Tarot Card The Tower 

 

“Falling from the Tower”

Why does the Tarot card “The Tower,” which is included in most Tarot decks, show people falling

Visconti Tower of Babel

headfirst from its top? How can we interpret this as we consider what “falling from the tower” means? Tarotists usually agree that early Tarot designers were referring to the biblical story of the “Tower of Babel”as the subject of the card (see Gen. 11:1–9). In that story, Babylonian builders imagined they were building a stairway to Heaven saying, “Let us make a name for ourselves.”The story describes a pragmatic and dangerous situation put forth by overly ambitious and prideful men that ultimately affected the workers. The builders were punished by God for their hubris and the workers began babbling in many different languages. Misunderstandings and miscalculations followed, and the tower was never finished. In its biggest sense, it is a continuing story of the “Fall of man” from grace that we read about in the beginning of Genesis. 

 

There is an essential lesson according to the biblical account. Before the problems of building cities and assembling its towers occurred, it says there was only one language spoken on earth. The impending construction disaster began with “Let us make a name for ourselves” (Leaders making up a fantasy about who they were). Their plan was for the tower to take them straight to Heaven, which would establish equality with divine authority. For Tarot readers, the main underlying assumption is summed up: They thought they were important leaders –“making a name for themselves.” The tower itself is interpreted in a reading as the build-up of self-aggrandizement. But when lies and corrupt behavior and wish for notoriety is exposed, (lightning bolt) the false persona collapses and “falls” away. So, as in the continuing saga of The Fall of Adam and Eve, (Gen. 2:15-17) the “fall from grace” continued and they could no longer communicate with each other. 

(Refer to my earlier Tarot blog of January 12, 2019 https://tarotofcosmicconsciousness.blogspot.com)

 

“The more that rude and ambitious men have to do with one another, the more they both need to fear and seek to outdo one another.”

Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom  (Simon & Schuster 2003)

 

Bruegel Tower of Babel

Medieval artist such as Pieter Bruegel (1525–1569) painted their versions of the construction and inevitable Fall from the tower. He showed stone carvers, brick layers, crane operators and many ships unloading building materials, all at work before they couldn’t understand one another.

In another painting about The Tower of Babel, found in an illustrated Medieval manuscript, “The Bedford Book of Hours”(1410–1430), a group of builders are seen constructing a tower much like the one in the Bruegel painting using a lot of building materials. A man is depicted falling headfirst from the top. Above the top, an Angel of God bearing a sword is pointing at some people arguing and threatening each other. 

 

 As we Interpret the symbolism of The Tower card in today’s reality, we see lightning strikes the Tower. Here, the warning for us is not to build up some narrative fantasy about oneself. A person who has built their whole life on self-aggrandizement can suddenly collapse when their false identity is stripped away. 

Bedford Book of Hours Tower of Babel

A tower being constructed to enhance oneself is like “Empire Building,” which includes the attempt to control governments and finances while ignoring the laws and rules already in place to prevent such malfeasance. The Fall signifies the shattering of the build-up of egoistic self-importance. (The people babbled, stopped work and were dispersed). But what if they had continued with their plan? This could have led to a dictatorship from the overblown leaders where their behavior could lead to fascist control over everyone and everything. A dictator doesn’t pay attention to the advice of skilled or professional people. No, because they say to themselves: “I know best. Look at me, me, me—see what I can do!” Further, a dictator punishes those who don’t show loyalty and seeks revenge on those who criticize or chastise him by making them feel inferior: “Destroy them.” There are plenty of excruciating stories and examples of this in the biblical accounts of conflict among nations and persons since “The Fall,” and that was 4,000 years ago and, is still ongoing today.  As the song goes, “When will they ever learn”?

 In real life, after a person “falls,” that “fallen one” can experience disillusionment and depression as they try to convince the world what a hero (SUPERMAN) they were. But this means that now they must give up a false estimation of their selfhood and give up their desire to be superior to all others. It takes courage to admit the dangerous magnitude of one’s inflated Ego and to correct or alter contentious behavior for the better in the future.

 

The Tower card in a reading, ask yourself:

 

Are you articulating what you believe to others? Are they doing the same for you?

 

Are you defending your rights and others right to “free speech”?

 

Do you feel your rights are being ignored, trampled upon, by someone else?

 

Are you experiencing miscommunication, conflict in your home, office? Or harmony?

 

Are you feeling “bullied,” or are you “bullying” someone? 

 

Are friends or family trying to push “conspiracy theories” on you, or vice versa?

 

Do you always tell the truth? Is someone lying to you?

 

Are you feeling oppressed? Is there a dictator in your life? 

 

Is someone seeking retaliation or revenge against you?

 

Is someone trying to exercise authoritarian rule over you?