One card that freaks most people out in a reading, no matter which way you read it, it usually spells disaster. Reversed or upright, it’s usually seen as a pretty negative card and most of the time, the imagery is pretty dark. Traditionally, there is a tower that is on fire, struck by lightning and people are falling out of the tower to their death. It’s a dark one.

Consider for a moment though that everyone has moments of destruction. It’s something that everyone can relate to. It’s also something that we all need to learn how to cope with, and rebuild from in some aspect of life. Some ‘tower moments’ are ones that stay with us forever- some we can empathize with, but maybe never truly know the pain of. Others maybe we can slowly pick away at over time, or maybe it’s something that we need help working through.

Each deck has its own way of expressing this card- and the imagery varies from deck to deck. Check out a selection of mine here:

Creatures Tarot: Interestingly there are two options for the tower for this deck (I only have the one major set though 🙂 ) There is a similar sense of loss and a sort of turning your back on destruction, as often when a tree breaks or dies, it is left to rot, kind of forgotten. With the other half of the tree still standing, I feel like this card holds a bit more hope and I would read it as losing what is dead, or what doesn’t serve you any more.

The Hidden Light Tarot: A sailboat in a lightning storm spells disaster, but it seems as if it hasn’t hit yet- there is a feeling that destruction is imminent, but you have some time to collect yourself and prepare for it to hit. The fire hasn’t started yet- it’s coming though.

Tarot Ultra Violet.te: The roots here seem to demonstrate that the problem or the destruction may run deep. The mouths in the background could show that people may be speaking poorly of you behind your back, or that others’ opinions may be the thing that brings you down (This deck is awesome, by an awesome Montreal-based Canadian creator- incredibly open, LGBTQIA+ positive and inclusive. I want to do a whole deck run through with it in a later post. I love it).

Cosma Visions: This is a companion card, called The Shore- it has more of a starting-from-the-bottom vibe- almost as if the tower moment has hit so…now what do you do? Watch out, more dangers may rain down on you, but you can work to find your own footing. This reads a bit more positive to me. The fire is over.

Transient Light Tarot: The tower is on an island here- and the stairway is circular, almost as if it never ends. There’s a much stronger feeling of isolation here for me- you feel completely alone and it’s like your spiralling into darkness in the wake of the stuff that has happened. Similar feelings of being alone and left to fend for yourself, but perhaps less fire, less ultimate destruction.

All amazing decks- what does your Tower card look like? Tell me in the comments! Convince me to buy YET ANOTHER DECK. haha

Happy Readings 💛💛

-Madame Starbeam