The Tower: Path to Heaven
or destruction?
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| Visconti, The Tower |
Why is The Tower included
in the Tarot? What does it symbolize? It is struck by a lightning bolt and
people are falling from it. Who is falling out of it? What does the lightning
bolt mean? These are questions often asked about the inclusion of The Tower card
in most tarot decks, although some early Tarot decks created as playing cards in
the 15th century did not have a Tower card because of its negative
connotations. As the biblical “Tower of
Babel,” a ziggurat, was a probable source of inspiration for The Tower card, we
should consider that these ancient Mesopotamian religious structures had some impact on early biblical writers. In the
Old Testament, it’s the story of the downfall and failure of the attempt to
build a tower to heaven in Babylon.
Zzzzzsst! Wham! A
lightning bolt strikes the top of the tower knocking off a crown and people
fall off headlong toward the ground. Over time, especially in the 15th
century, several artists painted their version of the “Tower of Babel.” Pieter
Bruegel’s (1525-1569) famous painting illustrates
the story of the Tower of Babel embellished with details of 15th
century construction methods (Kunsthistorisches
Museum in Vienna). Because of the notoriety of the allegory of the Tower
of Babel, let’s first analyze its meaning from a biblical perspective. In Genesis
11:1–9,
the story is about Divine Judgement of Nimrod and other countrymen for their materialistic
and presumptuous plan to build their way to Heaven in a tower, where they said,
“…with its top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves.” Divine
punishment was the loss of a common language and, because the builders and
workers could no longer communicate with each other, or work together, they babbled
and scattered, and the project disintegrated. Some Tarot decks interpret the
concept of falling from the tower as
a metaphor for the deconstruction of those who have created an overblown
portrayal of themselves. Today, the general meaning of the Tower card implies
that falling from the Tower signals the collapse of an egoistic build-up of grandiose
and materialistic ideas about oneself.
Aesop Fable:
The Frog and the Ox
Father frog was going to
show little frog how he could be as big as the ox. He took deep breaths and
kept enlarging himself. He blew and blew
and got bigger and bigger until… OOPS! He exploded!
(Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction.)
Artists who designed
early 15th century Tarot decks, depicted the tower based on possible
biblical overtones prevalent in the medieval church in their time. Their
interpretations were infused with the meaning of the Tower of Babel in Genesis. We find an insightful commentary on
Genesis and The Tower in the book, Meditations
on the Tarot, by Anonymous. He states
that after the “Fall” of Adam and Eve, which is the story of their disobedience
in “falling” for the opportunity of making gods of themselves (Gen. 3:1-19), that
there were three more stages in the story of “The Fall.” These allegories may
clarify why most Tarot interpretations of the people falling from the Tower are
about the collapse of an inflated self-image.
*Note: Early classic Greek sculptures of their gods in
400
BC, were carved as human forms and may have had some impact on this story.
Stages in the early biblical
stories of humankind
1. The first stage was “murder.” Adam and Eve’s son
Abel was killed by his brother Cain (a morality
issue over offerings made to God).
“…the seed of all subsequent wars, revolutions and revolts in the history of
the human race.” (In Genesis’ second record of creation, after eating
of “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” comes the fratricide of squabbling
brothers. “Your offering is no better
than mine.” Cain was banished to the Land of Nod—nothingness! (Gen. 4:1-16)
2.
Second, was the “generation of giants:” This was
the curious tale of Divine Beings who mated with the daughters of man. Their
offspring were warrior giants with superhuman powers - Nephilim. (See Num.13:33) The “…primordial seed of all subsequent
pretensions … to play a domineering role as divine sovereigns and thus all
pretensions of being ‘supermen.’” Some early Kings and Caesars with ambitious
beliefs were trying to make a name for themselves as they reigned like egomaniacs
with absolute monarchical power and aristocratic privileges (Gen.6:1-4). We have seen some past European leaders, even
in modern times, inflated with grandiose ideas of the will to power, such as the
likes of Napoleon, Mussolini and Hitler – generating war, chaos and disaster in
most of Europe.
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| Ziggurat ruins |
The third stage was “building” the Tower of Babel: The “… primordial
phenomenon containing in seed form … of the conquest of heaven by means of forces
acquired and developed on earth.” This was manifest in the building and
construction of early city-states; then in materialistic empire building, invariably
followed by the hubris of greed and money, which has continued over the centuries in the form of the industrial revolution; development of contemporary
technology; and finally, chronic wars and the atomic bomb, the ultimate
destroyer of cities. This was, “… possession and substitution of the fabricated
for the revealed.” Ancient Babylonians were going to make a name for themselves
through materialistic means by building a tower to heaven, but instead, as
history shows, mankind over the centuries has gone down into the abyss of world-wide
warfare, culminating in WWII, in bombing European cites to rubble, and the complete
annihilation of two large Japanese cities with the atom bomb. All of this is
the total opposite of a spiritual path to heaven (See Gen. 11:1-9).
This also brings up questions of the biblical story of The Fall. The fall from what? What does
this have to do with the Tarot Tower card?
What is meant by “The
Fall”?
This was the moment in Genesis (the
second record of creation, Gen. 3:13-19), when
Adam and Eve disobeyed God. After the scheming serpent told Eve that if they
ate from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” they would be as gods, God
evicted them from the “Garden of Eden.” Their audacity and individual self-will
caused them to “fall out of favor.” Eve shamefully admitted that the serpent
had tricked her and that their lives would never be the same. They “saw”
themselves—evidence of the separation from the oneness with God, the creative
principle of the universe. In the first record of creation, God had created man
in “His own image…male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). They were once one with God and the Universe. But now they
were on their own.
