Symbolizing: The Tower

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 30 May 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Thirteen	30 May 2004
On to some of the most interesting Majors and their symbolism. What you like and what you don't. What you feel ought to be there...or not. For this thread, The Tower. Just answer one or more of the following: 1) What elements from any Tower card from any deck do you feel BEST symbolize the Tower? (Example: "I like cards that have the Tower surrounded by crashing waves.") 2) What elements common to most Tower cards in most decks do you really feel are all WRONG for the Tower? (Example: "I don't like when cards have people falling out of the Tower.") 3) What symbol have you always felt was right for the Tower, but you've yet to see it? (Example: "I'd like to see the Tower as an elegant castle rather than just one solitary tower."). You don't have to answer all the above, but do offer some "why's?" as to what you answer. Why don't you/do you like the Tower to feature people falling out of it? What about those people or lack of them make the card feel/not feel like the Tower to you?

Dakota	30 May 2004
hmmmmm, I must have a tower that is struck by lightning, representing the "from the outside" nature of the change imposed in this card. I can't say I understand the yods in the RWS decks yet but I need to have them there. Sorry, my brain is shooting blanks; I will come back later with more comprehensible comments (I hope! :D )

CreativeFire	30 May 2004
I also like to see a Tower card with the lightning, illustrating for me the build up of energy and the shock that shakes up and causes the tower to crumble. I especially connected to a Tower card that shows turbulent water at the base of the tower, instead of rocks (like in the RWS), as to me the large crashing waves depict the emotional reaction to a tower situation or event, that usually follow that sort of shock or upset. CreativeFire

Sillanza	07 Jun 2004
I gotta have the lightning. It's a reminder of the sudden, shocking nature of the event or situation. I rather like when the image includes falling (or are they jumping?) people. I would like to see a tower set in the daylight -- a "when you least expect it" nuance.

linabeet	07 Jun 2004
The people falling are integral to me. A concrete representation of the loss of structure in those lives. That which was supporting you is no more. It shows that it's not just the structures themselves that are collapseing but that those standing in them are falling.

Rhiannon	11 Jun 2004
I've been thinking alot about the Tower card since I posted about it and what it means on another board. Paraphrasing myself I said "It just can't mean happiness and light because you think the people falling out of it are smiling". :D That's when I really started to think about those people and what they must be thinking. They are probably feeling scared. Adrenaline. I was thinking about a Tower card where people are base-jumping. Adrenaline rush situations. The difference of course is that you CHOOSE to base-jump and it's a safe kind of fear, like riding a roller coaster. I guess it would be like if your worst enemy packed your parachute for you! LOL I think it would be interesting to try to come up with a drawing that would illustrate that kind of fear. I have to agree that I like the Tower being hit from an outside influence. Whether it's a wave, or a lightning bolt or whatever. I chose a sandcastle being threatened by the ocean to represent the Tower when I tried to draw this card. R :)

Pook	11 Jun 2004
I really have a problem with the idea that the people are voluntarily jumping from the tower...especially if the only danger represented is the lightning striking the top of the tower. It seems like unless they were standing on the roof, which is pretty stupid in a lightning storm, and lightning struck the top of the tower, they would run down the stairs to escape the flames. I also personally, prefer the water (ocean, whatever) at the foot of the tower as opposed to rocks. There is that extra element of danger....like whatever happens, you're screwed. You can't stay in the tower or you'll burn, but you can't leave, cuz you'll drown or be eaten by sharks or something. Anyway, just some random thoughts, probably not in the preferred format, but how I see it.

yodatazzmeeko	11 Jul 2004
I can see your point Rhiannon, but I would associate the Tower with happiness I guess only if it showed up reversed. Maybe the answer is in the word "Discord" Sometimes when a person has been corded to another for a while, they get used to feeling their energy and support. If they become distant, break up, or no longer communicate maybe their aura is in turmoil as it adjusts to maintenance without that cord, the tower could mean something like that if there isn't a "sighted" terrible event. None the less I'm learning not to look around the corner because the tower has shown up in my reading, I don't want to manifest anything bad!! The decks that have changed "the devil" to "chains" are cool; the devil is much scarier looking than the tower. The towers with water are less scary. Maybe the lightning is jolts of enlightenment. YodaTazz

tao51	11 Jul 2004
I checked the Tower card in several decks. I do like the powers of nature bringing about change. I feel that the Tower symbolizes the break of conventional thought or prejudices-- an oment of a positive change. The previous card being the Devil with people tied to their conventions but could choose release. The following card being the star which brings hope. So, I think that tower wrecked by nature seems the best to me.--Tao

SongDeva	12 Jul 2004
The Tower is a fascinating card...somehow it usually gives me a bit of a thrill...the status quo is ending NOW. It's a jolt too, cause you know some big changes are a'comin'. Here's one of my favorites, very untraditional: http://www.croneways.com/major16.html For me, it's most important that it invoke a feeling, of shake-up, no more illusions, truth coming out in spite of our efforts to keep it down and/or lie to ourselves. A feeling of powerful impending change to the way things are, a cosmic kick in the ass, often much needed. It's a powerful card, and should invoke a powerful feeling. The particulars - how this is done - are not as important to me.

