153. The Tower and the Vertical Lines of the Major Arcana
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Welcome back to Part Three of our journey through the second Vertical Line of the Major Arcana!
We are completing this exploratory deep dive with The Tower — our sacred initiator and teacher for this week.
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About the Episode
Ruled by Mars, The Tower card invites us to return home to our foundations, to offer our love to a deep wounding, or a part of ourselves that is asking for our attention. Within the context of rewilding intuition, and inviting Spirit into our lives in a more meaningful way (which is what the second Vertical Line is all about), The Tower can also be a signal from our souls that something is ready to be cleared, released, or processed. How can we surrender to those deep calls? How do we show up for ourselves in those moments?
Together we will explore all of this and more, as we spend time with this transformative archetype.
Donate to help folx in Texas:
Land Acknowledgement
Honoring and acknowledging that this podcast episode was recorded on the unceded land of The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, currently called Portland, OR, with the deepest respect to the Kalapuya Tribe, Cowlitz Tribe, and Atfalati Tribe.
Please Note
CW Tags: chronic illness, physical illness, illness, injury, pain, trauma, racism, economic and systemic marginalization, systemic oppression, poverty, patriarchy, capitalism, grief, climate change, environmental degradation, natural disaster, body shaming, abuse
The content in this episode contains references to the above topics. We have done our best to identify difficult subject matter, but the labels may not be comprehensive for your personal needs. Please honor your knowing and proceed with necessary self-awareness and care.
Transcript
[Introduction]
[0:00:00]
(Instrumental intro music)
[0:00:12]
Hello Loves, and welcome back to Tarot for the Wild Soul Podcast. I am your host, Lindsay Mack and as always, just so thankful, so joyful to be gathered with you in this virtual space. Thank you so much for being here with me today. Thank you for your patience on the timing of this episode, what a Tower week indeed! (Lindsay laughs)
Today we are talking about The Tower, which is our final card in our Vertical Line Journey, the second vertical line of the Major Arcana. So we're going to be talking about The Tower within the context of intuitive rewilding reclamation and expansion. And I certainly had a (Lindsay laughs) Tower week in my life. We had crazy snowstorms here in Portland, and we're out in the woods outside of Portland. And so, it was pretty hardcore here. We were not even able to leave the house for about three to four days.
You know, Chase is healing from a non-COVID related illness. And it's a very spiralic thing, healing, as many of you know, there are great moments, hard moments, wonderful days, very, very tough days. And the ups and downs of that are really challenging and, and intermittent power outages. And multi-day Wi Fi outages. And it was, it was wild. And yet, we are so lucky compared to so many, especially in Texas, where so many are suffering, especially those in marginalized communities, with the power outages with the unprecedented weather. In Oregon, there's still people after 10 days who don't have power. These are massive, massive Tower themes.
And so in a way I'm sensing into and really observing the alignment in there being no episode on Friday (Lindsay laughs). Because I do think sometimes that is Tower- it's just being able to roll with what is, not to say we like what is. Not to say that it's like “Oh, just be with it, chill.” But meaning we just have to be adaptable, sometimes to the unforeseen.
And so that that is really what was going on. And by the way, in the show notes of today's episode, there are a couple of resources of places to donate if you have the means, the ability to do so. Honestly, even a dollar helps to various places in Texas, where that money can really 100% of it can go to those who are in need. And in other places dealing with absolutely unbelievable weather and power outages and deep, deep cold that are not Texas and not Oregon. So I'm holding all of those places in my heart right now.
[0:03:15]
And it's a really hard time to be on the planet. And I'm just really honoring and acknowledging that fact, and bowing to everybody going through really hard and difficult times right now.
This is our Tower episode, as I mentioned. Our final kind of installment in our little deep dive or a little exploration of that second vertical line of the majors. And The Tower... You know, we've talked about The Tower so many times on this podcast, but it is good to talk about a lot because it's a lot of things and it's also really challenging. And The Tower deserves a lot of space around it, a lot of space for conversation and consideration.
And I feel like this probably goes without saying, but I think it’s important to name here that in Soul Tarot, there's a lot of emphasis on like, directly… That really, all cards are for us at the core of them. That they all bring medicine of some kind. They all bring gifts, they all bring treasures. And that doesn't mean you have to like what they bring (Lindsay laughs). There's a lot.
[0:04:38]
I've really been reflecting on this with regard to what my husband is moving through here in our home right now. And all of the times- all of the many, many times I've moved through an initiation or an experience, a journey related to illness or chronic pain. I've been working with chronic illness and pain my whole life. Sometimes it's been so severe, I've been unable to perform even the smallest tasks and sometimes even doing those is a huge victory.
