Exploring meanings for the Tower

The Tower

I have problems understanding the Major Arcana..especially the THE TOWER..could someone please explain to me the right meaning of this card and is it positive or negative card?..

Well... The starting point of that card is a kind of "There's something rotten in the state of Denmark"-situation, and what the card refers to is the point when that rotten foundation comes tumbling down.

It's a kind of scary card, but the thing is The Tower isn't about ruining good things, only stuff that weren't meant to build on from the start. It's the "You've been living in a lie, but now the veil is lifted from your eyes and the truth becomes clear"-card. It's painful, yes, but it gives you the opportunity to build your life upon the solid foundation of truth.

And oh... THE LINK, almost forgot that... http://aeclectic.net/tarot/basics/tower.html Great place to find information about ALL the cards, easy to understand, yet not overly simplified and limited!

Ask again if you have more questions - and welcome to the Forum! I bet you will find this is a great place to learn about Tarot. Just browse through the threads, and jump into any discussion - we all learn from each other!

Light and love,
Jenny

PS: The RIGHT meaning, by the way, is YOUR meaning, and no other. Therefore noone here will be able to give you the "one true meaning" of a card. All we can to is help you get started, and after a while you will hear a little click and think "That Jenny, she had got it all WRONG, the Tower means...[insert your own interpretation of the card here]..."! THEN you have the "right" meaning! Good luck with everything, and do ask any question you like, you will find your own answers in time, don't worry!

the tower eh ?

it usally shows a picture of a king and queen falling from their burning castle as it is undersiege.

it could be intreprated in many ways.

i simply call it the fall.
the death card is change in the sense that it is seen coming.

the falling tower is rarely seen coming
and sometimes teh fall must be experienced in order to let go of the old.
before i go on will look at the tower card just to get extra impressions ,i am looking at the tower in the morgon greer deck and the tower of the rider waite deck
and notice that in both tower (if you have both decks it is not necessary though)
that the tower is being struck by lighting causing the tower to burn therefore the king and queen jump so they don't get burn
in the morgon greer tarot the tower is also being hit by big waves at it's base.
so the forces of the universe and nature are affecting the tower.
before i go on
you might think of the picture of the tower to relate to the
the 9/11 tradegy with the people jumping out of the tower so they do not get burned.
i like to remind you that this tower picture has nothing to do with the tradegy as the tower is being struck by the universe lighting and not an airplane.
so don't necessary put negative influence meaning to the tower because of that tradegy:O(

instead think of the tower in this way
the tower represent a force of nature which can not be stop or changed just lived through and recovered from.
we all had stuff happend to us that we couldn't control due to it being an aspect of fate. why did it happen? dwell not on that aspect for who knows in the tower card what caused the tower to be hit by lighting.
instead dwell on how to recover from the fall and move on with your life.
with hope and grace and love for all beings.
with the old tower gone we can build a brand new castle grander then the old one or perhaps
it is time to install a new king and queen.

a force of nature can not be negative or postive it just is.
in the tarot some fear the tower more then the death card.
why
like i said they can see the change coming i.e. the old man is dying so he can return home to eventually be renewed enough to come back as a child with a new future.
but the tower is something that strikes suddenly and it is ok to mourn and then action must be taken to move on and let go of the past and vow to rebuild.

as for the major arcana
they are archtypes that are universal among many cultures we see these pictures in dreams which mean the same in all the cultures.
they are spiritual forces that we have no power over we just have to move with the flow and take in the lessons they teach us.
the only power we really do have is by using the tarot to prepare us and to change our selves.

we can not change death, but we have to embrace it to move on
we can not move the stars and the moon, nor remove the devil which represents our fears for they are natural and must be face.
we can not take the hermit out of his cave for he will just go back in eventually til he is ready to come out and face the world.
we can't stop the fool from making his ultimate choices,
we can't stop the magician from invoking his power
nor stop the highpreistess from knowing the unkown
not stop the king, father from ruling the land.
and the mother/queen from nuturing the land.
nor can we stop the lovers from falling in love
or falling out of love.
or stop the hiorphant from following his faith.
or stop the wheel of fortune
nor stop the temperance of karma to eventually be balanced
or judgement we all face when we all die of our lessons and all our tests, then heal ourseleves
and come back into the world for one more try as the fool .

