LEARN TO DO YOUR OWN TAROT READINGSThe Tower - Card 16 in The Major Arcana
A stone tower which appears to be crumbling at its foundations is being struck by lightning and is on fire. The lightning has thrown off the roof of the tower which is a golden crown. The unfortunate inhabitants of the tower are plummetting upside down to their fates. There are some clouds and golden rain in an otherwise black sky.
There have been suggestions that the Tower represents the Temple of Solomon (La Maison Dieu) in Jerusalem. Alternatively, Dieu could have been a corrupted form of Diefel (Devil) thus making the house the Devil House.
This card was also called La Sagitta (the arrow) and La Saetta (the thunderbolt). It is most probable that the Tower card depicts a scene from the mediaeval play ("The Harrowing of Hell") and the tower is in fact the Tower of Limbo. The figures falling from the tower are unredeemed souls. The crown represents the peak of consciousness and lightning the primal energy of the psyche.
This card in a reading:
Upright: In a reading the Tower can indicate upheaval or change of a sudden nature. Something somewhere is not quite right and however much it is ignored it will eventually surge out from its hiding place. It may be exactly what is needed to force the querent along a new route.
Reversed: Imprisonment, tyranny.
Summary: Snap out of it.
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