The Tower Card

The Tower Card is the sixteenth trump of the Major Arcana. The Major Arcana represents the “greater secrets” of the Tarot deck. This card has several unique features, one of which is that its images and its name have changed radically through the ages, but its meaning has generally remained the same.

In earlier decks, it was called Le Maison Dieu, “The House of God,” and Le Feu du Ciel, “Fire from Heaven.” A Flemish deck from the eighteenth century renamed it Le Foudre, “The Thunderbolt.” In that version a frightened shepherd is shown cowering under a burning tree split by a bolt of lightning while sheep graze at its base. Some versions showed two nude human figures. Scholars believe that this harkened back to the fall of Adam and Eve.

Modern decks show a lightening bolt striking a burning tower topped by a crown being blown off by the intensity of the blast. It has two clad people jumping or falling head first to their presumed deaths at the base of the tower which looks as if it is a decaying shoal of rocks or craggy mountain side.

The crown is thought to symbolize the status quo and the false security it engenders. It is being knocked off its perch by forces beyond human control. More in depth interpretation of the crown’s abrupt dislodging is that major changes are occurring in an entire era, extending beyond the individual to all people within a given society or perhaps in a family.

Two unique features of the Tower card are that regardless of where it is found in the spread, it always involves changes taking place in the here and now and it symbolizes destruction on a physical, not a spiritual scale.

The burning tower signifies punishment for pride, overconfidence and the complete destruction of a false system of values, ambitions and security.

Some scholars relate the card to the Tower of Babel, whose builders wrongly believed they could gain access to heaven through it. Pursuit of that endeavor represents unfounded arrogance and false pride.

The two falling figures are believed to be the personification of unreconciled opposites which represent individual separateness created by a lack of communication and understanding. This view bolsters the Tower of Babel interpretation.

The three narrow windows are thought to indicate the narrow mindedness, materialism and rationalism of man.

The lightning bolt is a sudden flash of insight into the true nature of reality, one that breaks down self delusion and ignorance. It travels from left to right, from the past to the here and now, or perhaps from the spiritual to material.

The Tower card is a lower parallel of strength and can be understood as a symbol of punishment, painful sacrifice and defeat of a false philosophy in pursuit of a true one. Advancing seekers are encouraged to take stock at this stage and anticipate the possibility that their entire personal ethos and philosophy may be severely shaken, possibly for the better, in the very near future.