but knowing what is going on will teach us more ultimately about ourselves to under our selves and how we handle it.

the minor arcana are actual events in life we can change, that we do have power over.
for they are choices we have made.
example if you look at the 10 of sword with all the knives in his back . if he was truely aware of his world he would of know the traitor who did it.
the nine of swords the woman worrying about the plans and wars she has started so much she can't sleep but instead cries away the night. she can stop crying and fave one sword at a time.
i use those two examples because they are generally the worse cards in the minor arcana

there is much to learn and you can't learn it all in one post..

1. reversals.
2. postions
3. combonations.
4. what each card teachs you.
sure you can read it in a book but into you mediate on each card and explore the world with your imagination you wont' understand the card
and practics makes you stronger and better.
explore the world of the card ? how ?
well the book meanings are just skeltons for you to base your general meaning on and the rest is up to your impressions and psychic, and spiritual awareness.
ex would think of a time when the tower entered your life and there was nothing you could do about it. what did you learn, how did you cope.
did it make you stronger when the next time the tower visited your life ?
ah but this is enough for a one post post some questions to this topic and i can elborate in the future
(lots of typing and fleeflowing drains you some , like when you do readings for 3 people which is about the strenght i have by the four person i have no energy to read the cards and it comes out as gibbish, and so forth know your limitis and strive to pass them :O)

the tower haunted me for a whole year, trying to make me learn its lesson. every reading i did for myself or anyone else did for me... there it was.

i wholeheartedly agree with jenny in that the most important meaning is your own meaning.

still, here is what i think i learned from it, or at least what of it i can share. first off, yes, it is about having a weak foundation. it's about the sudden realization (or gradual but painful in my case) that you've been going about things all wrong. for me, it was holding on to my past because i thought i had fixed a problem long ago, but all i had done was acknowledge it and shove it into a corner, so my foundation for personal growth was REALLY shaky, which is why everytime i tried to start over, i would get to a certain point and fall again.

it's been a few months since the tower's come up. i think i finally learned it's lesson. i think i'm making sure i'm building on more solid ground now ;}

if you'd like more specifics into my situation and the various ways i tried interpreting the card over the year, just pm me. i don't mind talking about it, but it's way too much to put here.

Heh! The tower is my favorite card, the meaning of this card is denial and blindness when this card shows up in a reading tell you that it is the right time for tearing down false believes, is like a wake up call to see the truth, the tower may be seen as a gigantic phallic symbol wich seemed undestructible yet has been struck down by natural forces outside human control. The destruction certain facets of the masculine principle is symbolized;
the downfall of the ego, the overthrow of rationality and a blow to the pride are all signified,sometimes this card can bring great disrpution but experience of this kind, though crushing at the time, can have important and positive consequences in the long-term.

Right the tower is good & bad. It shows things that are built on false foundations finally coming asunder (could be anything from relationships to your needing to move) but usually it's something that you WILL have to take into account in your life & work around.

On the plus side, what's built up AFTERWARDS is on firm foundation. Think of it as a wakeup call or warning, but not the end of the world.

The tower reversed could be a bit worse, usually it means oppression & something in your life that is passed over by another who just doesn't care (or yourself not caring about someone else & not giving them the time & energy they need). It could mean things like contracts & legal things not going your way. Mostly I found it means oppression by someone. But that's just me, could be it'll mean something different for you. I don't get the reversal often on the Tower.

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The Tower versus Wheel of Fortune

Diana,

How would you then differentiate this card_The Tower_ from the Wheel of Fortune?

Because the meaning below is the one I associate with the last card, whereas having built something on weak foundations, denial and "tearing down social masks" is what I associate with The Tower.

Thanks

Alex.


<Outside events that hit us in the face and change our lives completely.>

Diana said:

The Tower does not necessarily mean that things were built on wrong foundations, but can also mean that the circumstances in our lives have changed. Either we didn't want to see this and want to continue like we did before, so eventually things just fall down of their own accord 'cos they're not being renovated.

Click to expand...

I may just be weird, but to me, thats kinda the same thing.

Lin

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