And it's a very, very particular rhythm of living. And it is. Yeah, really, I think having that kind of spacious compassion for The Tower and our Tower experiences is really important. I know that The Tower brings immense medicine. I know that because I've lived through Tower more than probably most of the other cards in the Tarot. I've seen folks’ Tower experiences be very, very life changing in ultimately, important and meaningful ways. But it can really suck to get there, the journey can suck old car tires, in the biggest ways, just in a huge way (Lindsay laughs).
[0:06:14]
So I want to leave some space for that. I don't want to necessarily, like bypass the challenges that can come up when we go through our experiences. And life is really hard. It's often extremely unfair. And we don't always know the “why” around why we go through what we do. And there are times in life, when Towers show up at our door, and The Tower really can feel very, very different from experience to experience. Sometimes it is horrible, and painful and dreadful, dreadful, in terms of experience.
Sometimes it doesn't feel like anything, it’s literally imperceptible, but we might be aware that there's something bubbling, something growing under the surface. It could be that The Tower is very, very external for us. It could be that it's completely internal and we see absolutely no evidence for it or around it at all.
So that kind of weaves into the tapestry of this whole exploration of the vertical lines, which is really like… At the end of the day, the Tarot really belongs to you. It's such a powerful art form and tool because it is always evolving with us. And there is space and inclusion enough in the Tarot to hold the myriad of everyone's experience.
Everyone's experience with a certain card is welcome, because we're all growing and changing in where we're at. So I want to sort of start there and just really say in a really imperfect and kind of not really clean way, meaning not drawn up in a nice bow, that it's an ever-evolving experience working with a card such as The Tower, it really is.
We can love The Tower, cherish it. I love The Tower. And when I see it in a reading, I really appreciate it and have absolutely no fear in my nervous system when I see it anymore, because I know that very often my mind, my story about what The Tower might be bringing is a lot worse than what it actually brings.
[0:08:53]
Not that cards bring anything but the energy around it. And because I want with every part of my being, personally, to be free to be awake to not be building Towers on top of broken or wounded foundations. So I really value that the egoic discomfort, the evolution in my Towers getting knocked down. And that's not for everybody (Lindsay laughs). Not everybody... I didn't used to like that. So I, yeah, I just want to say that. You know as always with what I say about The Tower, take what works, leave what doesn't. Honor that we might be in different places with our experiences, what we value, what feels okay for us, to know that you have perfect autonomy and freedom to disagree and think differently. In fact, I hope you would think for yourself around any of this.
[0:10:01]
So, yeah. With regard to creating some space around The Tower card, I mentioned that because we're going to be talking about Tarot (Lindsay laughs) — I always do that — The Tower, in this particular episode in a really, really microcosmic way, in a very specific way. So I want to bow to... I want to first take a moment to fully honor and bow to those and include myself in this.
I've had many horrifically challenging Tower experiences in my life where Towers had to come down. It was- it took everything I had, barely survived it, and I am who I am, because of those experiences, because I was willing to move into a root system that needed my attention. I was willing to heal that foundation.
The Tower is often, finally, a clearing of something that has not been an alignment for a long time. It's not like Towers happen overnight. It takes a long time. There's a reason that this card is, you know, 16 out of 22 cards in the Major Arcana, and it's because it takes a while for us to get there. It takes a while for us to be ready. It takes a while for us to withstand, to have the foundations in line one to break the foundations in line two. Of course, these line one, line two experiences, you know, of course, total lineage to Rachel Pollack for that concept. And it's only the second card in line three, which is really the line of our emergence from that chrysalis experience and becoming who we're really meant to be.
[0:11:53]
Becoming, you know, in becoming who we really meant to be, we have to go home to that foundation. We have to be able to clear what is not ultimately really in alignment for us, maybe never was or isn't any more. And I want to take a minute to really bow to how challenging and scary and hard that can feel, and really name that.
And there's a conversation that has happened on this podcast many times about, you know, how do we deal with The Tower card when it's so, so hard. And this particular conversation in light of the verge of the vertical lines in the Majors is not so much about that. And rather, what can happen when we see that lightning bolt within this context as a symbol for the wisdom of our higher self, or our Guides, coming through to let us know, “Hey, something's not in alignment here.” And that doesn't mean you've done anything wrong.
