The Tower Card...

[KoKoMe]

Lately the Tower card has been coming up quite often and in a new position in my readings.Can anyone give me new insights into this card?Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank-you,Kokome.

[mucgwyrt]

It means a big change is coming :)

[was]

the tower is 1 of the most negative cards in the deck it usually means loss of a friendship bankrupsy and downfall...hope that helps...cheers!!! :lol:

[mucgwyrt]

no tarot card is negative. It simple signifies great change; one aspect of your life coming to an end, leaving you with a blank canvas on which to paint :)

[Faeawyn]

Some would depend on the position of the card and the question, but what I get from that card is loss or abandonment, the destruction of a relationship, having to leave one's home or familiar surroundings. Basically some part of someones life is about to turn upside down. I suppose, in some cases, moving away from home can be a good thing (as in getting your own place), and some relationships are better off when they're over....but the general feel I get from the card is a sense of loss.

[Aidron]

While I'm sure many people do associate it the Tower card with change, I, however do not. It seems rather redundant, what with the Death card and the Wheel card in the deck. Plus there are other cards that often relate to change, depending on who you speak to, and I've never cared for redundancy so I don't allow it in my deck. ;)

I tend to look at it, in a general sense without knowing what the situation is, as something built upon a weak foundation and crumbling, or destruction. While both of those I'm sure denote negativity to many people, I frankly don't see it. Those can both be very positive in my opinion.

[9-2-2]

I just say that when you get something like the Tower, do a supplemental reading on it, rather than clouding your good judgement with "hoping" it will be a good change. I'm not saying that it's always positive or negative, but it is dangerous to say some cards are never negative and such. At any rate, a supplemental reading is essential, so that you don't end up stepping on your own feet. :)

[zakzekezedd]

I always see the Tower as indicating something utterly unexpected and totally disruptive coming. Whatever it is it will shake you to the very core and make you really sit up and take notice in a way you haven't been for way too long. This isn't about a gradual change or transition, or a change that you really have any sort of choice about. One book equates the Tower to Dorothy's house dropping out of the sky and landing on the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz..I mean no one saw that coming, especially the Wicked Witch! And I think that's the best description I've ever read of what the card indicates. Depending on what you are reading for, I'd say that a major shakeup is in the works, and it's something that you haven't even considered. It may or may not be truly devasting or disasterous, but it certainly will be stressful and upsetting. It could be something as mundane as having to move on short notice, or putting a new transmission in the car; or, it could be as life altering as a major illness, or losing your job. The only choice you have in the whole thing is how you chose to deal with the change.

[Rainbow Chaser]

The Tower is certainly not negative, it just means that you're in for a bumpy ride! ;) I always try to recommend enjoy the ride because there is very little you can do about the changes that are coming your way. If you fight them, it will get harder and more longwinded. Just get it over with and then you can move on to the new stuff that always follows.
Look for the other cards in the reading as to what the nature of the change might be. It could be something minor too, it doesn't necessarily mean the worst.

[Rainbow Chaser]

While I'm sure many people do associate it the Tower card with change, I, however do not. It seems rather redundant, what with the Death card and the Wheel card in the deck. Plus there are other cards that often relate to change, depending on who you speak to, and I've never cared for redundancy so I don't allow it in my deck. ;)



You must be joking! You chucked the Tower out?? *grin* It might be a good idea to take an extra look at it then. ;)

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

If there is no negative cards in the Tarot, then how can you accurately give a reading? Surely there are negative things that happen in life. Not everything is rosy. When I got the Tower card for a month straight in every reading I did for myself, little did I know that I was the one that was going to end a long term relationship with someone I still love to this day, but just couldn't be with any longer. It was sudden and out of the blue, but it really was needed and there was a lot of anguish that went along with it. It was a mess! There has to be negative interpretations and cards or there's really no point in reading the cards. You could just tell them without looking at a single card that everything is fabulous, there's merriment, celebration and good things on the horizon. Not everything that happens in life is good or positive. Anyone who thinks that every reading should be upbeat and rosy shouldn't be reading cards.

