My Favourite Tower

Chaos, destruction, the breaking down of limitations and structures. Losing control over the situation. Extreme discomfort leading to liberation. A period of violent upheaval. A release of intolerable pressure. 

5. Tarot of the Abyss

This deck is a recent purchase but I love this card in particular. The Tower is about having the rug pulled from under your feet and this depiction shows that and the whole rest of the house going with it. One man clings to a branch but it won't be long before the whole thing comes crashing to the ground. This expands the meaning of this card for me to prompt the querent to think about the foundations of the issue and how secure things really were before they started to disintegrate. 

4. The Victorian Romantic

Another Tower card without a tower. Here they've lashed themselves to the mast of a sinking ship. The wild seas represent the situation that has impacted the querent. It's something they have no control over and the storm could start and end at any time. It will carry them along and they may survive, they may not. The small glimmer of hope is that there is something for them to cling to, something that just might help them through till the waves subside. 

3. Lux Ex Umbra

You can almost feel the blistering heat as you watch its destructive powers destroying this Tower. It appears to have spontaneously combusted. And while the supportive structure is disintegrating the birds of prey circle above, waiting to feast on anyone left unprotected. This card shows the result of excess of anything, even something natural like the sun's heat, can have negative consequences and when that happens, there will be those waiting to take advantage of the situation and compound the misery.  

2. True Black 

When your whole deck is made up of images of people, how do you depict a crumbling Tower? Well Arthur Wang has done an amazing job showing the body as a structure that is as much at risk from external or internal forces of destruction. The loss of a home or a structure that has supported us seems like the most awful thing but this card shows that the disruption of the body is as distressing as losing any material possession. The figure holds what looks like a crystal ball, reminding us that insight can be gained from this cataclysmic event. 

1. The Botan Tarot

There are so many beautiful cards in this deck but this one is the image that drew me in initially. It's an old guard tower from a POW camp the creators grandmother was held in. The RWS Tower often strikes fear into any querent who sees it turn in their reading but in this deck, the old structure very much needed to be destroyed to release those captured and enable them to live freely. When I see this card, my spirits lift. A card of both destruction and hope. 

Decks

• Universal Waite by US Games Systems 
• Smith-Waite Borderless edition by US Games Systems 
• Radiant Rider Waite by US Games Systems 

​5. Tarot of the Abyss by Ana Tourian, US Games Systems 
4. The Victorian Romantic Tarot by Karen Mahoney and Alex Ukolov, Baba Studios
3. Lux Ex Umbra Tarot by Mystiic 
2. True Black Tarot by Arthur Wang
1.  The Botan Tarot by A.Miyako.M