← Encyclopedia of Tarot · lesson 17/121
The Tower
The Tower is the card of sudden change: a moment when something that seemed solid gives way, often quickly and without much warning. Readers rarely take it as disaster for its own sake. It is usually read as the collapse of what was built on shaky foundations — a false belief, an untenable situation, a pretence — so that something truer can be built in its place.
The image
A tall tower stands on a rocky peak against a dark sky. A bolt of lightning strikes its top and knocks off a crown; flames burst from the windows, and two figures fall headlong while small drops of fire scatter through the air. The lightning is usually taken as a flash of truth or insight from outside, the crown as pride or false certainty knocked loose, and the falling figures as being shaken out of old positions.
Upright
Upheaval, revelation, the unexpected, the end of illusions. Waite calls it "a card of confusion" and links it to unforeseen reversals of fortune. In everyday life it can point to plans changing abruptly, a truth coming out, a sudden insight that changes how a person sees things, or a release of tension that has built up for a long time. Unsettling as it is, it often clears the air.
Reversed
Waite gives the same in a lesser degree, and oppression. Modern readers often see a change that is being resisted or delayed, an upheaval happening inwardly rather than in outward events, or a narrow escape that still asks for change. Some readers do not use reversals at all.
Correspondences
Major Arcana card XVI. In the Golden Dawn system, which most English-language decks follow, it is the Hebrew letter Peh (the mouth), the 27th path on the Tree of Life, joining Netzach and Hod, and the planet Mars. French (Papus) tradition differs here: it gives this card to Capricorn. In French decks it is called La Maison Dieu, the House of God.
In a reading
In the past, it can describe a shake-up that changed the course of things. As an obstacle, it may point to rigid structures or denial that cannot hold. As advice, it suggests letting go of what is already cracking; as an outcome, a breakthrough after a disruption. It is followed by the Star, and the two together are often read as upheaval giving way to hope.
In astrology
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow (French, Marseille-based tradition differs for some Major Arcana).
Planet: Mars