The Tower as death - from heart.

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 10 Jan 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

dolphinprincess	10 Jan 2005
A friend of mine passed away this weekend - very unexpectedly and pretty much out of nowhere. I asked the tarot why she died (medically). I pulled the Tower. IN this deck, the tarot was a sort of Tepee and it was being struck by lightening. In the center was an eye - in the area of where the heart might be. A heart problem is likely the cause. I found this card to be so strong and literal when I pulled it. I rarely get this strong of an answer. Has anyone else pulled this card for such a situation?

witchywomyn	10 Jan 2005
Hi Dolphin Princess, I have found the Tower card to indeed be a card that implies or represents death. However a death of the old to make way for the new; the destruction of an old structure (beliefs) to rebuild a new structure. A rebuilding which needs to start from within, possibly at the heart one's being. I have not personally known this card to be a literal death; what deck did you use use by the way?

dolphinprincess	10 Jan 2005
I used the Tarot of the Four Elements (I just received it and have been using it a lot). This card did not predict actual death - as she had already passed away. I had asked why she died medically (as she was very young and literally just collapsed - one of those extremely sad and freak things). I found the Tower to be such a powerful card - the tower collapsing, as she had. And the eye in the tower, where the heart might be was very significant. The card said to me "her body just fell apart"... I am just not used to the tarot being SO literal.

Keslynn	10 Jan 2005
I've only had that happen once and I only realized it in hindsight. I did a reading for one of my housemates and he got the 3 of Swords in his future. Well, a while later, he ended up having to go to the ER with chest pains. It was an infection and not a heart attack (thank goodness), but that card did seem to be literal. :) Kes PS - I'm so sorry about the loss of your friend, dolphinprincess.

FantasyWorld	10 Jan 2005
I did a 3 card daily draw about 2ish yrs ago and 2 of the 3 cards were the Tower and the 3 swords (can't remember the other) and it was a full Moon so I had put my crystals outside to charge and had them sitting on top of my grill (really bad idea!!!) and when I got home from work the Moon had shifted out of sight of the stones so I picked up the grill to move it and EGAD:( my big beautiful Fluorite fell off and broke!!! Talk about literal: The Tower 3 swords Something I love will break!!! Gee I wish I could remember what that ther card was. It was an incrediably accurate and literal reading and remember thinking this is ridiculus because I could have never realized that's what the cards were tellng me until it was too late...

contradiction	10 Jan 2005
my deepest symphathies, fantasyworld.

dolphinprincess	10 Jan 2005
I think in all cases (unless one is psychic) it is impossible to see a card as literal until "after the fact" or "in hindsight"... It is ironic - sometimes I will beg the tarot to give me a literal answer - one I will understand without a shadow of a doubt. LOL - those are the times it supplies the most cryptic cards (I don't think the tarot likes begging ;) ) But in review, it is quite powerful when you do get such a profound answer.

astroltina	10 Jan 2005
dolphinprincess, intuitively, you are probably on the right track thinking that the heart may be the cause. When i was reading your post- i got the same vibe. But i was also thinking about the Tower and its connection to Mars, and in medical astrology according to Jansky, Mars is the secondary ruler of the heart (after the Sun/Leo) and is also associated with heart attacks. (note though im a newbie to tarot and not an expert on tarot and astrology)

astroltina	10 Jan 2005
my condolences for the passing of your friend. also, i should add that i agree with you dolphinprincess that it is much easier to see these things in hindsight (especially a literal interpretation) i.e how the Tower and heart connection may be the cause of death. I dont know much about health readings, but i would guess that the Tower could generally mean sudden illness.

dolphinprincess	10 Jan 2005
I just thought I would share that it was heart failure - So this card and my gut feeling with the placement of the eye was correct. Thank you for all of your replies!!

astroltina	11 Jan 2005
so there you go- your instincts were right! sometimes you just have to trust your intuition on these things.

The The Tower as death - from heart. thread was originally posted on 10 Jan 2005 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.