Folks experiencing power outages, Wi Fi outages, no water, no food did not do anything to deserve that. People who are working through sickness, illness, that is very much a Tower experience when you're okay, and all of a sudden you're not okay. There's grief there, there are hard feelings. And what happens when in this very, very specific... very specific microcosm experience of Tower, what happens when we see that lightning bolt as an opportunity to evolve in some way, to expand? We may not immediately see it, but in this particular context, I'll use my example of not being able to do the podcast, you know, on Fridays, as I typically do it. That is a Tower.
[0:14:04]
It is. It brings up my stuff about not being together enough, which I have, as somebody with chronic illness, chronic pain, who deals with mental health stuff. There's a really, really old, patriarchal streak in me that I'm still working through, that... I'm challenged sometimes to honor my timing, the trust in my timing, the trust in my offerings, the trust in my podcast episodes, and there's some stuff for me, some weight and material inside of” this can come out later, it's okay.”
You know, and I never think of anyone else's timing in that way. So it's within the podcast episode saying, “I don't want to come out right now. This is not a part of my desire. My desire is to come out Monday, to be released on Monday.”
With that being said, it's not about the podcast episode, it's about what that uncovered in me. It's about me acknowledging, “Oh, I can take time, it is okay. It is okay.” And about sitting with the roots of that, the roots of capitalism that I'm still clearing, acknowledging, it's never ending. The roots of patriarchal, kind of linear, over cultural timing, gotta do it fast, got to do it regularly, have to be “reliable” when I'm totally a spiralic being and also spoony (Lindsay laughs) and like, it doesn't make any sense.
[0:16:00]
But that's the duality of it, the constant work of it. The up and down of it, the ebb and flow of it, is a part of my experience of being a human on this planet, of absolutely holding a space of knowing it's okay to take time. Encouraging other people that I know and love if they say, you know, “God, I'm just feeling so sick. Do you think I should cancel?” and being like, hell yeah, absolutely. Trust yourself, honor your body, and still working on totally and completely trusting that for myself. I think most of us can identify with that, righ?
So the thing about The Tower is that the thing that The Tower happens to... the place on The Tower that the lightning bolt happens to strike is often not about the place that the lightning bolt is striking on The Tower. It's not really about the podcast. It's not really about this. It’s not really about that. It is about us coming back home to a wound that needs some tending.
That's really what's underneath all Towers, is a wound that needs tending. We've sort of, and I mean I used this languaging not that long ago, and I would like to clarify it, that there's often a really heavy emphasis. And again, even for myself, around Towers coming up around things that aren't in alignment anymore, that aren't serving us. And that's not untrue, but there's also like a little teeny kernel in there that is really easy for the mind to say, “Oh, I'm out of alignment. I should have been paying attention. I must have done something to get myself here. Why can't I get it together? What will people think?” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
So I want to just be really clear that that's not my intention. And nor is it how I consider my own work with The Tower, nor is it really what I think The Tower brings it all. I think that that belief in and of itself, is ultimately one of the core intentions of Tower, to bring up the places and ask where we have these real deep undercurrents, really deep.
[0:18:21]
My teacher Michelle once said something to me that I will never forget. It may not resonate with you. It's totally cool if you don't agree or if it doesn't align with you. I remember having an immensely uncomfortable flare up of chronic pain. And that was not that long ago, a year ago, two years ago now. Holy shit. (Lindsay laughs) Oh my god, it was two years ago! And I remember being on the phone with her and I was holding space for the pain- was in my center around it, but was, like, rooting around a bit for, like, I wonder did I eat something? Did I? You know, what is it? What is it wanting of me?
And she really held a space for that and said, “You know, have you considered that there is no reason why the flare is here? And if there was any reason at all, it might just be to help you clear out the story that you're responsible, that somehow you had a hand in your pain coming back up again?”
Like maybe that the kernel of that story, like oh, “this is back I must have done something.” She was, like, “Even that can be at the heart of why your pain might be present.” So again, I just want to be really clear here. I'm not telling anyone the what, the why, the where, and the how of their chronic pain, because all of us are very, very different. Nor was Michelle saying this is the one and done only way. It was about this is a personal share about my experience and not advice that I'm giving anyone. But that really resonated with me personally. And it really made sense to me and has really, really helped me when I move through pain too. It's extraordinary actually to acknowledge how often that happens.
[0:20:21]
So The Tower is ruled by Mars. Mars is the planet, traditionally, of war, certainly of action, of aggression. And I like to think of it as a kind of a really sacred shovel that really helps us to dig and dig and dig, that gets right to the heart of something that's underneath the surface that wants to be paid attention to.
