a curse into a blessing. What seemed like a horrendous turn of events quite unexpectedly becomes the very thing we needed at the exact time we needed it. It can also represent a narrow escape from a disastrous event.
While The Tower normally strikes without warning, the shadow Tower calls for a conscious choice to completely break with routine. It's also a sign that we're undergoing an intense internal upheaval. We're questioning old beliefs and traditions and awakening to a brand-new philosophy of our own.
Another aspect of the shadow Tower deals with survival, intuition and premonition. That feeling we get when we know something terrible is about to happen and we somehow intuitively start taking steps to lessen the blow. This allows us to rise above the devastation and redirect the negative energy into a more positive outcome.
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| Two unusual and one traditional 'Tower' variations. From left to right: The Slow Tarot, Pagan Otherworlds Tarot and the Madhouse Tarot |
LITERALLY
In the most literal sense, The Tower can represent intentional demolition of buildings. It can also foresee destruction or structural damage due to natural causes such as hurricanes, earthquakes or landslides.
TAROT ACADEMIA
The Tower holds many parallels to Christian religious lore.
In the Tarot de Marseille, this card is called 'La Maison-Dieu', the House of God. A reminder that the chaos and destruction attached to this archetype is directly orchestrated by a higher power. The phrase 'God works in mysterious ways' is as good an explanation as any other when attempting to make sense of The Tower's random, unpredictable mayhem.
Another religious concept linked to this card is the idea of Divine retribution, or the wrath of God. The Creator's anger towards his creation is alluded to time and again in the Christian Bible. One example among many is found in Romans 1:18-32:
'For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.'
The symbolism in The Tower is a perfect representation of God's Biblical wrath. A powerful destructive force sent from the heavens, symbolized by lightening, destroys the House of God, which represents his creation. As a result, a sinning humanity is punished and cast down to Hell, symbolized by the falling figures in the card.
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| 'La Maison-Dieu' from the Tarot de Marseille-Waite by Emmanuelle Iger & Alice Laverty |
Yet another Biblical parallel can be drawn between the Tarot's Tower and the story of the Tower of Babel. This mythical structure was an enormous vertical city, where humans lived after the Great Flood and where everyone spoke the same language. The true purpose of this gigantic tower was to protect themselves against another great flood. God considered this state of affairs to be blasphemous and decided to thwart humanity's plan by confounding their speech. People no longer understood each other, so the different linguistic groups left the tower of Babel and scattered all over the Earth as God intended. The Tarot's Tower symbology can easily be interpreted as an allegory for this Biblical myth.
AN EXERCISE
Combine The Tower with random cards from your deck and observe how its meaning and its consequences change depending on surrounding cards. Use your intuition to determine whether The Tower is in a positive or shadow position.