XVI. The Tower

Upright

• A venture which could either be groundbreaking or a huge bust.
• A glimpse of something very powerful; a discovery which could change everything.
• An utter disaster, in which everything comes crashing down.
• Destruction of entire paradigms, entire ways of life. Paths that may never be trodden again.
• An event which necessitates starting over, either from a new and superior starting point, or from a previous starting point after a failed undertaking.
• A monumental achievement in the face of near-insurmountable odds.
• The quest for the grail.

As The Tower reaches up into the realm of Ether, one of two things can happen: catastrophe, or revelation. The energy of The Tower is calamitous, the most impactful of any card in the Two Worlds Tarot. If The Tower signifies catastrophe, then it could be because a structure — physical, social, or metaphysical — necessitated disaster; its elimination, though traumatic, was probably for the best. If The Tower signifies revelation, then it represents a profound rush of insight with far-reaching ramifications.

Reversed

• Being unable to face a great, and possibly important challenge.
• Being trapped, by external circumstances or by internal ones. Being unable to move. Paralysis.
• Inability to see a non-perilous way forward.
• Going into hiding to wait out a turbulent event, or to avoid danger.
• Incarceration.

The Tower Reversed may loom in the distance, daunting and foreboding. It can represent challenges which keep a person in place, fearful of the repercussions should they attempt to get beyond them. It may also represent that which lies beneath: the dungeon, literal or metaphorical incarceration, or being trapped by circumstances or by a physical structure of some kind. External forces are holding someone in place against their will.

As The Tower, oriented upright, represents a great release of energy, or a daring pursuit, this represents quite the opposite: containment, confinement.