Ultimately, when we experience a Tower, how it can be very helpful to think about The Tower, is that we all have these places within the landscape of our being, where there is wounding, there's pain, there's something there. Sometimes this wound is massive, massive. Sometimes it's very, very tiny. But in some way, shape, or form, when we get to Tower, when we get into that realm, it's something that says I will be paid attention to, I will be acknowledged, I want to be acknowledged, and The Tower that you've built on me, is exhausting you in ways that you can't fully acknowledge or see right now. It's exhausting you beyond what you can currently fully encompass, because it's taking so much energy to keep that Tower up on top of the wound.
So essentially, this is one of our first big co-creative spiritual experiences. After we get into Temperance, which is card 14, we move into Devil, which allows us to really acknowledge “Whoa, what are the beliefs that keep me tethered to this kind of old way of locking into shame, of locking into ‘shoulds’, of walking into, I ought to be whatever it is”. And we get to really encompass the freedom in that. We get to fly into a new level in Devil, and then we move into Tower where it says, “Okay, now that you're ready to notice, to catch, where your mind tends to take you into old stories, old patterns to kind of keep you in what feels familiar and safe. Now you get to go deep into the heart of the earth here, and really acknowledge the wound that's present.”
[0:22:51]
So Mars is about, I think, in the context of The Tower, the gift of Mars, is that it allows really big transformation to happen very quickly. And that that can really happen with Tower I've noticed, Towers take place for me over the course of like 90 seconds. Sometimes I'll pull it and be like, “Oh my gosh, whoa”. Then other times, I have no idea and I'm just open and watchful. And then other times, it's sort of slow and a lot more pulled out than it normally might be. And yet, even in that slowness, even in that sort of more stretched out time, there is something about the Tower card that tends to get to the heart of the matter very, very quickly and that is the Mars of it.
That's the gift of it. So there's something really powerful in us being able to get to the heart of the wound and there being some kind of extra, not quite another word, outside influence that comes in to help us do that. That's the presence of the lightning there.
[0:24:06]
And we could contextualize that, of course, outside of a sense of a divine or of Guides or Spirit. We could say it's what it is to live in nature, what happens when the power goes out because of a giant snowstorm. There's the top level of it, which is like, how will I survive? How am I going to feed myself? How do I stay warm here and be okay? There's the other level of the rage, the grief, the fear that comes up. How do I tend to that? Where do I- where does that go? How do I nurture that? And there's the base level, which is like what were the systems? What happened here, systemically, that the power grid couldn't withstand these storms? What happened? What happened with all of the information that has been provided to us about changing weather, about climate change? Why was that not enough for us to change and update our power grids in certain areas? Like what happened, right? So there's always levels and layers to Tower. But this sense of again, this lightning bolt.
When we look at Tower in the context of this vertical line, from High Priestess to Hermit Tower, what we're essentially seeing in Tower here, again, in this very specific microcosmic way, is what happens when we start to work in alignment, in co-creation with our Guides and with our soul, is that there starts to be a lot more Tower and The Tower start to be a lot less vicious, a lot less intense, a lot less unexpected, they can still be very, very uncomfortable and triggering to the ego, to the nervous system, 100%.
That's why The Star comes after The Tower, to really keep and hold a space of healing of nurturance and of solace. It's essential when such a shock, when such a clearing happens, it's exhausting. So if it's anything from just a nap to a break to taking, like extended time off, we really want to be in that kind of responsiveness, flexibility with what our Tower is asking of us.
[0:26:32]
So with High Priestess, we're initiating a journey of rewilding our intuition, of acknowledging the places within us where we've affixed or, you know, somehow believed, which isn't true, by the way, that intuition looks a certain way, but may not be inclusive of us. And of course, I want to utterly and completely acknowledge that media and, like, corporate wellness, so to speak, have really amplified a particular kind of looking quote/ unquote, intuitive, like, that's just facts. And it's not in any way the truth (Lindsay laughs).
There are exquisite, rich, gorgeous traditions that are cross cultural. So many different kinds of intuitive, so many different kinds of helping professionals and unfortunately, there has been really a spotlight given to those who look and embody a certain kind of physicality many, much of the time rather. So don't want to bypass that. And I also want to dig into the truth, which is that we do not have to allow that to limit us.
We do not have to allow the story of what a magazine decides to limit our understanding or appreciation of what intuitives are, who they are, and how that gets expressed through us.
