Bohemian Gothic Tarot

XVI THE TOWER

Lighter or more conventional meanings

A sudden event that feels like a disaster * An explosive release of emotions * Feeling as though things in your life are falling apart * Dramatic change * Upheavals, unexpected commotion * A catastrophic happening - maybe * Turmoil.

Darker, shadow or more hidden meanings

A violent event that changes your life - though long-term this could be good or bad * Terror and panic * Feeling that things have got out of control * Feeling that the changes in your life are catastrophic, though they may in reality not be.

The Tower, rather than Death, is the card that tarot-readers interpret as showing a potential catastrophe. It's about sudden shocks, upheavals, cataclysmic changes - things that are usually far from welcome in our lives. However, alarming as this may sound it's a useful card as it can warn us of possible problems ahead, giving us time to act to avoid these if we choose to do so. It's also good to bear in mind that there are times when a profound shake-up, even if it's hard to deal with, is in fact exactly what we need. There is a positive side to The Tower, which tells us that no matter how grim the situation that might arise, it's to a large part the way we deal with it that will determine how good or bad the outcome is.

Traditionally the unexpected nature of the event is symbolised by a lightning strike that tears apart a tower. In this image, we don't see any crumbling stones; instead the lightning strikes at a distance from the tower and the two gargoyles look rather as though they've been frozen into place in the act of jumping from the walls. There's a feeling of entrapment and dread. If this was a scene in a horror film the lightning would signal the moment at which shock and calamity strike. The Gothic is all about tension, dread and the feeling of helplessness that this invokes. When you see this card in a reading, one question to ask is if you or the querent is too paralysed by fear of disaster to take the necessary steps to avert it. It's important not to react in this way but, on the contrary, to look at the possible threats and see how you can avert them or manage them in order to minimise their effect.

Some further ways to consider this card

Several other cards in this deck show rooftops and/or gargoyles. How might it alter the way you read The Tower if it came up close to, say, the Eight of Wands, the Two of Swords or The Fool?

Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for the vast house and its shadows were alone behind me. The radiance was that of the full, setting, and blood-red moon which now shone vividly through that once barely-discernible fissure of which I have before spoken as extending from the roof of the building, in a zig-zag direction, to the base. While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened - there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind - the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight - my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder - there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters - and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the "House of Usher."
- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher", Tales of Mystery, and Imagination.

We went out into the moonless and tortuous network of that incredibly ancient town; went out as the lights in the curtained windows disappeared one by one, and the Dog Star leered at the throng of cowled, cloaked figures that poured silently from every doorway and formed monstrous processions up this street and that.
- H. P Lovecraft, "The Festival", Collected Stories.