Phoenix Rising
Like the mighty phoenix,
Once again I rise from the flames set to destroy me & take flight.
I am
Stronger
Glorious
Powerful
Victorious.” – Kirsti A. Dyer
The Tower is the Lord of the Hosts of the Mighty and is ruled by Mars. Mars is the old ruler of Scorpio, and Scorpio is deep transformational energy. The card represents sudden change, destruction of old forms and destructive ambition. It is also known as Kundalini Rising. In yogic traditions, Kundalini is the latent female energy believed to lie coiled at the base of the spine, and whose awakening can cause acceleration or trouble, depending on one's level of consciousness.
As depicted in The Tower card, there is fire & flame, destruction & ruin, and let’s be honest – who wants that? It brings upheaval, subversiveness and destruction of the old order to ring in something entirely new.
And yet The Tower is a card that describes a necessary process of decay and atrophy that must occur before the fresh new world can be born.
When The Tower appears in a reading you can be certain that there will be destruction of old forms, structures, beliefs and plans.
Sometimes this will be welcome – more often the changes wrought by The Tower bring feelings of fear, uncertainty, resistance and even grief for what must leave to make way for the new.
If we amplify the symbol of The Tower, we find references to it in stories and literature. The Ivory Tower, the Tower of Babel and Rapunzel’s Tower are a few that spring to mind.
Living in an Ivory Tower one is said to be divorced from reality, and having one’s head in the clouds. If you are not operating in the agreed reality, then there will be those who wish to crumble your tower and bring you back down to earth.
The Tower of Babel was ultimately unsuccessful since the builders suffered from the hubris of thinking they could reach heaven via this construction – they forgot their humanity and humility and therefore were punished by God by losing their ability to communicate with each other and were scattered upon the earth.
And you may recall that Rapunzel was imprisoned in a Tower and hence removed from the earth, with no escape except for her long hair (hair is a symbol for thoughts or the intellect) so she also did not have a grounded connection with reality, just concepts that were not based in reality. Some people however, say reality is highly over-rated. Sometimes it takes someone to be willing to get out of our agreed reality for a while to really start the ball rolling.
So we see there is a reluctance to let go of what must be released, those things that no longer serve, but which hold us back from the growth that we need to move on to a higher stage of consciousness.
And if we are completely honest with ourselves, then we can see what needs to go – we have seen the writing on the wall. And if they have been destroyed, the old things that no longer serve us, then you need to find some meaning in their passing so that the loss doesn’t destroy you too.
We tend to love to cling to our certainty, the known is often preferable to the unknown and untried, no matter how painful resisting change can be. It’s a case of the Devil you know is better than the Devil you don’t. But if you can look forward, and beyond the ashes of the collapsed tower, take that step towards your future, however uncertain it appears now, then you will see new possibilities and future happiness are waiting for you.
This card reminds me that the structures, personas, and external baggage that we pick up on our pathway through life, must in the end fall away momentously, leaving behind only what is real and authentic about us. When we lose what we have so diligently but mistakenly built up and valued, at the expense of our own truth, it feels like a tragedy – painful and devastating.
And yet, when the dust settles, and we shake ourselves off and look around us, what is left has the potential to make us truly happy, by showing us what matters in the end, which is what is left behind.
Our needs really are simple, if we’re honest. Not many people have such an opportunity to find out the truth of their life, and yet when The Tower arrives you can be sure you are about to find out what matters to you. Pay attention and don’t mourn too long the things that have left you during this process of destruction and transformation.
If you take the true lesson from this card, you will realise that you are stronger and more vital than you could ever have dreamed.
So while many people do not appreciate the depth of meaning that is contained in The Tower, really, when the structure comes tumbling down, you get to uncover the foundations of what is real and valuable about you and your life.
And like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, you will prevail and you will go on, stronger and more certain of your own power than before.
Get ready to view your life through new eyes.