Rhiannon	12 Jul 2004
Forgot: http://tarot4pets.designdok.com/cardref/index.htm If you scroll down, the majors are at the bottom and you can see the tower card. R :)

Flavio	12 Jul 2004
I like the Tower cards that show strong basement, it gives you the chance to rebuild and improve what was destroyed. The lightning and falling people IMHO are a must for Tower cards, and the top might be wheter rocks or the crown. I consider the Bosch and World Spirit, the most original Tower cards. In World Sprit, the camera angle is from the about to be destructed top of the tower and we see people falling, actually only the back of the falling people. In the Bosch deck, 50% of the Tower was destructed and we can see creatures living on what is left of the once great building.

alsie	12 Jul 2004
I like it when the tower has jagged clouds floating around it because it shows the efforts you have made to climb that high into the clouds. And the higher you go the further there is to fall. I do not feel comfortable with the tower when it's just a low building for instance in the Swiss tarot. I am not sure I have ever felt right with the lightning because I find it very blatant and direct. In life it's more like the rug is yanked out from under you. So maybe my idea of the tower would be a large hand pulling out the bottom brick. Alsie

northsea	09 Aug 2004
I like the yods in the Tower card because it reminds me of the rune Hagalaz signifying projection of a hard substance.

kwaw	09 Aug 2004
Otherwise known as 'the house of god' in french, this in astrology is a title of the ninth house, which corresponds with sagittarius in the natural order of the zodiac, ruled by the planet Jupiter, named after the Roman god, originally called deus pater, to whom anything struck by lightening was held sacred. Being one of those who like cross references to other symoblic sets, the appearance of the ligthening bolt is therefore of importance to me. Associated as it is with Jupiter, this would indicate that the card is not necessarily as destructive as its appearance may indicate [bearing in mind though that the co-significator of the ninth house is mars, the destructive potential/element still remains]. Kwaw

ambermoon	09 Aug 2004
You know, a sand castle broken up by one swift wave would be a refreshing reinterpretation of this card. As someone who works and plays in the non-existant shadow of some other towers, this card still chills me for what it portrays, rather than for what it represents. If I were to draw it as seen in the worst of my nightmares, there were be deeply unsettling parallel images of the people who joined hands and jumped, and the falling sections of the facade. Why do the people jump from the falling tower? Perhaps to fly with the wind on their face, to experience a moment of free fall before the inevitable crash. Because that sounds gentler than burning or being crushed by the falling masonry. Perhaps they chose a certain, swift end rather than face something slow and less merciful. I read with the Goddess deck, and the equivalent card is Opression. Not knowing the tale of the Wawalek before studying this card, I can't say that it is my personal archetype for opression, but at least it is an image that does not bring back nightmares. ambermoon

Eco74	10 Aug 2004
1) What elements from any Tower card from any deck do you feel BEST symbolize the Tower? Well, for me what gives the best rendition is the cracks in the base of the tower. If only the top of the tower is breaking the fundamental basics of the card seems to be missing for me. The lightning is one thing I don't need, but there has to be something that triggers the badly put together base to collaps but lightning, explotion or accidental push from the side matters not. 2) What elements common to most Tower cards in most decks do you really feel are all WRONG for the Tower? Actually, this would be things falling out of the tower. While we do store our lives in the towers we build it's the tower itself that is falling, not what we've filled it with. People falling out is fine, that's just the builder of the tower loosing fotting due to the bad base for it, but things? No, that's just wrong.. 3) What symbol have you always felt was right for the Tower, but you've yet to see it? Not sure.. More accidental towers I think. Most of them are dramatic, explosive, earthshattering, and an aspect that is actually available in some decks but missing in most is that accidental tripping of one of the stones in the base that causes the tower to topple over. Towers fall for little things just as often as they fall for big ones, and I don't want to loose touch with that by only seeing the big changes that come around. It's like how a small pebble can cause a giant to fall.. Dramatic change CAN be triggered by the very small and unseemly things in life...

