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The Tower: Major Arcana Card Number 16

The Tower is a one of the 22 card from the subset of Major Arcana Cards. The first look at this card leaves us with fear and bewilderment. On the right, there is a lightning that strikes the very top of the tower, causing fire and casting off a crown on the left hand side. In addition, there are two figures that are being tossed out of the tower – a male and a female. They are falling with their heads first.  If you take the trouble to count the sparks, you will end up with number 22. We may ask ourselves why this number at all?

There is another important, well, sort of  question we are faced after looking at this card … – it makes us wonder who will survive, isn’t it? If you practice tarot meditation, you can meditate on this tarot card, you ask yourself the same question.

Meaning and Prognosis

Let us go deeper, and explore the deeper spiritual meanings of this card.

• The broken tower points towards efficient logic, astral construction and destruction
• There is Martian energy within this card, energy that means initiative...
• This card connects two of the lower Sephiroth on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, that is, Hod and Netzach.
• Here we deal with the roughest forces of fire, their most unsophisticated emanations.
• The Tower tarot card means manifestation of rough Cosmic energy.  Some sources say it is a symbol of the New Age movement and all metaphysical things that happen at the turn of the century.

In prognosis and readings, the Tower means fight, struggle, danger, disaster, demolition, failure of plans, or sudden death. This card wants to  show us how suppression of  feelings and emotions leads into future disaster. Note how the lightning strikes into the top of the Self, destroying the whole psychic structure.

The alchemists considered that the water element is the source of life, whereas the fire element is responsible for the dissolving and softening processes. Those are the forces that free the Soul from the chains and limitations and enable it to discover its center.  When the Spirit is mature, Its principles become hardened, and step by step it becomes impossible to accept new material that would be easily embedded into the given structure.  This way, the Spirit looses its link to the dynamics of reality, It is being surrounded by the wall of dogmatic prejudices and beliefs.

This is exactly the message of the Tower Tarot Card.  If the Spirit is not flexible, it won’t be able to adjust to the ever changing circumstances of everyday life. If such Spirit is faced with danger, it can only fail to respond, leaving the problems to the Soul … to clear up the mess.

Message of the Tower Card: Every structure can be defended provided that it is flexible, elastic and capable of evolving. We are just human constructions, … we can only hope to survive if  we can adjust ourselves, since life itself is in constant flow and alternation.

The tower card in reading: Suffering is a consequence of the deeds of the  forces of destiny —- read karmic forces.  The tower card  signifies the gifts of the negative spiritual forces -  some sort of questionable enlightenment which is like a lightning -… destroying everything which is contrary to its nature.  These forces are very sensitive and they vanish when there are no more barriers of lower and higher nature – that is – when God’s light starts to shine within the human personality.

About the Author

Article written by Pythia.

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The above guest post is published based on the premise that it will be helpful and informative. The opinions made within it are those of the author and not of sunnyray.org. The links you may find within this post do not necessarily imply our recommendation or endorsement of the views expressed within them.

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