Weekly Tarot

March 27-April 2, 2023
The Tower

In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.
Warren Buffett

Let’s be clear. I am well aware that no one likes it much when I turn up in their readings. But that’s a pity, you see, because there are many times when no wimpy fluffy unicorn rainbow message will do. I am one of the most powerful change-agents in the Tarot, and sometimes that is exactly what is needed.

If you failed to remedy your Ten of Wands overwhelm last week, look out, because here I am. Arguably the least comfortable card in the deck, I am a Guardian that challenges you in the most stark, yet ultimately helpful ways.

Come Closer. Let Me Show You Who I Am.

 Arthur Waite writes at length of what I am not, but is somewhat obtuse (even for him!) as to his direct interpretation. He does say, however, “…it is the ruin of the House of Life, when evil has prevailed therein, and above all that it is the rending of a House of Doctrine.”

Thank you, Uncle Arthur. Like me, he was not kidding around. This is a most explicit warning.

As you can immediately see, my imagery has many layers of meaning, including the obvious overthrow of someone in power. Note that a large, domed crown similar to the one The Emperor wears is toppling from the top of the rampart. And the woman in the blue dress falling towards the rocks is also crowned.

The black sky and the falling man and woman also link me to the previous image in the sequence of the Majors, The Devil. If this is a story, then my part is where the entrenched stagnation and corrosive apathy of the XV Triumph have been abruptly overturned.

Some have speculated that the tumbling couple is the same pair who are seen in happier times in the Four of Wands. Maybe. Which invites you to ask, “What happened to them? Where did they go so wrong?”

Could it be that they transformed from a happy couple in the countryside to elite royalty living in a fortress?

The lightning zig-zags from the heavens to the turret and culminates as an arrow pointing into its uncrowned center, implying intention and perhaps even a divine judgment.

This is reinforced by the presence of yods — those little yellow fire sparks in the air. Yod is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and symbolizes a direct command from the Divine. Please note that in Pixie’s imagery of me, and nowhere else, there are twenty-two yods, the same as the number of Major Arcana cards.

And you may also be well aware of the interesting relationship between the 22 Major Arcana cards and the 22 paths of the sephiroth on the Qabala Tree of Life. Is it only coincidence that these paths on the Tree are often interpreted as a lightning bolt?

There is little doubt that I can be associated with the story of the Tower of Babel in the Judeo-Christian Bible. This tower was struck down by the God when He was angered by humanity’s arrogance. The result left mankind in a chaos of foreign languages.

My fork of lightning may also remind you of the bolt of insight that struck Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, as he sat beneath the bodhi tree. That flash turned his life upside down in a way that has benefited humanity for 2500 years.

The Inescapable Depths

Not everyone likes to reflect in any depth upon their lives, despite Socrates’ famous pronouncement that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

So I am doing you a favor. As your loving Guardian, I will not let you run or hide, because it is necessary for you to stop and face the raw truth of who you are, what you REALLY feel, and what is happening all around you. Now.

I will not let you pass “Go” without having all that is false, oppressive, or toxic for you rudely exposed, if not completely blown open.

You may see old habits and injustices blasted open for a higher purpose. I come to rattle the cage, and announce that Mystery is about to bluntly and necessarily shatter somebody’s consensual reality.

I am the harbinger of the revolution that — while perhaps quietly, invisibly building for ages — suddenly explodes all around.

Yes, I am tough, love.

About Living in Tower Time

Many older Tarot readers have had a complex, even disturbing history with me. I interrupted and intruded on countless ordinary readings to offer my warning just before America’s 9/11 events in 2001.

As a result of that event, and the many others that are this very moment falling like dominoes, there are those who say that humanity is now living in “Tower Times.” I do not disagree.

But let me set the record straight about my fierce disposition. I come calling to urge you towards your greater awakening. To fulfill your highest potential, it is imperative you let go of whatever fortress you have built to shield yourself from some disagreeable part of reality.

For many hundreds of years, I have watched humanity. Brick by brick, the goal seems to have been to insulate oneself: with gated communities; the vast networks that feed obsession with celebrity, acquisition, and socioeconomic class; the exclusive cliques and clubs which so easily turn factions against one another.

I will come to warn you when you are in danger of being poisoned by the delusion of some superior separateness, whether it be wealth, privilege, country, or religion. All wrapped up in the malignant myth of exceptionalism.

I am the Guardian who will shake you awake from your toxic dream that there is one and only one chosen group or nation, especially favored by God(s). I come to raise the alarm when the system relies on exploitation of people and the Earth’s resources, turning a blind eye to peoples’ addictions and defeats.

Beware, for hubris and denial invite my lightning strike.

Clean Your House of Life

If you refuse to let go of the fears, attitudes, habits, and relationships that thwart your growth (your first warning may arrive via The Devil card), I come to warn you that the Universe will make you do so. If you cannot or will not get yourself unstuck, you will get pushed. Perhaps pushed very hard indeed.

It is time to look carefully at your life and your priorities. What needs to go? What patches have you been applying when you really need to completely abandon ship?

What have you been holding onto for too long? What in your world has become so rancid that to perpetuate its presence threatens your soul’s purpose? What wounds need to be lanced in order for them to be healed?

Be prepared for an important illusion to be abruptly shattered. Perhaps you, yourself, will be the catalyst that shakes up a stale status quo to its foundations. Could this be at your job or in some important relationship? Whose expectations of you have been stifling your higher nature? Consider me your permission slip for radical liberation.

Get ready, at the very least, for startling, important change, including literal upheaval, such as those accompanying the climate crisis and other Earth changes.

No matter how much the powers that be would rather see everything burn down before budging, I bring the cleansing overthrow of inertia and paralysis. When people are not willing to change cooperatively and intelligently, they must change painfully or dramatically.

Yet, as every card in the Tarot affirms, as does the Major Arcana journey itself, you can trust that my purpose is necessary. Love is in charge of this multiverse. All is working to the Good.

And so am I.