XVI- The Tower, Teach me Mogster :)

Owl Tarot

Some video game players may remember Final Fantasy IX from my title, I got a little nostalgic while writing the thread so there's the pun! Of course, the title refers to you all hopefully teaching me something. Writing the thread itself is teaching me something to begin with :)

Here we are folks, The Tower, Atu XVI! I am Owl Tarot, and as those few who read my threads I decided to start weekly threads about some of the thoughts and interpretations, as they come to me, of the Trump I am currently studying. It is the third time I undergo this process because in the previous two I gained further insight about the cards so I decided to follow this process yet again, but with a slightly different tone! So, anyone willing and available to provide some thoughts and opinions for me to work and contemplate about would be appreciated! I also hope my thoughts as of today help you!

XVI- The Tower or War

Planetary Trump of Mars

27th Path, connecting Netzach to Hod. Hebrew letter: Peh (mouth)

This is one of those Trumps that get blamed for all the "bad" stuff out there, but in my personal meditative experience it is a beautiful card in it's own right, referring to Love. It is a horizontal Path on the Tree of Life, and it is parallel to both Lust and The Empress, other cards referring to a higher arc of the essence of Love. The Empress is Venus, the Goddess assosiated with the Sephira Netzach, and Lust is the Path of the Hebrew letter Teth, which means a Serpent. The Dove is a symbol of Venus, and the Serpent is a symbol of Hermes-Hod. You can see both of them on the upper part of the Trump. Those two symbols are also two expressions of Love, and Liber Al states

Liber Al said:
Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God.

But what is Love doing in such a "violent" card? Well, Crowley aids us to understand how by saying

Book of Thoth said:
In its simplest interpretation it refers to the manifestation of cosmic energy in its grossest form. The picture shows the destruction of existing material by fire. It may be taken as the preface to Atu XX, the Last Judgment, i.e., the Coming of a New Aeon. This being so, it seems to indicate the quintessential quality of the Lord of the Aeon.

At the bottom part of the card, therefore, is shown the destruction of the old-established Aeon by lightning, flames, engines of war. In the right-hand corner are the jaws of Dis, belching flame at the root of the structure. Falling from the tower are broken figures of the garrison. It will be noticed that they have lost their human shape.

Fire is the Element of Horus, who is the Lord of the current Aeon. Mars is the planet assosiated with the Sephira Geburah, which is the Sephira of Horus himself and of Christ coming to judge the World (Liber 777). So, the new current of the Aeon is coming forth to destroy division. Geburah is a Sephira connected to the Willpower and justice, the Celestial surgeon who comes forth to cut away what is unnecessary to one's evolution.

A careful look on the Tower's barred window will reveal that the squares formed are 10 in total. The 10th Sephira is Malkuth. Also 4 figures are falling from the Tower, the number of the Elements. Those together suggest to me the progression from the ugliness mundane life towards the beauty of mundane life. Annihilating everything leaves Nothingness, which is perfection as the Cult of Shiva informs us.

Book of Thoth said:
The dominating feature of this card is the Eye of Horus. This is also the Eye of Shiva, on the opening of which, according to the legend of this cult, the Universe is destroyed.

The Eye of Horus is probably the most striking feature of this card. It is the cause of the annihilation of opposites through Love. But this Love is not necessarily passive Love. It is what one could say tough Love, Martian Love which deconstructs The Tower to allow for new creation to occur.

Table XXII of Liber 777 will also show that the assosiated Hindu Deity of this Path is Khrisna. Khrisna is a really interesting Deity to meditate upon, since it is a Deity that both searches for knowledge (Hod) but aims to estabilish the Religion of Love.

I also like to see in this card Sephira. In particular, The Sephira surrounding the 27th Path. Those are Yesod, Hod, Netzach and Tiphareth. I connect Yesod to the Tower, Hod to the left of the Eye of Horus, where the dove is, Netzach to the right of the Eye where the Serpent is and Tiphareth as the Eye of Horus itself. The Love of God the Son-Hoor-Christ ended the War between one's own mind (Hod) and desires (Netzach) and united them under the single purpose of following one's True Will, which resulted in the destruction of illusion (Yesod).

27 is also assosiated with Purity, and in the above context, I think it is the realization of the Purity of Union of opposites.

Kabbalistically speaking, I think that the previous part covers me, but this Path connects Netzach to Hod, emotions to intellect. Those two, as most of us are aware of, are many times in our life at war with each other. They don't always agree. Unified by Love though, they move upwards towards the HGA who "destroys" such contradictions to move an individual a step closer to Him/Her.

It was long for yet another time, I know, but it was a good exercise in itself for me, and I hope that it both helps you and motivates you to give me some food for thought! That's some of the things I could say about this card as I view it today, I hope you liked it and I would like to hear some of your own stuff!