XVI The Tower

These stones, piled about as high as they can go, remind me of the Mayan Calendar which grows through time in incrementally smaller 'packets' of time. And, come to think of it, people often get about as worked up at seeing The Tower card as they do about the Mayan Calendar...and for pretty much the same reason really...the unknown.

If you've ever made a stack of natural stones - and these lovelies are stacked up on a beach in Iona - then you are very familiar with the dynamics of such a structure. You can only go just so far. The message of this card is that you've gone about as far as you can go and that you'd best be thinking about another approach before that which you have so carefully constructed - be it a paradigm or an empire - comes at least partially tumbling down.

Note: "partially." Not completely, not totally...partially. The foundation doesn't go anywhere. It stays put, giving you the opportunity to rebuild on the same foundation...if you wish. But the tumbling down brings with it the opportunity to start from scratch, to begin something new in a whole new way. That is the beauty both of the Mayan Calendar and of The Tower.

Always remember that it is XVII, The Star, that follows this card. My house has burned...now I can see the stars.

Change is inevitable. When The Tower appears in a reading it's giving you an option: change or be changed because the time is at hand.


Many thanks to Morgan Rowe for such a beautiful and sacred image for this card.