Ace	12 Aug 2004
It will sound weird to say it: but I like the Tower a lot. It isn't a card I want to get in my spreads, but it is a card of clearing jams and busting blocks. Violent, but something we just have to say: I am mad as Hell and I am not going to take it anymore! I agree with you, CreativeFire, I like a lot of turbulant water to show wrought up emotions, yet my two favorite Towers are both on DRY LAND! One is the Cannon/Reed Tarot of the Witches, the Tower is one of the cards they got right: a Tower still intact but streaming with light. So much energy is being bottled up that tower is about to burst at the seams. The other is the WorldTree Tarot. There the Tower is GONE, we just see Flavio's favorite part: the basement, with a etherial ghost tower rising up. I see that as a ghost of what was, and a dream of what could be in the future. it is actually a very positive card in this version, IMHO. I also love ambermoon's idea, a sand castle being washed out by a wave really does express the Tower, not just the ephemerial nature of things, but also the idea that this too will pass. (depends on the situation I am reading about) I don't remember which deck it was but it has someone trying to fly out of a Tower, with medieval wings, that obviously will never work. That Tower-of someone jumping out of folly, not being thrown out-never worked for me. Finally: I wanted to mention another idea I have always had but no really proof: can the Tower be St Barbara's Tower? St Barbara was imprisioned in a tower by her father for turning Christian. He killed her then was struck by lightening. At the Cloisters in New York, they had many statues of St Barbara, all holding a tower in her hand (her symbol). Barb

skh	12 Aug 2004
I want to see the destruction, and fire. If just the top is lifted off, the image isn't strong enough for me. Lightning (external issues causing the structure to collapse) is optional. I like the Tower of the Crowley/Harris tarot best, it is both my favourite card from the deck and my favourite tower card from the decks I know (which aren't that many, admittedly). I love this card, feel at home when I look at it, maybe I'll scan it one day and have it enlarged and printed to hang on a wall. I have a very deep and basic trust that whatever happens in the tower is not a danger to me, but only to the clutter I have built up around myself, both figuratively and with regard to real matter. And I feel comfortable with sudden change as I've lived through it often enough. It's following through and keeping at something that I have difficulties with. I also like exploding space ships in movies, and the skyscrapers falling down in slow motion in Koyaanisqatsi. The WTC towers falling on TV were scary because it looked so much like Hollywood - and no, I didn't like watching that. Sonja

Yemanja	19 Aug 2004
A feature that BEST symbolizes The Tower for me would be the base of the tower crumbling as it is struck by lightning. I feel that this is in keeping with the energy and lesson of the card: i.e. if your world and your self-worth is built on a foundatiion of lies, illusions and falseness (er...does this word exist?), then one can expect it to come crashing down due to the power of external circumstances and events. It offers the repeated challenge of building your life in line with spirit while offering you the gift of weeding out lies and false beliefs. For me this image also pinpoints the importance of building a strong foundation based on spiritual truth, and gives hope that even if you have to re-build your life from the base up and inside-out, a strong and truthful foundation will withstand external forces and circumstances, since they have little power over your strong foundation. The Tower is a card that I have grown to like a lot.

The 78th Fool	25 Aug 2004
The lightning is always the most important element of this card for me - The building has to be tall and strong and the lightning has to make small work of it! This represents to me how even the strongest of the strong is not infallible. I generally don't like cards which replace the lightning with rays coming from the eye of Horus and the like. I don't subscribe to the whole Egyptian thing and it somehow takes away a lot of the gritty realism of what this represents. One of my favourite Tower cards is Fergus Hall's Tarot of the Witches. It has a really still feel which is dramatically shattered by the lightning. Chris. xx

SweetIsTheTruth	25 Aug 2004
The Tower is medicine that you know you need. It tastes nasty, so you really don't want to take the medicine. However, you know if you don't take it, you will NEVER get better. So maybe a big nasty looking pill bottle would work for the symbol.

cartarum	01 Sep 2004
tower, for me, is percfect for what it represents; the tower, a building constructed by humans, gets destroyed by an act of god. the humans falling out reminds me of an extremely popular movie star falling out of thier limousine, embarrasing themselves greatly. the tower itself is a symbol of imprisonment, like from the old fairy tales of the princess trapped in a tower awaiting the errant knight to save her. the fact that the people within the tower are powerless to stop the chain of events speaks of the oppressive nature of the assault. ~A~ ive never seen the point of the yod though...

Ladyhawke	01 Sep 2004
For me, the image my mind always produces is the World Trade Centers. Regardless of what deck I'm using, my brain inserts the two smoking and burning towers, the people falling from them, the towers pancaking to the ground in a pile of dust and rubble. I doubt that'll ever change for me, and I'm not sure why I have this strong of a reaction. I didn't know anyone there, I don't live there or anywhere near it. Maybe 'cause my job meant I had to deal with it and read a lot about it (I worked for a newspaper Web site at the time and spent the week editing stories relating to the attacks and shoveling them online).

The Symbolizing: The Tower thread was originally posted on 30 May 2004 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.