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The Tower shows that the walls raised around the perceived security are suddenly swirling. It is usually about structures and dimensions that have become too narrow for us. This can affect our beliefs and principles as well as our professional and financial security ideas, not least our friendly and other personal relationships. In any case, the tower represents a concept that has previously provided us with benevolent security, perhaps even a defense, but from which we have now grown. Usually surprising experiences, sometimes sparkling ideas that ruin the old concept. Since this is primarily about the perceived base of our security, these sudden changes are often seen as disasters. Only after the first shock is over is we relieved that we have been freed from the old burden. This breakthrough can be triggered either by our own recognition or by an external event.

Ji Ching says: "The storm that comes with lightning and rumble overcomes the destructive tensions of nature."

XVI. THE TOWER

This card is attributed to the letter Peh, which means a mouth; it refers to the planet Mars. In its simplest interpretation it refers to the manifestation of cosmic energy in its grossest form. The picture shows the destruction of existing material by fire. It may be taken as the preface to Atu XX, the Last Judgment, i.e., the Coming of a New Aeon. This being so, it seems to indicate the quintessential quality of the Lord of the Aeon. [See LIBER AL III. 3-9; II - 13; 17-18; 23-29; 46; 49-60; 70-72.] 

At the bottom part of the card, therefore, is shown the destruction of the old-established Aeon by lightning, flames, engines of war. In the right-hand corner are the jaws of Dis, belching flame at the root of the structure. Falling from the tower are broken figures of the garrison. It will be noticed that they have lost their human shape.

They have become mere geometrical expressions.

This suggests another (and totally different) interpretation of the card. To understand this, it is necessary to refer to the doctrines of Yoga, especially those most widely current in Southern India, where the cult of Shiva, the Destroyer, is paramount. Shiva is represented as dancing upon the bodies of his devotees. To understand this is not easy for most western minds. Briefly, the doctrine is that the ultimate reality (which is Perfection) is Nothingness. Hence all manifestations, however glorious, however delightful, are stains. To obtain perfection, all existing things must be annihilated. The destruction of the garrison may therefore be taken to mean their emancipation from the prison of organized life, which was confining them. It was their unwisdom to cling to it.

The above should make it clear that magical symbols must always be understood in a double sense, each contradictory of the other. These ideas blend naturally with the higher and deeper significance of the card.

There is a direct reference to this card in the Book of the Law. In Chapter I, verse 57, the goddess Nuith speaks:

“Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God”.

 [For this reason the ancient title, to-day not very intelligible, has been retained. Otherwise, it might have been called War.]

The dominating feature of this card is the Eye of Horus. This is also the Eye of Shiva, on the opening of which, according to the legend of this cult, the Universe is destroyed.

Besides this, there is a special technical magical meaning, which is explained openly only to initiates of the Eleventh degree of the O.T.O.; a grade so secret that it is not even listed in the official documents. It is not even to be understood by study of the Eye in Atu XV. Perhaps it is lawful to mention that the Arab sages and the Persian poets have written, not always guardedly, on the subject.

Bathed in the effulgence of this Eye (which now assumes even a third sense, that indicated in Atu XV) are the Dove bearing an olive branch and the Serpent: as in the above quotation. The Serpent is portrayed as the Lion-Serpent Xnoubis or Abraxas. These represent the two forms of desire; what Schopenhauer would have called the Will to Live and the Will to Die. They represent the feminine and masculine impulses; the nobility of the latter is possibly based upon recognition of the futility of the former. This is perhaps why the renunciation of love in all the ordinary senses of the word has been so constantly announced as the first step towards initiation. This is an unnecessarily rigid view. This Trump is not the only card in the Pack, nor are the “will to live” and the “will to die” incompatible. This becomes clear as soon as life and death are understood (See Atu XIII) as phases of a single manifestation of energy.

V. THE HIEROPHANT

Saturn and Uranus - the sudden breakout of realization, destruction of old values Planet: Mars Tree of life: The Axis Netzach - Hod Element: Fire Number: 16 as 4 x 4: induration. But the cross sum is 7

The Tower is a symbol of endurance and its destruction, an allusion to sudden, maybe shocking realizations that crushes old views and persuasions, maybe the view of the whole world. 

The area of relative security starts wavering, our tower then falls and with it the walls around us that have become too narrow. It is rarely the evil, but rather the necessary development we meet when there is a change in the armor of destruction. 

So in the positive aspect, this most violent trump will mean that we proceed to learn that losing the old secure fortress of our beliefs will reward us with a major step forward. 

And a good step forward sometimes requires a kick in the ....

Drive: Breaking up structures, destroying the old, getting rid of obsolete loads 

Light: Sudden realization of the truth, the will to change old ways, to recreate life and start something new 

Shadow: Blind destruction

XVI. THE TOWER - Uranus / Saturn - Change

Keywords: Mars, profound transformation, healing, old destroys to make room for new, spiritual renewal, self-knowledge

Advice: In the middle (or threshold) of an extremely intense transformation process, or. Whatever is lost or shaken in you serves to purify it and give room for something new. Let go!

Question: Are you ready to look at yourself and your life in a different way?

Suggestion: Observe yourself in your daily life. Some situations may seem to be repeated, but you will not repeat the old, restrictive patterns of behavior.

Revelation: Everything in my life is for the best, for my benefit.

Analogies:

Ji-Ching: 51. Chen (The Exciter, The Arouser, The Thunder, The Shaking)

Mythology: Self-Destruction (Menetekel, Kronos, Jericho, Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah)

Keywords: sudden outburst, pendulum, collapse, sudden change in disaster

The once beautiful ruins are now inhabited by devils.

XVI. THE TOWER

General Meaning

In practically all renditions of the Tower card, disaster is striking or has just struck. The demons of madness and despair are released from ancient hiding places, and nature conspires with human failings to destabilize a society. The upheaval is collective and impersonal. Let us remember these images were created for the educated nobles and clergy — reminding them that they have the most to lose if the hierarchy is toppled.

Lightning is a fitting karmic payback for the guilt of those whose fortunes come from the exploitation or abuse of others. A modern subtitle might be "revolution," indicating that through drastic social change, oppressed people can find renewed hope of better times. The Tower experience comes like a flash of lightning to topple the hierarchy of the old order, after which everyone can have a fresh start on a more equal footing.

In the Reversed Position

The Tower card reversed suggests that the drama is over. All the leaning towers have fallen. Leave behind the issues and emotions that caused this to happen.

Ask yourself what you can do now that the options of your past are closed. As you pick yourself up and begin again, you will find renewed energy for your next significant endeavor.

In the Advice Positon

With the Tower card, think of yourself as an agent of transformation. This self-sacrificing role is likely to create stressful situations. Your vision shows you that a radical change has already been unleashed by forces much larger than mere mortals, and therefore you are no longer resisting.

Now you may be at the forefront, acknowledging and accepting the bracing presence of the future bursting in on the present. Try to mediate the harsher parts of the changes as they unfold, so the most vulnerable are the most cushioned. Acknowledge yourself, as well as the others in your life, who are offering their resources to usher in a better future.

Read more:

• » The Book of Thoth - A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians by Aleister Crowley.
• » Liber LXXVIII - On the Tarot - A complete treatise on the Tarot giving the correct designs of the cards with their attributions and symbolic meanings on all planes. - A description of the Cards of the Tarot, with their attributions, including a method of divination by their use.
• » Manuscript N - The Tarot - A Golden Dawn Manuscript - A Theoricus Adeptus Minor Paper.