The Tower is about sudden change. The drastic turn may have happened unexpectedly or finally boiled up after simmering in the background of your life, unnoticed or ignored.
The calamities can be many. Breakups, shakeups, layoffs, and abrupt changes implode your life; things are no longer the same. Standing in the rubble, you’re left with the aftermath and the need to pick up the pieces while also trying to understand what the hell just happened.
You might be in shock. The Tower has upended your life, and you’re forced to power through despite feeling drained and exhausted.
Tower energies are often events, but this card can also indicate seismic inner revelations. Your version of reality or Self falls apart, leaving you facing the core. While vulnerable, the emotional space you’re in might bring the freedom to be happier. You get to choose who you want to become.
This card can also be literal and indicate problems with a building, construction project, or house. Proceed with caution and consider all angles, details, and options. You might back out of any projects that become unwieldy, costly, or too stressful.
The Tower can represent all kinds of power structures upended. I have seen this card drawn before war, attacks, and insurrections. Towers are institutions and the people that uphold them.
You might also be involved in a corporation or employer riddled with scandal and corruption; you might consider leaving before things implode.
When drawn reversed, the Tower’s intensity can be lessened. Something shatters but can be replaced or fixed. The card’s reversal can also suggest the calamity has passed. Conversely, you may be unaware of what’s brewing beneath the surface.
While this card’s reversal most often indicates the destructive forces are lessened, it can also mean the opposite, depending on surrounding cards. Whatever is upended levels everything; change may be all-encompassing.
The Tower represents release but in a jarring and often frightening way. What you’ve viewed as a shield from harm is now seen for what it is: a barrier to your happiness. Whether an actual event or personal revelation, the brick-and-mortar that collapses leaves room for something more humane and real. The Tower clears limitations away.
It’s also a powerful teacher, reminding us of how little control we actually have. Our lives can be changed in an instant, and that’s a tough but important spiritual lesson. Not everything is our fault–sometimes life just happens.
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Tarot Spread
If you are drawn to the Tower and want to dig deeper, get them outta your deck, make them your mascot, and draw some cards from the rest of the deck with this tarot spread I created!
