THE TOWER
"The Liberation of Destruction"
Rider Waite Tarot
Pamela Coleman Smith
1909Â
Fire – Uranus
- upright -
· Sudden Radical Change
· Flash of Enlightenment
· Revelation
· Awakening
· Upheaval
· Chaos & Destruction
· Groundbreaking DisruptionÂ
· Loss
· Wake Up Call
· Identity Crisis
· Imprisonment
· Milder Change
· Rebuilding after Upheaval
· A Second Chance
· Averting Disaster
· Delaying the Inevitable Change
· Making Adjustment
· Surviving a Change
· Resisting Change
- Reversed -
Fire – Uranus
Rider Waite Tarot
Pamela Coleman Smith
1909Â
- upright -
· Sudden Radical Change
· Flash of Enlightenment
· Revelation
· Awakening
· Upheaval
· Chaos & Destruction
· Groundbreaking DisruptionÂ
· Loss
· Wake Up Call
· Identity Crisis
- reversed -
· Imprisonment
· Milder Change
· Rebuilding after Upheaval
· A Second Chance
· Averting Disaster
· Delaying the Inevitable Change
· Making Adjustment
· Surviving a Change
· Resisting Change
You are in one of the most intense, fruitful growing phases of your life.Â
The tower of the Ego is shaken to its very foundation.Â
Anything you attempt to cling to will be destroyed by this transforming power.Â
All that remains is trust.
Trust in the endless love of the universe.
The most painful losses are the opportunities to learn and recognize the essence of being.Â
Are you ready to see yourself and life with new eyes?
Everything that happens in my life is for the best.
I am ready for my healing and liberation.
The Tower represents the clearing away of negativity to make way for the spiritual ascension depicted by the final trumps… this trump represents the burning away of pride and egotism that is necessary to ascend into the Soul of Reason. It is the purification that paves the way to the Star.
— ROBERT M. PLACE, The Tarot, Magic, Alchemy, Hermeticism & Neoplatonism (2017)
The Fountain Tarot
By Jonathan Saiz & Andi Todaro
2014
01. The Tower represents the need for old structures to fall away, in order to make space for the new. The shattered stone of the Tower’s wall is a symbol of sudden change.
This card signifies momentous and radical shifts, a revolutionary transformation that shakes loose foundations and topples traditions. The old way is no longer viable.
At times, catharsis arrives unbidden and unexpected. There is no escape. Chaos, disruption, a rift caused by the lightning bolt of insight. Regardless of the method, the illusion must and will be shattered. Mistruths dissipate, perspective shifts violently, and as the dust settles, the first new blooms emerge from the rubble.
02. The tower in the Tower card is said to be the materialist conception of the universe, and lightning is the destruction that comes to a life based on purely materialist principles. The person who lives only to satisfy the ego demands of wealth, fame, and physical pleasure, ignoring both introspection and the spiritual beauty of the universe, raises a prison around himself. We see this prison as the Tower; grey, rock-bound, with a gold crown.
At the same time, pressure builds up inside the mind as the unconscious strains at its bonds. Dreams become disturbed, arguments and depression are more common, and if the person represses these manifestations, the unconscious will often find some way to explode violently.
The Muse Tarot
Chris-Anne
2020
Waite Trinick Tarot
John B. Trinick
1921
03. The Tower represents a change in the most radical and momentous sense. The Tower doesn’t necessarily suggest something terrible, like a disaster or a great loss.
Change is a normal part of life that one has to embrace. But it can sometimes strike fear because it means that we must abandon the truths that we have known prior. The old ways are no longer useful, and we must find another set of beliefs, values, and processes to take their place.
It is necessary to remember that these changes can lead to freedom; the explosions are clearing away some situation that has built up intolerable pressure. They can lead to new beginnings.
04. The best way forward is to surrender to the destruction and chaos, Â allowing the obsolete structure to self-destruct so you can re-focus and rebuild, no matter how unwanted or painful.
Change on this deep level is hard, but you need to trust that life is happening for you, not to you.
Be positive, it is time for you to replace the old foundations of the past with something that is more genuine and that serves you better in what is to come.Â
Pagan Otherworlds Tarot
Peter Dunham & Linnea Gits
2016
Thoth Tarot
Aleister Crowley & Lady Frieda Harris
1943
05. The Tower doesn’t need to be always associated with pain and turmoil. If you are highly aware and in tune with your inner guidance, The Tower can indicate a spiritual awakening or revelation.
You may be able to see the cracks forming and take action before the whole structure comes tumbling down. You can actively participate in your transformation before the change is forced upon you. In its most positive form, The Tower is your opportunity to break free from the old ways of thinking that have been holding you back.
Alexander Daniloff Tarot
Alexander DaniloffÂ
2010
The Numinous Tarot
Noel Arthur Hemipel
2019
- Turn Around -
06. When The Tower appears reversed, you can feel some crisis looming along the horizon, and you are struggling as much as you can to try and avoid its manifestation. What you have not realized is that these upheavals can be beneficial in breaking down your reliance on something that is false. The tower is built on faulty foundations, and it must fall. Though the destruction will be painful, the humbleness resulting from it can bring us peace. Do not take this as a drastic and depressing change, it is time for you to become more self-reliant.
07. The Tower Reversed can be a sign that you are resisting change and delaying the necessary upheaval. You may be in denial that change is occurring. Or you may be clinging to an old belief system even though you know they are no longer relevant or healthy for you. If you continue to resist this change, it will only force its way into your life even more violently. The growth and transformation that The Tower brings are inevitable. No amount of hiding or denying will make it go away, and it will only get louder with potentially greater upheaval.
08. The reversed Tower can reduce the impact of the change about to enter your life, particularly if you are intuitive with your higher callings.
You are instigating the change and calling into question your fundamental belief systems. You will go through a spiritual awakening as you discover a new spiritual path. You may change your beliefs and values about life, realizing that you can no longer support the older models. While this can be an unsettling time, trust in the process and know it is for the best. You are creating the change and transformation you need to step into a new and evolved version of yourself.
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