Card 16: The Tower

The Tower in an Upright Position

The Tower card in a spread shows chaos and destruction in its upright position. It shows conflict and disrupted proceedings, as well as powers being overthrown. There are signs that the querent is undergoing divorce, conflicts with friends, or quarrels with family members. This is a little bit more than just a disagreement but something that destroys the relationship between two or more people. The querent may find that they are the one who is destroying the relationship, or they could be the innocent party in the situation. There is an element of the unexpected where this final blow is concerned due to the illustration of the impact coming from the skies instead of a cannon below. This may also be an indication of natural disasters and their power to randomly appear and bring down everything around them.

This may also show where old philosophies surrounding religion are broken down, and there is room for the new generations to contribute their ideas to the world. There can be a fall from top position going on, or there is a mutiny occurring where the captain of the ship will be thrown overboard by his own men. This card also shows the tyranny of a dictator coming to an end. This can be figurative or literal, but it all depends on the surrounding cards and the position that the upright Tower falls on in the spread. The querent may find himself with an opportunity to break through walls that have been blocking him from progressing to a better post, and laws, ideas, and beliefs that serve only to harm people or are unfair will be done away with when this card appears.

The Tower in a Reversed Position

A reversed Tower shows that the lightening bolt that strikes the tower comes form below instead of above, which could mean that the attack on the existing structure comes from those on the ground and not from the heavens. The Tower is overturned, and the contents will still fall from the broken roof, but the fall isn’t from as high as with the upright position of the card, showing that the collapse is inevitable but isn’t as bad with the reversal. There is still a very real threat of events collapsing your world or you, but the danger isn’t as serious or extensive. There is a feeling that the querent expected this blow to come about; it’s like they could see it coming. This can show rebuilding after the collapse of the structure sin the querent’s life, or he is helping another rebuild after the shock and destruction of everything they have known. Perhaps the querent is helping with disaster relief or rebuilding efforts after a natural disaster that destroyed an entire place. It definitely shows witnessing far and widespread destruction and having to clean up the aftermath.

There is a feeling that the querent will always be able to bounce back, for this card never signifies that the querent is going to himself be destroyed, but everything around him may if he is not careful to refrain form abusing his power. This could be a close call of some kind bringing about humility that will save the querent, but this could also have to do with someone around the querent who is doing the same thing or holds the same belief in his superiority over others. The Tower in the reversed position always shows a lesser disaster or a near miss which should straighten out bad attitudes, habits or other things that need to come to halt, lest the querent be destroyed instead. This can show that the destruction that is happening is for the good of all, which could be the case for situations where a dictator is ruling his people by fear and must be stopped. The reversed Tower can also show where those come in to defend those who are victims of the tyrant who has been overthrown.

Symbolism and History of the Tower
The Tower embodies collapse of all kinds as is shown in the illustration, which usually presents with a tower being toppled in some way. This is usually done with a lightening bolt, showing that the collapse is commonly cause by the hand of the divine, and not man. The debris falling fro the tower is considered to be, by some, the life force. The top of the building has fallen off or has been destroyed, symbolizing the loss of a leadership position. This card shows old forms of all kinds that were thought to never fall toppling. It shows the breaking down of old systems or ways of thinking. This is very much like the turret of a castle coming down in an invasion where the powers of the land are being usurped by new and free-thinking individuals. The old ways are dying and the new ways are breaking through. The Tower shows this happening by force of some sort, which can show physical force or other means which corner a powerful person or entity into backing down or being removed in some way.

Labelled as Card 16, the Tower comes after the Devil, showing that excessive and materialistic behaviours have the ability to topple even the most powerful fortress or power. The abuse of power from the preceding card has caused the people to rebel against their king and tear his palace to the ground. This can also show how if enough abuse happens to the body, the divine will step in and strike you down for your own good, showing that all humans are vulnerable to the drunkenness of power and materialistic things but will come to destroy their own towers if they do not stop. In any event, the breaking down of old structures is evident here. Whether or not these are physical structures or invisible structures such as hierarchies and other ranking systems.

Key Terms

Disruptions, Destruction, Old things falling away, New things coming, Divine intervention, Breaking up of relationships, Unexpected shock, Accidents, Natural Disasters, Revolution.