the tower tarot – CALIFORNIA WITCHCRAFT

Thursday, June 4th, 2020: People continue to rise up all over our country and the world to demand change against racial injustice and inequality. The president of the United States is ramping up his efforts to sic not just the police, but the MILITARY against its own citizens. People are dying in record numbers from a deadly pandemic and the government that is supposed to protect its people is executing and imprisoning them.

As what was once at least masquerading as a democracy veers ominously towards a dangerous and evil dictatorship, a colossal bolt of lightning strikes the Washington monument. This display eerily mirrors not just the iconic imagery of the Tower Tarot card, but everything it represents.

While all Tarot cards convey aspects of the human experience, it is rare to see such a literal depiction, especially one SO fitting in its context. As the lightning struck the Washington monument, it created an iconic Tower Tarot card moment IRL. What is most poignant about this dramatic recreation of the Tower card’s symbolism is what it represents: the downfall of an infrastructure that was not built to last.

In traditional illustrations of the Tower card, the foundation on which the structure was built is clearly unstable. The most literal meaning of this card is the collapse of something that was flawed from the start. Seems almost TOO fitting.

The white supremacist system the United States of America was founded upon was flawed from the start. We are not witnessing the sudden crumbling of something that was working up until now; it was NOT working. The foundation was not just cracked, it was twisted as fuck and certainly not built to support its people. We are witnessing a breaking point that has been centuries in the making.

As scary as this imagery and the world around us may feel right now, there is some measure of hope to be found here. In the Tower card’s illustration, the “divine intervention” of the lightning strike knocks the crown of power right off, ousting those who previously ruled over it.