We humans like to think very highly of ourselves, sometimes to the point of megalomania. It is during these moments when our egos could stand to be reeled in a bit. In biblical literature Genesis tells us a story about the building of the Tower of Babel, one in which fueled by pride, men felt inspired to build a tower reaching the Heavens. The Christian God hindered their work by giving them multiple languages “so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” The city tower was never completed, and man was dispersed over the various continents separated by their newfound diversity.
Some say that this story was an attempt at explaining why we have such a variety of languages and cultures all over the world. The name Babel came from the old Hebrew word balal, literally translated to confuse, and to some illustrate a play on words in Genesis 11:9. “Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth.” In the tarot the Tower card is this initiation into conflict with our egoic control, and is the ultimate expression of intuitive growth.
Marked as number 16 in the deck, the Tower is one of disaster and upheaval, of sudden change and revelation. It is chaos. It is an awakening. The Tower lets us know that it is time to re-examine our belief structures and opinions, our moral code and our values. This type of work can be extremely upsetting for people with anxiety or trauma, but it can also be a relief to let some of what’s not working simply fall away. Much like the Hindu Goddess Kali teaches us, it signifies a liberation that hurts even as it frees.
It’s not always fun or easy to come to the realization that you have been building your life on shoddy foundation, that it’s cracking and feels like everything is falling apart. The most advanced act of Divine energy that any of us can do is to clear out what is no longer serving you and to live in alignment with what’s inside your own heart. This requires that we acknowledge that there is a wound there in the first place. It’s exhausting trying to hold up a house while the cut is still bleeding. The whole point of this card is to uproot anything that you built on this false foundation, and to tend to the hurt that you so deftly attempted to bury.
Not all Tower moments are foundational, thus requiring us to burn our entire lives to the ground. Those times most certainly bring up feelings of fear, or terror, of trauma. Sometimes it is merely there to alert us to some changes that need to be made. There are times when the change feels top level, when much like repairing the roof on your house, the building itself stays in tact. Then there are the midlevel moments, those times you begin to question how much you want that thing you’ve been striving so hard to obtain. Just like onions, and just like us humans, there are layers.
The real work begins when you get into the subbasement. Some call it a nervous breakdown, but my therapist likes to call it inner child work. This is the part where you go spelunking into the depths of your own soul, to pull it out and into the Universe. There are times in our lives when the only thing left to do is to break, to crack yourself open so that you can excavate yourself from your own pile of bullshit. This is the hard part, the ugly crying part, but the next part is the beautiful step you get to take after all of the destruction. You get to rebuild your life and live how you choose, but first you have to survive it.
One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the unknown coming to an end.
Krishnamurti
The Tower is ruled by Mars, the ruling planet of Aries, and is one of the main affluential planets in the solar system. Mars is fiery and intense; Mars is aggressive. Mars is also the planet of freedom, the planet of enthusiasm. That same torch you used to set your house ablaze could be the same one you use to light a fire under your own ass.
Mad love, Jenna
