Om Namah Shivaya

He who is without beginning and without end,
in the midst of confusion, the Creator of all,
of manifold form, the One embracer of the universe...
by knowing Him, one is released from all fetters.

The Tower is one of the most feared cards in the tarot deck. Stomachs lurch when a reader pulls this card from the deck and places it before the seeker. This card represents complete destruction of the foundation of our beliefs about the world, be they intellectual, emotional or physical, such as the collective Tower experience that many Americans and world citizens experienced on September 11, 2001. It is as if one day we are one person, believing firmly in our illusions and ideas, and due to the violent upheaval of a startling crash, we are suddenly transformed to a person who is entirely new. It is a strange and devastating experience to have the veil ripped from our eyes in such a way and it is as if we stand naked and raw in the harsh and blinding light of day.

There are hundreds of different depictions of The Tower card, but several of them feature a large eye radiating beams of chaos and upheaval. To members of the occult fraternity of The Golden Dawn, this eye was many things, including the eye of Siva, the Hindu god of destruction. The eye of Siva is like the vintner who cuts backs his grape vines in order that they might grow, a metaphor used by Jesus in his teachings. Although this experience is fearful because it means radical change, it is ultimately for the best, because it is only when our illusions, mental and physical addictions, and dependencies are burned away that we can stand in our highest and best light.

Just as a vine which has never been pruned will need to be radically altered by the cutting away of old branches in order to thrive, the Tower will be fearful to one who does not want to accept the plan for growth that the Universe has in store for him. When we embrace the releasing, when we invite the energy of Siva into our lives, we learn that while Siva is the Lord of Destruction, he is also the Great Yogi who is ever mindful and conscious in the moment with full awareness and enlightenment and no need for reliance on illusions of the ten thousand things which we believe will rescue us from our emptiness. When we accept that the nature of existence is impermanence and we do not hold onto our precious ego attachments, we are able to see the Tower for what it is, a necessary pruning so that we can move forward on our spiritual paths.

For further reading:

on Hindu mythology: The Myths and Gods of India by Alain Daniélou.

on The Tarot and its symbols: The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy, by Robert Wang