Card 16

The Tower

Brief Description

The Tower depicts sudden, disruptive revelation that tears down false securities so a more authentic foundation can be found. It signals abrupt clearing of complacency and the need to rebuild immediately with honesty and directness. Reversed or resisted, the card can describe prolonged anxiety, postponed change, or internal siege rather than outward liberation. Ultimately the destruction shown is a painful but clarifying precursor to reconstruction if its lessons are heeded.

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Visual Description

A stone tower-like monument with a toppled spire leans across a storm-dark sky under a haloed crescent moon. The monument's faces are carved into niches and a large gaping, mouth-like cavity appears on one side while architectural fragments jut outward. Ribbon-like wave shapes and a jagged bolt of light cross the night, and a robed, ghostly figure drifts to the left of the structure. A decorative gold border frames the card and a metal plaque at the base clearly reads "LA MAISON DE DIEU THE TOWER" with smaller script beneath.

Meaning

The tower stands struck and cracking beneath a sudden light; stone grinds and detaches as the illusions of safety crumble. You can hear the metallic taste of revelation and feel cold air where walls once held firm, and this card tells a story of structures that must fall to reveal a truer foundation. In one reading, the shock clears complacency, loosens stale patterns, and forces immediate rebuilding with raw, honest materials; energy is fierce and cleansing, the old order abolished so new insight can emerge. Yet the same image can whisper of fear and resistance when reversed, where collapse is resisted, change postponed, or destruction becomes an internal siege of anxiety rather than an outward liberation. When avoided, the lesson stretches out into brittle stagnation; when embraced, it becomes a fierce, clarifying fire that exposes what must be repaired. Listen for the ringing consequences, watch for sudden truths, and remember that ruin here is a prelude to reconstruction if you let it teach rather than only hurt.

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Crooked Way tarot

✍️ Deck author(s): Doug Thornsjo

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