[0:28:05]
And that even goes, and I'm not here to discourage this, but that even goes into books. It goes into much, much deeper realms. Like how can we go beyond intuitive labels, intuitive titles into just what we are? We can include them, and also keep going, right? So it's really, really powerful, really important to be able to connect with High Priestess in that way. And High Priestess really says, “Can you be open to this kind of wisdom within yourself? Can you just sit in the silence? Can you listen? Can you just be? What would that be like? What would it be like to show up to yourself without judging how you are? Without judging your rhythms, without judging your process?” Without that sense of, I should be. My intuition should be happening like this, or it happened- it came through me like this last week. Why is it different now? That's really the question.
That's really the inquiry and the work that we get to do in High Priestess. And once we touch in there, once we start to honor and open to that ocean within us, it really guides us deeper into our Hermit work that says, hey, now that you're starting to be in touch with your soul with Spirit, you're gonna start to be much more in touch with aligned timing, with divine timing, quote/unquote, if that works better for you.
I like spiralic timing, which essentially, it's very hard to verbalize but it directly conflicts much of the time with what we think we need to be doing at any given moment.
[0:30:05]
Hermit is really where it's a really tender, vulnerable place because it is a moment when the ego, the mind, some part of our human self says, I should be going forward here, I should be going faster, I should XYZ. And we're sort of rooted. And we don't quite know what's to come. We don't know answers. Like there's something really, really intense about that card, actually, that I think is much bigger than even I sometimes give it credit for. And I give it a lot of credit. It's my birth card, among other things, but Hermit is an experience where we make the choice to look way, way down in at the root of something rather than up and out.
So it's a moment where we're being retrained, in some way spiritually, to move from “Well, I have to know what's going to happen out there in step, z.” Because really, this is all there is. And in order to even get to the next step of our life, we have to be really rooted in the now.
It's impossible to really create the aligned future that will be equitable, inclusive of all, if we're not here, really paying attention. That includes paying attention to the suffering that's present. We can't sort of be off in our own world, only in our stuff. We can absolutely honor what's coming through us. But we're a part of the world for a reason.
Being awake, constantly growing and learning is a part of it. And Hermit is really where we get to practice that idea, of what is the lantern of my heart, of my life, shining a light on now? And why do I want to get away from it so badly? And then we have all this stuff come up around our resistance to looking at what's here, our fear that we'll miss something. That's a very big part of Hermit. Our tantrums about not being able to move faster.
[0:32:19]
These same discomforts, the same breaking open of the core, can totally happen in High Priestess. I mean, oh my god, it's so triggering to sit in High Priestess, to consider that there's wisdom inside of us, to just sit and listen and sometimes not receive anything. That's quite intense. It really is. And then that leads us to the biggest breaking open, the biggest homecoming to the core of all of them, which is Tower.
And Tower is essentially again, in this really microscopic, specific way, related to intuition related to rewilding our knowing. It essentially says, when we're in Tower, we've gotten to the point where we're no longer really making the decisions. We are, but we're responding.
We're so rooted in the present, that we are flexible and able to respond to whatever arises, that we’re available and willing to come home to what is at any given moment. When we work with The Tower, in this particular spectrum of, again intuitive expansion, spiritual development, whatever you want to call that, again, rewilding, reclaiming intuition.
In this particular way, it's essentially a moment where Spirit says, hey, this no longer serves so I'm just going to bring it to your attention.
This is a free-will universe. And we're not… Sometimes we do get those really big, colossal insights when we're not quite asking for them (Linsday laughs), you know. And it's interesting, right? There's so much more than the mind of us. Is there some part of our soul that absolutely desired to know something? And there are times where it's like, hell no (Lindsay laughs). Like, no part of me wanted to know this, no part of me wanted to deal with this. Absolutely not. And that's super valid, you know. Then how can we respond to that, right?
[0:34:35]
So we're going in this vertical line, from the Moon to Virgo to Mars. The Moon is the root. This lunar part of us, this part of us that is always changing, that is always cycling, is always spiraling. That does have a huge pull, a huge tidal pull. It has so much power to it. So much power. It is reflective. It's very much the root of this vertical line. Very, very much.
Hermit is ruled by Mercury, there's a sense of, of absolutely channeling. There's a connection to the nervous system there. There's also a sense of deep, humble service. Virgo is not flashy, even though there are some very flashy Virgos out there. But the core of the sign is so much about what it is to be open, listening, receiving. This is a channeling energy.
