A Rough Shove Towards Wonder

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We have an interesting combination of cards on deck for this week, dear readers, almost like a sentence where the exclamation mark comes at the beginning instead of the end. The Tower is back in rotation after a few months of rest. I’ve come to associate this card with the pandemic - an enduring period of loss, disruption, and foundation-shaking change - but this week we’re being given a much more condensed version of the card. Rather than reflecting the beginning of an ongoing crisis, The Tower for this week is acute: swift acting change that, once the dust from the collapse clears, reveals the path to a new and refreshing landscape.

So what might “The Tower-lite” look like? A situation when a cherished part of our reality is revealed as a fantasy, a loss of stability, a shift from certainty to uncertainty. Lightening strikes The Tower, a symbol of outside forces bringing about destruction; similarly, we’ll be facing a moment when a part of our life ends abruptly and in a way that’s outside of our control. It’s no wonder, writing all that out, that this card has such a bad reputation. While The Wheel of Fortune touches on similar themes of change and uncertainty, The Tower is where we have to face the fact that bad things happen to good people, that not everything lasts, and, most importantly, that many things are not meant to last.

It’s that last point that comes into focus this week, as the upset of The Tower rapidly shifts from disturbing to freeing. Whatever it is that falls at the beginning of the week was actually standing in our way. Try as we might, it’s in human nature to want to cling to things that give our lives structure, even if they’re not serving our best interests. It’s nice to know what to expect, even if it doesn’t light you up absolutely and unequivocally, and in this way The Tower is a gift. Its chaos upends and dissolves structures that we may be too afraid to walk away from, whether it’s from a sense of fear or attachment. What might happen when chance makes the choice for you? What meaning will you erect in the place where your tower used to stand?

The Eight of Wands shows that the initial destruction of The Tower leads to an outpouring of action, a sigh of relief. What a surprise! This momentum signals that the blockage we were experiencing was quite significant. Keep this in mind as you mourn the changes, leaving plenty of room for curiosity - what might the absence of this particular tower leave room for moving forward?

Moving, in fact, is a huge theme here. Zooming out, we might want to focus on where in this larger chapter of our life we’ve felt stagnant. Notice where you’ve felt stuck, especially in places that are characterized by institutions, power structures, and tradition. The Tower is a hefty building! It takes up a considerable footprint; what might you see and how might you rejoice when it finally falls?

Both the Eight of Wands and The Knight of Cups represent a release of energy. For the wands, it’s tied to our capacity to move and make a mark on the world. Expect to feel a sense of flow and satisfaction in getting things done, and if you’ve felt held back in an ongoing project, your luck may shift, perhaps as a reflection of how a conservative and traditional approach was not, in fact, the right track to be taking.

Knights in tarot represent the idealistic and capable parts of the psyche, the adventurer within us all that wants to have a galvanizing quest. For the Knight of Cups, this call happens around feeling, connection, romance, and beauty. What are you seeking in this realm? What has you eager to put yourself out there, test your mettle in the actual world, and take risks for what matters to you? The Tower’s collapse is igniting this part of ourselves again, and I have to say that the combination of the wands and cups here is particularly delightful. Meaning and effectiveness? Romanticism and motivation? Make the most of this powerful team and ride your focus to exciting new places.

The Tower can also simply represent chaotic energy. Each week this card appears, I get comments from readers about how it shook out in their lives in a very practical level. In the words of my dear friend, this card is very much a ride on the “hot mess express.” So, with that in mind, do what you can to soften the blow of The Tower. Seek out the weak spots in your life and work to fortify them. This can look like revisiting your budget, leaving room in your schedule to compensate for unforeseen issues, or simply resting so that you’re prepared to face the aftermath of this powerful card.