That's my .02 pentacles.

~D

[zakzekezedd]

Dagda--I agree! I know a lot of people really do hate to deal with the so called "negative" cards like the Tower, the 3 of Swords, the Devil, Death or the 9 of Swords to name the main culprits. I just see these cards as indicating obstacles and challenges that I'm going to have to deal with. There is always some wisdom to be gained from even the most trying times, even if it is just the knowledge that I can get through it all.

[Aidron]

I personally disagree in that any tarot card is negative, or for that matter positive, as positive and negative are only a matter of perception, not factual.

The Tower card can be viewed as positive, negative, or even neutral, depending upon the situation, your own outlook on life, and any pre-concieved notions you may or may not have.

I take each card as it comes, not identifying it as positive as negative, for anything, even too much so-called positivity can be negative. Take the cards for what they are, cards, only you apply the negative or positive assoctions or recieve them during a reading.

[Theres]

i say just take a look at the card.
in most cases, the Tower is being blasted to bits, with the inhabitants falling headfirst to... their doom?

yes, there must be negative to balance positive. and while i agree that no card in the pack is inherently 'bad', there are those i prefer not to draw (5's anyone?).

i see this as great change, but not like Death, not just a natural turning of the wheel... more in line with Crowley's idea that creation must be born of destruction. this card signifies (to me anyway) the destruction of old paradigms, willingly or not, to make way for new growth.
a spiritual 'pruning', if you will.

trepidation is understandable, but i think you must focus on what may be about to bloom from this change. however, i also think you should be prepared to lose something that you are currently clinging to. just remember that this is probably necessary to make way for something better.

i always see this card as a benefit, although i can't really say that i don't cringe a bit when it turns up in my daily draw.

btw, i don't think there is a "redundant" card in the pack.

[Aidron]

btw, i don't think there is a "redundant" card in the pack.


Not entirely what I meant. I believe people often will give redundant associations to cards and then experience frustration during readings because of this.

That is why I rarely take a book's associations and use them for my own and instead create my own associations before ever looking at the deck, since what seems most significant to me is more important (if I'm reading) than what a book says, unless of course the book itself wants to do a reading for me or someone else, and that I would like to see.

[phyrefly]

Macha and Faeawyn seem to come closest to Julia Kristeva's interpretation of Tower as the Abject. Raven Wind Song's semantics are compelling: Sabina Spielrein was both patient and lover of Carl Jung, as well as one of the first female Freudians from the beginning. Even then, her work was placed somewhat below and other to, work by members of the inner circle. See her 'Destruction as a Cause of Coming Into Being.' The original German essay may give up semantics not found in English. She was shot by the nazis in a Russian synagogue, along with her daughter. At the time, she was working and publishing articles concerned with how children learn.

Regards,
Phyrefly

[phyrefly]

No, it was Greenman who had Crowley's/Spielrein's concept.

Phyrefly

[KoKoMe]

Wow,you all gave me alot to think about!!!Thank you for all the posts and great insights into the Tower Card.I thought maybe I would try putting it under my pillow and sleeping on it,and see what it reveals to me, what do you think good idea or not? BB Kokome

[mucgwyrt]

Macha and Faeawyn seem to come closest to Julia Kristeva's interpretation of Tower as the Abject. Raven Wind Song's semantics are compelling: Sabina Spielrein was both patient and lover of Carl Jung, as well as one of the first female Freudians from the beginning. Even then, her work was placed somewhat below and other to, work by members of the inner circle. See her 'Destruction as a Cause of Coming Into Being.' The original German essay may give up semantics not found in English. She was shot by the nazis in a Russian synagogue, along with her daughter. At the time, she was working and publishing articles concerned with how children learn.

Regards,
Phyrefly
I believe all the cards are neutral, it is our own associations with change and upheaval etc which make it 'bad'