Rider Waite Card Meaning - The Tower

XVI - The Tower – Catastrophe

The emotional impact of the dramatic event depicted in Waite’s Tower card is immediate and shocking. Clearly, something has gone very wrong. A towering edifice topped by a gold regal crown is struck by lightning. The crown of the tower falls away, and flames descend, scattering people who fall haplessly through dense clouds of smoke. As an allusion to the story of Babel in the Book of Genesis, there is a universal teaching that warns of the risks of arrogance. People who live at lofty heights have a long way to fall down when they discover the limits of their own power. The awakening can be especially brutal for those who believe they are impervious and above the rest.

As the image suggests, the Tower card means catastrophe and sudden changes. The old order of life is breaking apart, and the questioner may well be in shock because these changes occur so suddenly without warning. This card denotes disruptions and unsettling shifts of circumstance. Sometimes, there is a bitter pill to swallow in the discovery that what was taken for granted, be it a relationship, a job, or even the truth of one’s own self, was an illusion born of vanity and self-deception.

Reversed shows ongoing conditions of change with difficulty establishing ground. There may be a high degree of frustration and a sense of futility as all personal efforts produce unsatisfactory outcomes that crumble and fail. Uncertainty, feelings of powerlessness, and oppressive circumstances demand extraordinary patience to cope at this time. This card can also signal incarceration.