Why I embrace the Tower Card

What's not to love about a card depicting a bolt of lightning striking a tower and people falling out of it head first it as it burns? Well,OK. People justifiably get a little nervous when they see the tower card turn up in their reading.

First of all, it's important not to take the pictures in the tarot deck too literally. It's unlikely that your home will be hit by lightning. It's more a case of your perspective getting hit by lightning. The tower card is all about change: sudden and significant change. I love this card because it shakes things up and offers us a new reality and that's exciting!

How many products and services use the phrase, ''it will change your life!'' as a selling point? People describe the moment they met their true love as a moment their lives changed. On the other hand, when tragedy strikes, our lives also change irrevocably. Knowing change is coming but not knowing whether it's going to be good or bad is what's so scary about the tower card.

Instead of seeing it as black or white, good or bad, wanted or unwanted, see it as inevitable growth. No matter the nature of change, it forces us to grow...because if we don't grow through change, we remain stuck. And nothing's worse than being stuck.

Take a look at these two tower cards in the photo. On the left is the classic image from the RWS deck. In the Mystical Moments deck on the right, we see a woman hugging the burning tower. You might interpret that as her clinging to the familiar, unwilling to accept change. The image could be warning her to let go or else she'll get burnt.

However, the way I see it is she's embracing the change itself. See how her hair is one with the smoke? I see this as her being a part of the change, perhaps she unconsciously brought the change on herself.

There's no guarantee that big changes will make us immediately happier. Being a major arcana card, it symbolizes a change that was part of your life's blueprint. Even a painful change is part of the life your soul agreed to. We are here in this incarnation for a short time to learn certain lessons. Some of those lessons are difficult but they are always our teachers.

Chances are the tower card won't be followed by winning the lottery or getting hit by a bus tomorrow; it may be less extreme but equally an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone and develop a new version of yourself.

So, fear not when the tower card shows up in your reading. Fasten your seatbelt and get ready to embark on a new path. You've got this!