The Tower (The House of God) - Sixteen

The 15th century Tarot of Marseilles

La Maison Dieu "The House of God" depicts a burning tower being struck by lightning or fire from the sky, its top section dislodged. Two men are depicted in mid-fall, against a field of multicolored balls. This card is popularly known as The Tower, but has also been called The Thunderbolt. In the 17th century tarot of Jacques Viéville, the card depicts a tree being struck by lightning. In the 17th century Tarot of Paris, the image shown is of the Devil beating his drums, before what appears to be the mouth of Hell. In ecclesiastical terms, a House of God is a church, temple, or chapel, any building where congregations gather for prayer. Thunder and lightning is used in the Bible to symbolise God's voice. God was said to appear to Moses in the form of fire, thunder, lightning and cloud. Psalm 18 reads:

"From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled becaise he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his canopy around him, the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth."

There are many other Bible passages that describe Yahweh as a storm god who emits thunder and lightning. This may be symbolic of the awe and terror of the worshipper as he beholds something he does not understand. This card represents fear of the unknown, and the shock of the unexpected. The number for this card is sixteen, which is the fourth power of two. Sixteen was used in weighing light objects in several cultures. We have sixteen ounces in one pound. In the olden days, weighing was done with a beam balance to make equal splits. It would be easier to split a heap of grains into sixteen equal parts through successive divisions than to split into ten parts. So the number sixteen is evocative of the weighing scales, and as such, represents judgement. It is the judgement of God which is feared by worshippers, along with the threat of Hellfire. Sixteen is the atomic number of sulfur, the smell of which was associated with Hell.

Sixteen may also be thought of as 1+6=7. This links The Tower card with The Chariot, symbolising destiny and karma, cause and consequence. The fear of that which may come is represented in The Tower. Destruction is inevitable. Our own demise will come, whether we like it or not. This is a force of Nature that we cannot fight. This card speaks of the fear of death which many people struggle with. It is a fear which we may overcome with understanding of our true nature, which is the eternal being of the Universe.