(Leon Kass
emphasizes in his book, The Beginning of
wisdom, that, “He [God] apparently does not approve of the prospect of
unrestrained human powers exercised in support of unlimited imaginings and
desires.”)
Who or what were the
Giants? (Gen.6:1-4)
“Giants in the earth,”
imply beings with superhuman strength and/or the use of magical powers to
overcome others. In Meditations on the
Tarot, by Anonymous, he states that the builders of the tower were creating
a superstructure symbolizing, “…the
pretension to be a superman.” In the
historical past, so-called superheroes have overstated themselves in the roles
of powerful leaders. Some were villains, some were saviors. Early Kings were
called Divine Sovereigns and, “… Caesars [who] … arrogated divine honour and
authority to themselves” [without justification]. “Fascist FΓΌhrers,”
and dictators have been part of this model. Slavery and enslavement has always followed.
Mankind’s history over the centuries shows that there was always someone trying
to be superior to someone else, usually with disastrous results. The fall from
the tower represents an inflated ego’s failure, and termination of “the will to
power.”
German philosopher, Frederich
Nietzsche, (1844-1900) wrote about “Superman,”
and “the will to power” in his book, Thus
Spake Zarathustra. Unfortunately, his work was misunderstood by the arrogant
Nazi’s in their publicity campaign of “Aryan supremacy,” and pretentious plans were
set in motion for seeing themselves as a superior race who could control
Europe. Their oppression of so-called inferior
people in warlike domination resulted in vilifying and murdering mass
groups of people (Jews in the Holocaust) during WWII, which was finally ended
by the ultimate destroyer – the atomic
bomb, dropped on Japan by the USA in 1945.
Nietzsche’s “ubermensch” (Superman) meant a person rising above the
limitations of ordinary morality and, by the will to power, could experience
self-realization and self-affirmation; “… the forerunner of existentialism, not
Nazism” (Encyclopedia Britannica). In
today’s world, there is something about a modern fictional superhero hidden in
the meaning of the Tower card that applies to our entertainment culture. In the
20th century, “DC Comics” promoted fictional characters like Superman,
Superwoman, and Batman; and also, Spiderman and Ironman of “Marvel Comics;” all
who are depicted as savior types - rescuing and saving mankind from various
wrongdoers, evil beings, and corrupt practices. Most of us have seen or read
about them in illustrated comic books and popular movie versions with lavish
special effects.
Tower of Babel and
The Tower Card
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| Bruegel, close-up of workers |
What happened to the people building their way to heaven on
the Tower of Babel? What does The Tower card mean for you in a reading?
The people building the tower was a metaphor for those who have ignored or
forgotten their divine source. They were living in a fantasy-world of self-will
rather than divine will. In Tarot art, people are knocked off the tower by a
lightning bolt from Heaven, along with a crown in most decks. In the biblical
story, the builders imagined they could get to heaven through material means
rather than spiritual means. In close-up scenes of Bruegel’s painting of The
Tower of Babel, workmen of that era – stone cutters, masons and brick-layers,
are using building tools, derricks, crude cranes and horses to haul and lift
building materials, in great detail. There were several towers (ziggurats) in
ancient Mesopotamia, and historians surmise that the ziggurat Etemenanki of Babylon may be associated with the Tower of Babel (Mesopotamia, Michael Roaf, Andromeda Oxford Ltd, 2000). In art, there have been
renditions of the Tower of Babel and other towers, such as the tower where St. Barbara was kept by her pagan Father. When she became a Christian she put in a
third window to represent the Trinity and was then murdered by her Father. He was immediately struck down and killed by
a lightning bolt on the spot. This could
also have some bearing on the design of The Tower card. In an illuminated
manuscript - The Ducal Book of Hours-two angels are pounding the top of the tower with large hammers and the
workers fall off. (The World's Last Mysteries, Readers Digest Assoc. 1976)
What does The Tower
card mean in a reading?
In the Vertigo Tarot
deck, from Doom Patrol, Rachel
Pollack writes:
“…the tower usually
symbolizes some painful or frightening experience that ultimately liberates us
from a repressive situation
(DC
Comics, 1995).
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| Tower from the Ducal Book of Hours |
Ask your yourself, “How much longer can I put up with the
usurpation of my own spiritual power”? It’s important to not “fall” for those
who have fabricated a pompous image of themselves that is blown out of
proportion in their ego-centered conduct. Here is where “pride goeth before a
fall.” Be true to yourself. Be watchful
to not fall victim to someone thinking they are better than you, and likewise,
don’t put someone else in the position of thinking you are better than they
are. Humility supersedes pride. Resolve what seems like catastrophic situations
of confusion, divisiveness, hatred and revenge at home and work, with
patience, kindness, and hopefulness. Don’t be fooled, look for the truth. Be
aware of the consequences of your actions and take responsibility rather than
blame someone else. Recognize and deal with difficult underhanded situations.
People
with bloated egos will fall of their own weight, and then, “this too shall
pass,” as Solomon says in E. Fitzgerald’s poem, “Solomon’s Seal.”
Force without wisdom falls of its own
weight.
Horace, 65 BCE
