The Tower — Tarot Card Meaning

Upright

Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception, ruin. It is a card in particular of unforeseen catastrophe.

Reversed

According to one account, the same in a lesser degree also oppression, imprisonment, tyranny.

Reflection

Light
Breaking out of old, confining habits and mindsets Clearing the way for new growth Dispelling the influence of an inflated ego Getting back to basics Stripping away harmful illusions Receiving sudden insight

Shadow
Clinging to traditions that repress growth Engaging in willful blindness Rejecting evidence that change is needed Ignoring guidance from a higher power Maliciously engaging in destructive behavior

Symbolism

Occult explanations attached to this card are meagre and mostly disconcerting. It is idle to indicate that it depicts min in all its aspects, because it bears this evidence on the surface. It is said further that it contains the first allusion to a material building, but I do not conceive that the Tower is more or less material than the pillars which we have met with in three previous cases. I see nothing to warrant Papus in supposing that it is literally the fall of Adam, but there is more in favour of his alternative--that it signifies the materialization of the spiritual word. The bibliographer Christian imagines that it is the downfall of the mind, seeking to penetrate the mystery of God. I agree rather with Grand Orient that it is the ruin of the House of We, when evil has prevailed therein, and above all that it is the rending of a House of Doctrine. I understand that the reference is, however, to a House of Falsehood. It illustrates also in the most comprehensive way the old truth that "except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."

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