🔮 the tower, justice & the chariot in tarot

Skip the individual analysis to read the summary / overall invitation.

full spread —

present moment: five of swords
blocking: two of swords
subconscious: eight of wands
material world: four of swords
past moment: ten of pentacles
immediate invitation: the tower
self: knave/page of swords
environment: justice
hopes & fears: knight of cups (r)
where the energy is headed: the chariot

individual card breakdown —

The five of swords is a card that I read as a feeling — the feeling that you have “fucked up”, the feeling of having made a mistake. Personally, I’ve learned to read the 5’s as contraction moments. And, with every expansion, comes a contraction — a moment of slinking back, going inward, pulling or holding tightly to an old way, pattern, feeling. To squeeze. To get smaller. Despite contraction often being a momentary experience, it can be/feel quite painful. It doesn’t mean that something is wrong, and in this case, it doesn’t have to mean that you have, in fact, fucked up. But knowing this doesn’t make the feeling less of a feeling. And in fact, we know that when we avoid fully feeling a feeling, it grows and morphs into something bigger.

The blocking card in this spread (or perhaps the reminder, the savior card in this context) is the two of swords. Despite traditional meaning of this card, I have always read the two of swords as an awakening and an invitation to collaborate and co-create with the deepest parts of self or soul. Perhaps it’s because I spent so much time in the Spirit Speak deck, which depicts this card as a deep communion with spirit; or perhaps because I’ve pulled it so many times during my own spiritual awakenings — I read this card as an invitation to create as if you are on the moon and no one will ever see your work or what you are up to. I read this card as an invitation to choose you, despite appearances, despite the world maybe telling you not to, despite any fear that arises, or any self-doubt. I also read this card as an invitation to be in silence, to listen to the silence within, and to move from that place. You can trust yourself.

However, the two of swords in this particular deck (Tarot de Carlotydes) depicts two beings. One in all white. One in all black. The being in white seems to be wearing a wedding dress, with even a white veil. This is particularly interesting to me because I have been pulling the twos frequently lately, and cards with an emphasis on black and white animals/beings/objects contrasted with each other, side by side. *Perhaps I will come back to this theme later or in another post.

Above the five and two sits the eight of wands. It’s a card that signifies moment — the ball is in motion, you are on your way. To me, this card has wheel of fortune energy (though I have no real idea, nor training that would suggest they are connected). It’s just a feeling. I tend to read eights as completion cards, but the eight of wands, I tend to read as fate (or fated movement).

Beneath, we have the four of swords — a massive representation (and invitation) for mental rest, a reset, even a deep slumber. This card illustrates a women on a stack of mattresses with three swords hanging above her. The fourth sword is on the ground, next to a rabbit who is keeping the time. Is it only a matter of time before all four swords fall? Will one pierce her? Is this real or imaginary? Does this represent the impossibility of true rest, when we are holding so much on our plates and in our minds? Or is this the kind of rest that comes when we have worn ourselves out from overdoing and overthinking? Rest forced by exhaustion?

To the left (in the past moment position) is a dragon sleeping with ten pentacles (the ten of pentacles). Near its stash is a black flag, with a skeleton on it. It’s the same skeleton that rests beneath the tower to the right. Interesting symbolism, considering the immediate invitation (or future) holds an item from the past.

The tower does not always have to represent destruction, though it does often represent the necessary dismantling that comes when we build on top of false truths (or in this card, buried truths - a skeleton buried beneath a castle, and a dragon wrapped around the very castle that is being dismantled). Does the dragon need to blow it all up, or is there another way to access what’s buried within?

The knave or page of swords is reminding me that there are a lot of swords in this particular spread — lots of mental energy, intellectual focus. This particular card is communicating to me.. the importance of communication. I read this as young, well-intentioned expression and communication of self and truth. Young is important here because despite the pureness of intention, they may not be just. Are they arguing for arguments sake? Is over-intellectualization resulting in a lack of empathy or compassion?

The environment is calling for (and supportive of) justice, balance, beauty. It’s a reminder that true justice can be reached, AND that it rarely arises from emotional outburst or retaliation after unfairness. True justice comes from true awareness of a full situation or picture. Balance/Fairness is not necessarily a punch for a punch, but can instead be derived through shared respect and willingness/commitment to move forward in a new way.

The knight of cups (reversed) can represent missed or unmet expectations — disappointment. Often it is read with love and relationships in mind, but I don’t think the cups are limited to love. The feeling of love is not always (in fact, rarely) enough to create harmonious union. The act of love is something else entirely — a skill to be mastered. This card in the hopes & fears position says to me, disappointment is always a possibility on the other side of hope. What are you expecting to happen? What are you hoping for? Aside from disappointment, why is it scary?

Finally, the chariot. The Chariot says the vehicle that you got you here is not the vehicle that is going to take you forward. How can you bow to what has worked for you in the past, that is no longer serving you today?

bringing it together — the tower, justice & the chariot

It’s very clear that things are moving in the direction that they are meant to, creating big soul-level moments of expansion, along with feelings of contraction and likely resistance. Growing requires facing and moving through the discomfort of newness and navigating unknown territory. Growth is often met with resistance and usually taken on only because the new way is less painful than the old way. Growth comes with a reckoning of who we were, to be replaced with who we are becoming. This shift in identity is encompassed by grief, turmoil, inner conflict, attachment, re-evaluation and a reckoning.

Some will never unbury the truths (or non-truths) that live deep within them, that have formed the very foundation for which they live and breath and move through the world. Some will never reckon with the ways that have worked for them, deciding not to trade what is working for what could be better, what is keeping them alive for what could be nourishing.

This spread is a tribute to evolution, which does not always feel good, which does not always make sense, which is not always pleasant — but, which is necessary in the journey to who we are becoming.

What has gotten you here is not the vehicle which will take your forward. However gracefully you can let go, will be the grace with which you step forward.

How does the saying go? Your new life is going to cost you your old one.

I think this spread very much echoes that.