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Tarot Tower: A
Catapult to Change
Bonnie Moss 2006- 08
The Rider Waite Smith Tower card depicts a lightning that strikes at a tower
blowing out it’s golden crown as flames burst from it. Two figures fall down to
the ground and 22 yod surround the Tower.
Think of the Tower of Babel. It has inspired writers, artists, researchers and
historians through the ages.It was a favored subject in the 14th century.
Many tarot decks depict a tower, a lightning striking the tower, destruction and
figures falling down. This card evokes deep emotions especially fear, destruction,
crisis,all powerful and negative thoughts
The Tower of Babel was built with the intent to reach out to the heavens- to God.
Religion permeated society then. Despite this, man was tempted by the glory of
his achievement. The tower was intended to be a place of worship,to stand for the
unity of mind, body and spirit
As the Tower rose from the ground, so did ambition, perhaps greed and power.Caught
up in the immensity and result of the building, the original intent was replaced by the
reality that the tower was a shrine to man’s achievement. They got lost in their glory.
Their tower was their fortress,their strength, their preservation- all selfish and
self-centered, but re-assuring.
They had forgotten why they built a tower tall enough to reach out to heaven, a place
to worship God and accept the presence of a Higher Being.
They had their tower. They had their city. Cities then, were built to satisfy the physical/material
needs of man and to nourish his spirit. Cities were centers of culture,commerce, pleasure
and social life. Through art, music, beauty and the other ingredients of culture, the needs
and the hunger of the spirit was satisfied.
It is human to gloat at one’s success, or drown in one’s despair and failure.Often, this
leads to starvation of the spiritual side of life. Man takes credit for his glory, he forgets that
someone Higher extended a helping hand. In times of crisis, it is easier to blame an
uncaring, unfair or a foolish God .
Illusion is man’s folly. This leads to falsehood, weak foundation of the dream he builds
and thinks he lives; insecure relationships, surrounds himself with shadows and goes on
to a path of destruction. Peace of mind is elusive at this state, instead, a deep sense of
insecurity becomes an unwanted, cold and dark blanket.
Man gets absorbed in his world of achievement or failure. Perhaps, a nudge is not
enough to spring him to action, to find another way- hopefully for the better.
From the fall of the Tower of Babel, from all the confusion of languages, nations were
born, different languages evolved. There was a whole world waiting to be discovered
and conquered.
Think of the September 11 destruction of the twin towers of New York City. These are
testaments of destruction that catapult man to change. In our personal lives, sometimes
it takes more than just a nudge to bring about a much needed change.The twin tower disaster
changed the world drastically.Symbolically and historically, this tower occurrence propels
society to look deeper into their hearts, evaluate their relationships, learn to set priorities
but the tragedy is the ever-present fear of a faceless enemy believed to be lurking anywhere
and everywhere.
The yods falling in the Rider-Waite Smith deck is symbolic. Yod is a Hebrew letter.
It represents divine grace, energy, healing, new possibilities and/ or new intelligence
becoming manifest.
Reference:
Tower of Babel and Confusion of Languages by Lambert Dolphin
Nimrod, Son of Cush, Son of Ham by Ray C. Stedman
Pictures from the Heart by Sandra A. Thomson
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