It can get really high up in the Mercury mental space, and be all about to-do’s, and can get a little critical from time to time. But when Virgo is dropped into its center, it's very soft, very sensual, very powerful. Powerful middle place of being able to honor the deep soul. Tending the calling to attend those fires, and also being connected to the nervous system, to the mind, to the mental realm. It's a very, very powerful place and Hermit is where we really get to explore that, at times dissonance, at times harmony. But really the core of this card, of this, is really service. And really about moving at a little bit of a different pace than what we might typically be used to.
[0:36:41]
And Mars takes all that energy and directs it so fiercely. And from my experience, not when I'm good, because I think there's Tower with a big “T” and Tower with a little “t”, right? Sometimes we go through Tower with a big “T” where like, we realized that I'm not supposed to be in this relationship anymore. I'm queer, I'm like... there are huge realizations that we can make through life that are absolutely life changing, amazing, important, but can feel so intense when we're going through them. That's very indicative of a Tower. The finally seeing the thing we kind of always knew but weren't ready to see, couldn't see, didn't see until this moment. And Tower with a little “t”, not to diminish that, is the awareness of: oh, I didn't realize that I was harboring this belief about x. Interesting. Okay, now that I know it, I can't unknow it. So what happens now? And that frees us up to make different decisions.
Once that foundation is visible, once that part of The Tower has been cleared off by that lightning bolt, by that connection, by that insight from some part of our knowing, some part of our intuitive understanding. Once that piece of The Tower is gone, it clears away something again, that was covering up that wound, covering up that part of us that is for one reason or another ready, wanting, desirous to be acknowledged and to be healed, to really be processed so that if we are going to build on it again, we can do so in a way that allows that some space to breathe. It gives us some space to breathe that doesn't try to compress that wound, ignore that wound, build so much that we're crushing that wound into silence.
Eventually that wound will bubble up. And you know, so in some ways with regard to intuition, The Tower can show up as little “t” a lot of the time, sometimes not.
[0:39:04]
But what we really have here in this vertical line, in this kind of last, potent stop on the vertical line, is really once we get to a certain point in our intuitive development, we don't necessarily have to check in about every single thing we do. There's a sense of once we're in our “yes” enough, we kind of just know something's not quite ready here. Okay.
Sometimes that can feel like a Tower. Why isn't it ready? What the fuck? This thing is happening. It's ready. What? I'm not ready for this. Holy shit. But The Tower comes in and says you absolutely are. What's your story around readiness? It's ready. Can you respond? So once you get to this point in your comfort level, experience, whatever with your intuition, there is a kind of a rolling Tower process that really is kind of every day.
Because you're growing, evolving so much you outgrow a lot. Because you get more and more committed to being in truth, to understanding, to doing the least amount of harm as possible, to being as much in your integrity as possible, your ethics as possible. Things become really clear over and over and over and over again, and allow us to go back to the heart, back to the foundation, back to the root, to make room, to allow our actions to be aligned with what is in highest and best.
So Tower really does show up in so, so many different ways. It takes on so many different roles in our lives. But in this particular way, really overall, it's a kind of a setting free that is also really uncomfortable, which I could probably say for all the cards in line three of the Major Arcana.
It is a kind of a liberation that is really uncomfortable as you're moving through it. It invites us to honor cycles of rest and integration after such experiences, and can kind of jump off of Hermit by initiating us into a new cycle of life, of activation and realization, and of integration, and rest, and clearing, and letting things settle.
[0:41:54]
The Tower in this way can actually be evidence that we've let Spirit in enough to help clarify things, that this is what happens after Temperance. Temperance is a moment in our journey through the Major Arcana where we say yes, to co-creating with Spirit.
Once we say “yes” to that, it's a lot less about us trying to figure out every little detail, realizing or having to plumb away or dig away at, like, what are my Towers, what's out of alignment. Once we start getting into an aligned groove with Tower as kind of an everyday ally and Anchor, it just tells you (Lindsay laughs). It's just there.
I mean, again, I'm not kidding you. And I say I go through Tower every day. It's a constant companion for me. And it's really quite nice, because there is a lot of space in my life to be able to be like, “holy shit, whoa, that's a really, really intense realization” or “whoa, this thing wants to be cleared up today, okay.”
You know, and sometimes it's not even a problem. Sometimes it's just again, working through whatever soul work is coming up on that particular day. So it's actually a signal, again, in this more micro-cosmic way that we've said “yes” to some part of our soul growth, that we want the truth to be uncovered. We want to be clear. We want to come home and nurture those foundations.
