The Tower
The Lord of the Hosts of the Mighty
In a reading
Sudden upheaval, the destruction of a false structure, quarrel, war, escape from a prison; liberation through catastrophe. Badly placed: ruin, violence, the collapse that leaves nothing standing.
Working with the card
| Do | Let it fall; act fast on what the collapse reveals. |
|---|---|
| Bring | Courage, a clear eye, readiness to rebuild. |
| Beware | Destruction for its own sake; rebuilding the same wall. |
| Ask | What had to break for me to see this? |
Correspondences
On the card
A tower is shattered by flame that bursts from the mouth of Dis at its base; geometrical figures fall from it; at the top the open eye of Shiva watches. A dove with an olive branch and a lion-serpent face each other across the destruction.
Kabbalah
Peh, the mouth, on path 27 from Netzach to Hod: the horizontal path across the lower Tree, the mouth that speaks the Word that shatters. Peh joins emotion and intellect, and when the current jumps between them the tower falls.
Astrology
Mars, the lesser malefic: force, war, energy, the breaking of forms. Mars rules Aries and Scorpio, is exalted in Capricorn, and is the planet of Geburah.
Number
Sixteen, the square of four, matter squared, and Peh's value 80. The perfect solid structure is exactly what the lightning must destroy.
Depth psychology
The shattering of the persona and of ego-defences by the irruption of the unconscious: the crisis that precedes real change. Jungian readers see the collapse of a one-sided attitude and the eruption of what it excluded.
Thoth and Rider-Waite
Waite's lightning strikes a crown from a tower as two figures fall; Crowley adds the mouth of Dis, the eye of Shiva, and the dove and serpent, so that the card reads as the end of an Aeon and the war between the old and the new.
The planet in depth
| Rules | Aries, Scorpio |
|---|---|
| Exalted in | Capricorn |
| Detriment | Libra, Taurus |
| Fall | Cancer |
| Day, metal | Tuesday, iron |
| Keywords | Action, desire, sexuality, courage, anger, competition, energy, conflict, cutting, surgery, sport, blood, muscles, fever, accidents, the head (with Aries) |
| Light | Courage, decisiveness, protective strength, passion, independence |
| Shadow | Violence, impulsiveness, cruelty, rage, or, when repressed, passive aggression and burnt-out apathy |
More in the astrology chapters: ♂︎ Mars.
Related cards
Pairs with
- הXVII The Star The Star is the renewal that follows the Tower
- צIV The Emperor Mars rules Aries; the Tower and the Emperor share the King-scale scarlet
Decans ruled by Mars
- ♂︎Two of Wands DominionAries I
- ♂︎Nine of Swords CrueltyGemini II
- ♂︎Seven of Wands ValourLeo III
- ♂︎Five of Cups DisappointmentScorpio I
- ♂︎Three of Disks WorksCapricorn II
- ♂︎Ten of Cups SatietyPisces III
The Fives, Geburah in the four worlds
Other paths touching Netzach
Other paths touching Hod
Correspondences follow the Golden Dawn system as used in Crowley's Book of Thoth and Liber 777. Paintings by Lady Frieda Harris, © Ordo Templi Orientis. Where sources differ.