The Tower

There are a few cards in the Tarot Deck that are not the most pleasant for the reader and may actually illicit fear in the client upon seeing them in a reading.

• A few from the Swords suit come to mind, and in my opinion, the 3 of Swords is one of the most troublesome.
• In the Major Arcana, Death, the Devil, and the Tower stand out to me.

As a reader, I try to caution anyone I read for not to take those cards seriously as they (the client) do not understand all of the associations with the cards and how they interplay with the other cards in the spread as well as with the position the card occupies in the spread itself and how the card turns up; is it upright or reversed? Sound complicated? Mhm. Yet, I can understand the client’s shock on seeing the cards if they turn up in a reading. After all, depending on the artist, the images can be quite disconcerting; let alone the names Death and Devil.

I recently posted about my life being an example of the Chariot card.

In reality, this could be a Tower moment for me as well.

In the traditional rendering of the Tower card, we see a tower being struck by lightning and two people falling from it; a man and a woman. One of them is dressed rather poorly while the other is well-dressed, even wearing a crown. Another oversized crown is falling from the pinnacle of the tower. Some renditions show waves crashing around the base or foundation of the tower.

How often can we predict or control when lightning might strike? Or the amount of damage it causes? We can’t. The traditional association with this card is a sudden, abrupt change over which you have no control is about to upset things, possibly shaking you to your core or foundation. Not a very pleasant thought.

Some readers associate this card with another famous tower, the Tower of Babel. In the story, man-in his ego-built the tower tall enough to be closer to God, to aspire to be more like Him. God didn’t like this, and struck the tower with a bolt of lightning. Therefore, this card can also be a warning to mind the ego which, coincidentally, is represented by the large crown in the picture.

While the idea of a sudden, abrupt change is never welcome, it can serve a purpose. When things are this shaken up, it can give us the opportunity to rebuild, but even stronger than before, while minding the ego at the same time.  

My divorce was a Tower moment. It came out of the blue, shook me to my very core, yet gave me the opportunity to rebuild myself even stronger. So, all in all, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. 

Three of Swords~
Heartbreak

I may be experiencing another Tower moment. Yet this change, while sudden and unexpected, hasn’t shaken me to my core in a negative way or even as deeply as the divorce did. Yet, I feel I am rebuilding myself a bit stronger in this newest Tower moment.

As I stated in the Chariot post, someone near and dear to me has re-entered my life. His return came suddenly, abruptly and quite unexpectedly, just like the lightning. I did feel quite shaken at first as it was a return I had hoped for but didn't anticipate at this time. I always felt our business together was unfinished and our time before might not have been the right time for us. But, is now the right time? Time will tell.

I see myself having changed during our time apart. In the past, when I didn’t hear from him for a while, I felt abandoned as that fear has always been one of my deepest ones stemming from my childhood. Now, I know that fear has nothing to do with me at all. And with him, I know he will get back to me as soon as he is able.

I also want to see things develop on a more gradual, natural basis rather than rushing things like so many people do. There is an old joke playing off a lesbian stereotype. What does a lesbian bring to the second date? The moving van. I’ve heard many lesbians repeat this joke so I feel somewhat safe in relaying it here. We may have rushed things before, which led to the separation and caused some hurt feelings on both sides.

Perhaps our Tower moment was the separation itself which allowed us to strengthen our own personal foundations even more for our time now. Maybe his reappearing in my life isn’t an actual full Tower moment, but a mini-Tower? 

Or better yet, a Six of Cups moment.

Six of Cups

A reunion from the past.