[0:43:33]
And if you're in touch with that intention, you're going to move through a lot more lowercase “t” Towers. Yeah, a lot more little “t” Towers than maybe most folks. You know, and again, of course, sometimes we can be very identified with our mind or stories or beliefs in a Tower can be thunderous. And sometimes we're not necessarily identified with anything and Tower can be thunderous. But it's not necessarily. I don't think it's ever a punishment, doesn't mean we've done anything wrong.
Sometimes there are things to make amends for. Sometimes there is a realization “oh, my God, I caused harm here. I did not realize that at the time. I really didn't and that happens.” What will we do about it? You know, how can we integrate that? How can we make our life a living amends? How can we make amends if possible? So again, it's to talk about Tower and this one, like, specific way is really challenging. It really has to be spoken about in a larger context as well.
But really, in this way, it's a deep gift in terms of our intuitive development. It does mark a moment when we, again, some part of us has allowed our Guides, our inner self, our knowing somewhere in there to let us know, hey, this is ready to go. And we're going to Mars it for you. We're just gonna light it up, we're gonna make sure that it gets clear, because there's something under it that wants your attention.
And that's really where I think the biggest transformation, the biggest kind of recentering with The Tower card can happen because, again, there's something inside The Tower that when we pull it, many of us think, ooh, I must have done something, like something's going to happen to me. Something I must have been off, wrong, bad. And again, that's not often or necessarily ever the case with this card. It's almost always it's not about “you are wrong, bad, you're off your mark.”
[0:46:00]
It's always, “hey, there's something deeper that wants your attention.” And whatever kind of egoic covering was over this, whether you understand, are connected to or not, you're ready to pay attention to this thing underneath.
Again, I've had many, many times where I've had big pain flares, and they've just been paying flares, which are hard enough as it is. And then I've had pain flares that have kind of shown up within The Tower spectrum, where it's not about the pain. It's not not about the pain, but there's something under the pain. And typically, for me, personally, again this is Lindsay sharing my own personal experience, not telling anyone about their journey with pain or am I advocating for anyone to think I'm right, or what I say is correct for you. That typically for me, what's underneath my pain, or was for many years now isn't so much anymore, is what did I do to cause this? And although I don't think, and haven't really subscribed for a long time to like, am I out of balance offline, whatever. But sometimes it would be something really simple about, like, what did I eat to inflame this? What did I?
Like, there's always an undercurrent. It's really sneaky, and sometimes very, very small, but even that I've noticed can be part of the medicine of my flare-ups, is that it allows me to clear and heal one more layer of this insidious story that is handed down and told us and stamped into us from all different walks of life, that if we're in pain, if we’re sick, we did something, and it's bullshit, you know. And I know it, and yet (Lindsay laughs) there's still stuff embedded in the foundation of me that I'm healing, right?
So we can apply this to anywhere. We can apply this to anywhere. And I do lots of work on this in many different ways. Like, quote, I'm a bad person moving through that, you know, and how do I, you know, work with whatever's coming up? A mistake I've made or a stumble or something and not make it into, oh, this proves what I was told every day of my life growing up as an abused kid that I was a mistake and wrong and that I wasn't wanted. So that can be Tower too.
[0:48:46]
So the whole point of working with Guides, and I don't claim to know the secrets (Lindsay laughs) of intuitive medicine on this planet here, but a really grievous misunderstanding, I think, is that many folks assume when you work with Spirit, your Guides, your soul, your higher self, it's going to keep you safe, protected, comfortable in the know. And actually, what I have... my experience, and I think the experience of many folks who live with the similar intentions that I do, these connections really don't explain much sometimes.
They actually, the more deeply you get into your intuitive “yes”, the less you actually know about what's to come. It's a very strange thing to explain. It seems like the opposite would happen and yet it's not true because Guides are really about what's here right now. They're about helping us to clear what doesn't serve. They're about helping us to live the spiral journey. They're about really helping us to evolve through the inevitable discomforts of life.
So when it comes to Towers in this, again, very particular box that this can live in with regard to intuitive development, and this vertical line journey, how might we reflect on this card as a symbol of the consistent life-death-rebirth cycles we go through in our lives in every moment? How might we consider this card to be a little bell, a little clarifier, a little phone ringing that lets us know, hey, there is something underneath the earthly matter that you're going through, that really, really wants your attention?
