The Tower
The scene here is a very dark and gloomy night. The sky is filled with ominous billing clouds (can you see the faces in the clouds?). Shining through a small break in the clouds is a full moon. A huge castle is the main focus, raised above the surrounding countryside and surrounded by a very thick fog that is low and clingy. A stroke of lightening arcs down towards the castle. A set of stairs, built into the face of the stone barricade rise up out of the fog and lead up the plateau toward the main entrance gate. Gargoyles stand watch on each of the corners of the barricade, winged and leering. A specter is floating above the fog, near the base of the stairs. Behind him is a single headstone, in the shape of a cross.
The first thing that strikes me as odd about this deck is the weather and elements involved. The lightning strike that heads for the fortress and the thick black clouds that fills the sky seems at odds with the damp clingy fog that is rolling along the earth and climbing the walls of the castle. This leads me to believe that there is nothing ordinary about this storm. But there is nothing ordinary about the effects of the tower in ones life, so that makes sense to me. The second thing I see is that between the markings on the moon itself and a wisp of cloud, the full moon seems to be sneering down on the whole scene. It almost reminds me of a jack-o-lantern. The third thing is the specter and how it appears that he is tied to the site near the cross. It is like that is his grave, and he is now haunting this site, scaring away potential inhabitants. He is warning them of the dangers of such an immense fortress. That is what ties this card all together for me. This scene depicts the grand ideas and schemes of lives long past. A long family legacy that, for all good intentions, or not, has come to a bitter end. It is dead here, worthless and dangerous. To try to make anything of this place one would have to tear it all down, consecrate the ground and start building new foundations.