Good Tower/Bad Tower

Hi all,

I have been wondering about the Tower card lately. Most of the images on this card are rather drastic and tragic. I have always been a bit confused by that. To me the Tower card is about those events that spin your life around in a new direction in a heartbeat. Now, tragic events certainly do that! But, what about winning the lottery? Wouldn’t that be a Tower event? It certainly would drastically change your life. Having a child? Adopting a stray animal? One day your life is going in one direction and then, bam, the next day it is going somewhere else. A “to the roots”, shake-up, kind of event is what seems to be happening in the Tower card to me. Anyone have any comments about whether or not you think “positive things” can be Tower events?

i do agree that tower events can be great things in the long run. but i feel that something first has/needs to be cleared away, destroyed broken up or removed for that to happen. some kind of upheaval will occur first to make room for the major change or event. how we handle and look at that upheaval does not have to be a negative.

Tower meaning

Hi. I am certainly not a pro at reading Tarot yet, But when I look at decks, I always look at the Tower first. I see it as the "anchor" of the deck- the heaviest card. I think most of your happy events will not be fortold by the tower. Think of a Tower being struck down by lightening- something good could grow out of the rubble eventually, but you're going to have a mess to clean up first. I hope that helps you!

can the tower card also mean having to move house quickly?

tower

the tower simply means changes for me. and changes as such are neutral. anyway most people (including myself) don´t like loosing things, even if they are not entire positive.

The Tower, to me, speaks of a sudden, radical change which will affect the querrant to the very core.

In most people's minds change is a bad thing. Very very few people like change and have a hard time seeing beyond the change event to the other side.

The OUTCOME of the change, however, is not always positive nor is it always negative. The other cards around the tower will dictate the outcome of the change. Where the Tower's negativity comes from is, IMO, that people just do not like change.

to me the tower is always negative, and I have to bring this up since I haven't seen it yet (being fairly new to the forum):

The Tower is September 11th.

It's bad. As I've said in other posts, I think the vast majority of cards have both positive and negative associations, but to me personally, a few cards are always bad, bad, bad, and others are always good.

If you look back at the original Tower of Babel legends, if I remember right, Jehovah punished Man's hubris by destroying his proudest accomplishment, and the faithful learned a lesson about humility they never forgot. So, positive changes often RESULT from the traumatic Tower event, but the event itself is always dramatic and painful.

As far as winning the lottery and stuff like that, "good" surprises, especially cherished or life-changing ones, are usually signified by the Nine of Cups (one of the few always-good cards).

IMO all of course

Hi all,

The following comments are for discussion purposes only and are not meant to “stir-up trouble” or hurt anyone’s feelings. I just want to stimulate the conversation.

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Dangerdork,

Are you implying that “bad” surprises are Major Arcana, Tower, rock the world, shake things up, events but “good” surprises are Minor Arcana, everyday, run of the mill, ho-hum, Nine of Cups stuff? That seems kind of unfair to the “good” side. (“Luke! Come to the dark side!” …Darth Vader’s breathing is heard in the background.)

Besides, that RW 9 of Cups dude is kind of creepy and you KNOW he’s hiding something under that drape! I know this is called the “wish card” but you better be careful what you wish for or this guy will throw you a rotten fish!

Neptune: Regarding your question, on occasion I have associated The Tower with a move, especially with the realization of needing to move or a sudden move. It can also be associated with any sudden change in the status quo, such as the loss of a job.

my experiences with the tower

Hi There -

As with my interpretations of any card or spread, I tend to rely on a gut instinct first fostered by the general meaning of the card. Sometimes the meaning ends up being something you never expected ( a "tower" experience in itself!). Here are a few examples:

1. One day, about a month ago, I drew The Tower as my daily card. uh oh, what's going to come crashing down? Well, I did! I fainted at work (the tower literally falling, besides I'm pretty tall!) and the drastic change in my life that occured from it was a re-assessment of my diet and lifestyle. It turns out that my body can't process insulin quick enough and it finally made me "fall". This is a sort of literal example with classic tower after effects.

2. As someone stated, look to the cards around the tower (or any card for that matter) to see its overall consequences. If its any future or outcome positions, then you're in for a change, like it or not. For example, I did a spread about six weeks ago concerning my relationship. The tower showed up along with the 3/swords and 10/swords. Ouch! Sure enough, we broke up after I heard some devastating news. Weeks later, the tower STILL shows up, however its surrounded by 6/wands, 3/wands, Sun and Star. So this tells me at first glance that I've handled the change well and that things will be better and healed.

3. Yes, September 11 was a Tower day for the world. However because of the heinous nature of the incident and the ugly death toll it was almost impossible to see any positive effects. Well, IMHO, this planet had two choices: take a step back and let the effects of The Devil take over with all of its material, greed and power lust association or step forward to The Star and let the healing begin. But there has been some positve energy stemming from such a fall - people began to realize that life is precious, they pay more attention to their families and several have turned again to the healing of prayer and meditation.

4. The Tower can refer to ANY unexpected change. Its all about what would be considered a drastic change for you or the querant. Your husband informs you that you must move hundreds of miles away to secure his job. Your daughter suddenly tells you she's getting married to someone you never knew existed. A tree falls on your car and crushes it during a storm. The time has come to tell your family and friends of your alternate lifestyle. Your favorite restaurant closes - the one where you and your family has gathered every single week for years. Your vacation plans are vanished when you discover your destination has been deemed unsafe by the local government. These are all examples of things that could mean a major change in someone's life, no matter how mundane it sounds to another on the surface.

The Tower, no matter what, heralds a big change and its up to what we do with the rubble that determines the outcome of the change. Look to the cards surrounding it for clues as to how to make the change more bearable as well as the area in your life it will effect.

Whew! That's it for me... now I must wean myself off the caffeine