[0:51:07]
You don't have to give it anything. You don’t have to do anything. You don't have to provide anything. Just what might be valuable here? How might you even just acknowledge it? Is there something? You know, sometimes, for me, it's a question of like, yes, I fucking see it, whatever, you know (Linsday laughs).. And there's just, like a sense of, you know, again, awareness without necessarily wanting to get into it, you know. So we don't always have to know the salve to apply to the wound. Sometimes it's just about acknowledging that there's a wound in the first place. And that is a part of the medicine of Tower.
If you're letting Spirit in to help you, Towers are going to be coming down in your life every day, every day, so we can always be connected to the foundations. So that if we're building anything, it's in as much alignment as possible.
I’m moving through this with my course right now, you know, which is like, wow, such a different energy. It's just so... it asks quite a bit. Like it is unwilling to come if I'm even like a shred of me is coming at it from a brain place. Like it is really fascinating and very hard to explain. But that's a kind of a Tower too, because then that spirals me out very often into like, well why won't it come? What if blah, blah, blah?
So it's, again, it's like, the layer under the layer. In some ways, it's just a different layer of experience and of clearing. And how do we say “yes” to that, you know? How do we open to that? And I think in some ways, that is the second line of the second vertical line of the Tarot.
Like, how do we slowly but surely, surrender and clear everything that sort of keeps us from the root system of our being? Everything that keeps us a little away from the parts of us that so desperately want our attention and are really part of the core of who we are, you know? How do we come home to that again, and again, and again, in the best way that we can in just the moment that we're called to it, right?
[0:53:40]
So yeah, as I have the last two episodes, I encourage you to just do your own field study on this to just see what works like swish it around (Lindsay laughs) and see what works for you. And yeah, Tower is really funny. Like, I just continue. The more I am on my path and teaching, the more I'm just like, I don't know, what do you think (Lindsay laughs). about this?
And the more I consider the myriad of experiences and the way that The Tower can show up in life and all the things that it triggers off, the less I'm inclined to always say like, oh my gosh, it's an energy to just be adored and cherished. Again, I love The Tower. And I can still acknowledge that it's quite bitter. Sometimes it really sucks and is a really hard experience.
You know, at moments it's a horrific experience in certain moments to have to go down to the foundations of something. For one reason or another, we don't want to do it all the time. So how do we fortify and nurture? What helps us to feel supported? You know, we're moving through a collective Tower in a million different ways right now, in a million different, personally felt, varying ways. And yet something that I think is very collectively felt right now. So if you're here, and even if you're not, you're doing a beautiful job.
And if you are available, interested wanting to continue to say “yes”, to continue to say, I love Spirit for you to help guide me. Let me know what's up, give me a little heads up on what's going on. I'd love to be clear at any given moment of what wants my attention. That's why so much of Soul Tarot is about what's asking for my attention right now. Because it really is all rooted in this moment, in terms of what Spirit brings for us, to us.
[0:55:58]
It's not about helping us to avoid the discomforts of life, it's about helping us to stay very, very close to the foundations, taking us from the journey of The Moon, down to the roots of our being, so that we are, from literally top to bottom in our channel, as connected to ourselves as possible.
So yeah, this is a really fun trio of episodes to do. Thanks for tuning into it. Very different. A little bit out there, but a lot of fun. And yeah, just loving on all of you. And again, sending my support.
March is going to be a pretty big and exciting month. We're gonna have lots of cool new announcements and things in the flow of March. They may not be ready to be fully announced at March Monthly Medicine, but know that they are coming. March Monthly Medicine podcast episode will definitely be out on Friday, so you'll have a double this week, which is always a nice treat.
[0:57:16]
Yeah, again, please. I know so many folks are really struggling right now financially, but if you have even, like, five bucks to donate to some of these resources and places for aid for Texas, please do. They're in the link in the show notes. And yeah, just sending my immense love and care to everyone dealing with that. And everyone, whether you're dealing with that or not. So thank you so much for being here, Wild Souls, and until we meet again, please, please take exquisitely gentle care of yourself.
[Conclusion]
(Instrumental exit music)
Thank you so much for listening to Tarot for the Wild Soul.
This podcast was edited by Chase Voorhees. The podcast art is by Chelsea Iris Granger, and it is hosted by me, Lindsay Mack. For more about the podcast visit wildsoulpodcast.com, or follow us on Instagram @TarotfortheWildSoul. For more about me and my work, please visit lindsaymack.com.
To support Tarot for the Wild Soul, please consider subscribing to the podcast on iTunes and leaving us a five star review. It helps people find us and it is greatly greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for being here.
[58:44]
For Further Exploration
