XTAROT Lecture Series: Major Arcana No. 16 [TOWER] / The Lightning of Collapse and Realization

Author: Ginga Shibasaki, Illustrator: Takaharu Futaboshi

In this article, we will explain the Major Arcana No. 16 [TOWER] of XTAROT.

To start with the conclusion, the Tower is a card where "things piled up high collapse, and through that shock, one realizes something important." It indicates destruction, loss, termination of contracts, and sudden change, but it is not a card that merely announces misfortune. Rather, it is a card where the truth that had been hidden is exposed as the structure that was being forcibly maintained collapses.

In the iconography, the winged HULLIN stands before the lightning bolt striking the tower. Behind, the tower that humans built to reach the heavens is struck by lightning, and its top is destroyed. There is a yellow lightning bolt tearing through the sky and a white electric flash running from the hand to the earth. HULLIN, in the center, is not just receiving the destruction. It also appears as if they are absorbing the shock and channeling that power into their own inner self.

What is important here is that the Tower is both a "divine punishment" and a "blessing" at the same time.

Humans build things. Status, wealth, companies, contracts, systems, habits, confidence, beliefs, and human relationships. Building itself is not evil. However, when it becomes too high and makes one lose sight of their own footing, the tower becomes dangerous. Before it is destroyed by lightning from the outside, the strain has already begun on the inside.

Keywords and Basic Imagery

The vocabulary for [TOWER] in XTAROT is as follows.

Economic loss / Arrogance / Divine punishment / Collapse / Termination of contract / Shocking event / Blessing of realization / Destruction of common sense / Molting / Breaking away from habits

The core that can be derived from this is "awakening through collapse."

The Tower is not a gentle change. Lightning strikes without warning. Plans are ruined. Contracts fall through. Expected income is lost. The premises one believed in crumble. Cracks appear in the place where one felt secure. There is pain there. There is shame. There is also anger. Above all, there is the shock of why this happened.

However, the Tower is not a card that destroys just for the sake of destruction.

By breaking, there are things that are understood for the first time. That the place was not actually safe. That it was supported by assumptions. That what looked like profit was actually a burden. That the common sense one intended to protect was hindering the next growth. The lightning strikes the tower mercilessly, but its light simultaneously illuminates the darkness.

In general tarot as well, [TOWER] has been read in connection with sudden collapse, disaster, crisis, revelation, and liberation. The [TOWER] of XTAROT does not contradict this traditional reading. However, here, what remains after the "collapse" becomes particularly important.

After the tower collapses, people return to the ground.

That is also a defeat. However, if one does not return to the ground, one cannot rebuild at the correct height once more.

Systematic Positioning

In XTAROT, each card is associated with a Rune/Zodiac sign/Petrarch (P-classification). The coordinates of [TOWER] can be organized as follows.

・Rune: Hagal / ・Zodiac: Placed in Aries, opposite to [EMPEROR]. / ・P-classification: Belongs to the <Silence> group, same group as [HANGED MAN], [DEATH], [DEVIL]. / ・Symbolic color: Gray (divine punishment). / ・Complementary relationship: [TOWER] forms a complementary pair with [EMPEROR].

The Rune [Hagal] represents hail. Hail is not something called by humans. It falls suddenly from the sky, damages crops, strikes roofs, and disrupts plans. It is a natural force majeure that occurs regardless of human convenience.

This nature fits well with the essence of the Tower.

Events of the Tower often cannot be stopped by one's own will. A contract is terminated by the other party. The market changes. Organizational policies shift. Unexpected accidents or failures occur. From the outside, it seems sudden, but just like the weather, it happens within the grand flow of the world.

In the P-classification, [Tower] belongs to the <Silence> group. The same group includes [Hanged Man], [Death], and [Devil]. All four of these cards possess the power to stop the flow of things.

