Today's Tarot Tutorial ~ The Tower, major arcana

 

16 The Tower

Keywords: free-falling; jumping ship; shit hits the fan; cataclysmic; inevitable; Warning

Archetypes: Wrong-Way-Corrigan; Gilligan; Larry, Moe, & Curly Joe

Correspondences:

• Number/7
• Planet/Mars
• Element/Fire
• Astrological Sun Sign/Sagittarius

Upright Interpretation: 

Oh, my– she says with a weary sigh. I can’t tell you how many catastrophes, or catastrophic changes, this card has heralded in all its shitty glory. Even when the changes are good, or at least necessary, this card and the events it warns of are never easy. It makes me tired, anxious, and spell-bound for my clients, usually all three at the same time. You’d think, with this card coming up as a warning, that it would make facing the future and what’s coming easier, but it doesn’t. It just laces life with an unusual amount of unwanted Anxiety. (Where’s my Valium, the three figures on this card ask, as they plummet to the earth.)

Reversed Interpretation: 

Now that wasn’t so bad, was it? (They always ask after a shot, after you’ve had a tooth pulled, after you’ve faced something– anything– that you’ve been dreading). And your answer?…Hell, yes! It was a stupid question, it always is. So the calamity might be behind you, or it might not have been as bad as you thought, but you’re still going to have to lick your wounds and pull yourself together for Life’s next round. Hopefully you’ve learned a few things from the experience, coming through the fire storm wiser and more profound. If not, believe me, as long as you’re living you can be sure of one thing– there will be a next time. It’s part of this insane process called LIFE.

Study Questions:

1. What is your first impression of this card?

2. What does this card mean to You?

3. Are there details on this card that especially stand out for you? If so, write them down and explain.

4. How does this card define relationships?

5. How does this card define financial circumstances?

6. How is this card relevant to health issues?

Affirmations for Meditation:

1. I can take it; I can handle it.

2. I will survive it.

3. I will not let adversity get me down.

4. I will land on my feet, like a cat.

5. I will be ready for the next upheaval Life throws at me.

A Tarot Reading for The Tower:

The Tower ~ 9/pentacles ®; Knight/swords ®; Judgement ®

Tower, you taunt us mercilessly, making sure that aside from everything we’ve come through, all we have endured, we shall never be satisfied; not with ourselves, not with the outcome, not with the present, not with the past. You wreak, dear card, of sacrifice at no price, of an unhealthy self-ego, of dissatisfaction and restlessness that will haunt us through our dreams, through this life, and possibly through the next.

You wield a sword of profound cruelty, even when the truth is carried within its tempered steel, a truth that you choose not to soften, but to let lay bare everything within us that we are terrified of, everything we try to hide, everything we choose to keep somewhere within the darkness of our psyche, that cobwebbed nook in our brain where all the Old Things lay. As this knight charges forward, completely oblivious to the destruction of his words and his actions, so you charge forward in our life, leaving a path of destruction behind…old wounds laid open once again.

And you dare to open the door to judgement…Or do you, in some profound and twisted way, force us to come to terms with life on a primeval level? Perhaps paving the way clear for new growth, new starts, renewed motivation and determination.