Member Articles

Tower

The Devil experience leads the student once again to the precipice glimpsed at the edge of the Fool's path. At the Tower stage the student tumbles over the edge. Everything they expected from themselvescomes crashing down and mirroring the synchronicity experienced at the Wheel of Fortune. This inner transformation smacks an outward experience of seemingly unforeseeable life changes. In learning to embrace their frail humanity from the Devil, much of the confidence they had built in the earlier stages falters, and they experience a profound fall from grace. At this stage in their Tarot journey to readership, they must successfully navigate tests of self doubt, criticism, and the newly erected barriers put in front of them from the outer world. The Tower experience will testthe student's mettle to continue on the path in face of great opposition both from within, and from the outer world.

Some students report having done a reading for someone they love that felt negative and they're loved one reacted negatively to it – this represents the fall from grace – some students leave the Tarot for a period of time after such an experience. One woman read for her father-in-law who was recovering form a heart attack and the Death card showed up which saddened her and others in the family. She approached me after a class and said she was definitely feeling like this wasn't the tool for her after all – she had lost confidence in herself and the Tarot. She had constructed a process of reading that was focused on the positive only and was basking in the attention her family was paying to her with her new found skill. Her ego was collapsing under the weight of the surfacing collective unconscious. blems, heal your wounds, and make you a happy and adjusted individual!" She constellated the Tower – a test. What will you do when the cards you turn over are not all light, happiness, and resolution?

Students begin to break away from the musts, have tos, rules – including the rules of what hands to use when laying out the cards, cutting the cards – or sticking strictly to only the meanings they are presented with in their texts – they ask questions like, "Is it okay to let others touch your cards?", "How often should I clean my cards?" In answering, "Do what feels right!" they are thrown off the Tower.

This also marks a time when students start telling everyone that they are studying the Tarot and they are going to read the cards for others. Criticism be damned! They care less about what others in their lives think about their chosen path – some face grave criticism, rejection, alienation from their friends and families at this time. The students awaken to issues represented by the towers our society builds and holds dear – towers that are failing to improve the quality of life for many humans – environmentalism, animal rights, global awareness surface taking the initiate further and further away from the status quo.