Sign: Scorpio, Aries
Element(s): Water, Fire
Numerology: XVI
Numerologically speaking the number XVI is associated with intense transformation, spiritual / personal upheaval, ego death, karmic debt, and rebirth. The number XVI can also represent a major shift from the physical to the spiritual world. Containing within it the number 7 (6+1=7) which is all about truth seeking, introspection, and deep wisdom, the number XVI invites us to pull from within us all we have learned in order to gain wisdom through the ultimate surrender which true transformation requires.
Message from Dilara:
When we are set on a course of change there is stage within that change which rocks our foundations completely, asking us to re-evaluate our beliefs and general landscape of truth. The Tower is the point on our path where we are rocked to our core. In the image of the card (Rider Waite deck) the building or Tower can be seen to represent our literal foundations. Our mental structures, prison, or household of our repeated thought patterns which seem to form the basis of our reality. When these are struck by divine force we change from the inside out. Our world becomes infinitely more expanded because we will never see it from the same perspective again.
The Tower can also symbolise a shift in identity in relation to status. Who do you see ourselves to be in our community / family / circle? How is that changing now or how does it need to change for us to grow? The lightning bolt can be seen to signify the Universe’s will for us all, its plan for us all and how we are players in the game it has for us. On a more microscopic level the two figures in the card can be seen as the ego and the ego’s awareness of itself. When forcefully dismantled, what are we left with? A vulnerability, a bruising, a state of confusion?
Ultimately The Tower card pushes us to come into a state of clarity beyond what we have known before because no healing can be created from the consciousness in which sickness has arisen. All identity eventually fades, whether that be in death or life or both. The tower is the divine’s way of reminding us that there is ALWAYS a point in our evolution in which that identity will feel like it is being stripped down to the raw embers, rather than gently moved by choice.
The Tower card is ruled by Mars, the planet of war, action, passion, drive, and courage. This propulsive and penetrative energy is required in our lives in order for the elevation we seek at a soul level to be delivered, not always, but at times, it is required. As a result of its ruling planet The Tower can also symbolise arguments, confrontation, stimulation, decrees of separation, and turbulence. Ultimately, these experiences can be internal or external, micro or macro, the energy is present and will be providing for you what you need to step into the next phase of your becoming.
Reversed:
In its reversed position The Tower can bring with it the resistance we may be having to renewal. Blocking change when it is inevitable. Denial, and stagnant energy around releasing what needs to release is also linked in with the Tower reversed. What is the root of the situation? How may you be avoiding the throws of divine will? Its reversed position also indicates a ‘sweeping under the rug’ tendency. We all have decisions to make in our lives, on the daily, the Tower reversed could be highlighting where your choices are going around in circles, leading you to disrupt the pattern of evolution by avoiding the core of the matter.
Message from The Herd:
Are you prepared for the collapse? Are you ready? For many humans the reality is that readiness is a steady outcome as opposed to a destination reached through decision and finality. The Tower is the abundant force of renewal.
Within the journey of the Major Arcana the Fool’s journey takes one to the epicentre of what is real and what not. The Tower is a perfect format for this principle in it’s encouragement for you to truly release all you have held onto because ultimately there is no greater force that the choice to surrender when asked to. How will you know you are being asked to let go? The Universe will give you reasons, will give you signs, will direct you to the window of outcome. It is up to you to take the leap. As The Fool leaps into faith and direction, the Tower is the leap of ultimate renewal and with renewal can come chaos, misdirection, misleading avenues, options for you to be partial to the change in the world.
The universe strikes at the appropriate time, never late. By being upheld in your structures of belief you have been willing to compromise somewhat to the possibility beckoning you forward when really, the desired outcome is to be ignited in your transformation.
At times, The Tower card will appear for the soul who is asking for change but deeply held in their unconscious patterning. There is a desire being obstructed by the illusion of entrapment. Some humans feel comfortable in their beliefs, some feel a push and pull, an urge to release the tension of who they have been without the perceived possibility of being able to do. This is where a spark of divine will carries you into either oblivion, or a texture of your own making which could seem recognisable, albeit uncomfortable at first.
What we suggest with the presence of this card is to invite the revelation of mystery to move through your core, your centre, your essence. Here, you will find The Tower – regardless. Waiting for your presence to catapult you into a new version of your truth. By sitting in the energy of your own mystery, the Tower can be dismantled, rebuilt, and realigned to your core purpose through the transformative choice to surrender and let go into divine outcome.
Reversed:
Reversed this card can indicate a sense of comfortability in the uncomfortable. A sense of reminding the giver to be a giver rather than a taker. When The Tower is reversed it calls to the unification of memory and creation. It asks you to humbly step forward and look at where you are receiving pleasure from continuing to live exactly as you are, even if this way of living is detrimental to you. For many, reading this may be uncomfortable. It is meant to be.
As a species we have developed a relationship with ‘fear’ which is quick, unabsorbed and relevant. We take it as it comes and we give it back from whence it came. The Tower reversed is for the human who, for their own reasons, is holding onto the fear, letting it churn through their being. Remember, everything has its place – which means there must be a place set for everything. Letting fear, or any other emotion override the space needed by other energies can be a blast for the system you are inhabiting (your emotional body). Let yourself be freed of the adverse. Let yourself be uncomfortable in the uncomfortable so that you can truly see the clarity of urgency calling for your renewal.