The [Hanged Man] stops things through a temporary pause.
The [Death] stops things by bringing them to an end.
The [Devil] stops things by binding them to desires or the ego.
The [Tower] stops things through collapse.

This distinction is important. The stop caused by the Tower is not a waiting period. It is not merely an end. It is not the stagnation of being caught in desire. It is a stop where, because the structure can no longer stand, it is broken all at once from the outside.

That is why the Tower is a card with particularly high impact, even within the Silence group.

It is not a quiet stop, but a stop that happens with a loud crash.

The figure of Fulin

The figure on this card is Fulin.

The name Fulin refers to the Irish mythological hero Cú Chulainn. Fulin as the [Tower] in XTAROT is not an entity that reproduces the myth exactly as it is. However, the images of heroic power, uncontrollable impulses, and standing firm in the midst of a crisis are fitting for this card.

The presence of Fulin in the center of the Tower prevents this card from being merely about the collapse of a building.

Lightning strikes the tower. However, that lightning also illuminates Fulin's body. In other words, what is being questioned in this card is not just the broken building. It is what the person who received the impact learns after it is broken.

Will you end the collapse as just a disaster?
Or will you accept it as a blessing of realization?

This is where Fulin's role lies.

Relationship with other Major Arcana

The complement to the [Tower] is the 4th card, [Emperor].

[Emperor] represents fatherhood, wealth, income, profit, management, authority, guidance, and a sense of responsibility. He is a card that builds order, manages assets, and takes on social responsibility. In contrast, the [Tower] is the card where what has been built is destroyed.

If the Emperor builds, the Tower destroys.
If the Emperor shows profit, the Tower shows loss.
If the Emperor maintains authority, the Tower shakes the foundation of that authority.

However, this is not a simple opposition where the Emperor is good and the Tower is evil. The order built by the Emperor is not always healthy forever. Outdated systems, rigid organizations, excessive possessions, expansion driven by vanity, authority that has forgotten its responsibility—these will eventually become the Tower.

The Tower asks the Emperor this question.

Does that authority still protect people?
Is that management still producing results?
Has that responsibility quietly turned into arrogance?
Is that building truly reaching toward the heavens?

Furthermore, the flow from the preceding No. 15 [DEVIL] is important. The Devil was a card where desire binds people. Attachment, dependency, self-deception, turning a blind eye. When these accumulate, the Tower eventually appears.

If the Devil is internal bondage, the Tower is external collapse.

If you can notice the chains at the Devil stage, the lightning of the Tower might be small. However, if you avoid reflection and continue to protect a structure supported by desire, it may be destroyed all at once by an external shock.

And after the Tower comes No. 17 [STAR].

This is salvation. After the collapse, there is time to sow seeds. It is a time to think about what to leave behind and what to regrow, rather than just putting broken things back the way they were. Even if the Tower seems to take everything away, it cannot take the ground. If the ground remains, you can pour water onto it and wait for the next star.

Summary

[TOWER] is a gray card.

Gray is neither white nor black. It is the color between right and wrong, punishment and blessing, loss and liberation. It is the color of thunderclouds, the color of crumbled stone, and the color of the sky before the smoke clears.

When this card appears, first, do not deny the shock.

What has broken?
What has ended?
What have you lost?
Which contract has been voided?
Which common sense no longer applies?

That confirmation is necessary.

However, do not stop there. The Tower is not a card for merely lamenting what is broken. It is a card for seeing why it broke. What was arrogant? What was piled too high? What have you been pretending not to see? Which habits should you break away from?

Lightning brings pain.

But in that instant of light, you may see things that were previously invisible.

Do not let the collapse end as mere misfortune.
Read the warning within the loss.
See the blessing within the divine punishment.
Stand on the ground once more beneath the broken tower.
And shed your old common sense.

That is the revelation of No. 16 [TOWER].

Note: XTAROT is a mirror that does not fix the future. Please treat the drawn card as a clue for your next move, according to your own dictionary.

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