XVI – The Tower
“destruction of form”
symbol: change through destruction
planet: Mars
ritual: self-destruction, depression, falling
path of Pe: Netzach – Hod
This card is all about the narrative of the fall from the heavens. The tower is a symbol for a seemingly solid order with a steady base (compare to the myth of the tower of Babel). This kind of arrangement will not break at its core, due to its stability, which makes it nearly indestructible. This means that change will not come from within at this point but must strike from outside to shatter sclerotic habits and initiate the coming fall.
Rigidification and congealment are dissolved abruptly. Like a strike of lightning, imminent change is rarely predictable. It must be initiated through an outside force. In the upper part of the card, we can see trumpets, which refer to the “Apocalypse of Johannes” and the opening of the eye, which is a symbol for any sudden intervention from a higher power.
The flash above strikes hard and the whole upper part of the tower is breaking off. The symbols of „Alpha“ and „Omega“ are collapsing as well. The breaking A and O symbolize that our habits, routines and cycles are interrupted and are soon to be lost.
We can observe a serpent, marked with the symbol of Jupiter, leaving the falling king. Only through and during the act of falling an emotional encapsulation, re-interpretation and new prioritization of values may happen.
The serpent is symbolizing a foreign idea or system which has been personified. This current is immortal, but the protagonist can escape through falling out of it.
A person who symbolically inhabits such a tower (like an archetypical emperor) usually believes himself to be irreplaceable. To his surprise he is instantly replaced, when leaving the certain system.
This fall presents to us the opportunity to separate from an order and return to become ourselves again. Even if we can only feel lost in such a case, the chance to pick up courage again is eventually presented. Fortunately, the experience remains, which makes us able to teach others and to grow from the achieved knowledge. Only when reaching the ground again, we can start to rebuild and re-arrange our life to a better outcome.
The hebrew letter of „Pe“ refers to „the mouth“, which swallows old ideas and helps us to process the fall and rearrangement.
Summarized, the card of “XVI – The Tower” is the promise, that every idea as well as every empire, system or order must eventually collapse, of course to rise again – “Order from Chaos“.
The rose at the bottom represents the new growth of the rising system.
Maybe, it will appear in a new dress or in a different and apparently purged form, but the conception will always stay the same, only the protagonists are different.
Fortunately, every fall makes it possible for a being to leave a cycle and an inflexible position. After all, this card is not so bad as its reputation – it is rather a relief than breakdown.
