XVI - The Tower

Titles: The Lord of the Hosts of the Mighty; The Blasted Tower; House of God; War
Hebrew letter: ף, פ (Pe = mouth = 80, 800) [Double Letter = Planetary Trump]
Element: Fire
Astrology: Mars ♂ (rules Aries/Scorpio, exalts in Capricorn; detriment in Libra, fall in Cancer)
Path on the Tree of Life: 27th Path (Netzach ↔ Hod; 7 ↔ 8)

Symbols/Colours:

the picture shows the destruction of existing material by fire; it may be taken as the preface to Atu XX, the Last Judgment [The Æon, in the finished deck], i.e., the Coming of a New Aeon;
at the bottom part of the card, therefore, is shown the destruction of the old-established Aeon by lightning, flames, engines of war;
in the right-hand corner are the jaws of Dis, belching flame at the root of the structure;
falling from the tower are broken figures of the garrison; it will be noticed that they have lost their human shape; they have become mere geometrical expressions;
the dominating feature of this card is the Eye of Horus; this is also the Eye of Shiva, on the opening of which, according to the legend of this cult, the Universe is destroyed;
bathed in the effulgence of this Eye (which now assumes even a third sense, that indicated in Atu XV) are the Dove bearing an olive branch and the Serpent (portrayed as the Lion-Serpent Xnoubis or Abraxas);
these represent the two forms of desire; what Schopenhauer would have called the Will to Live and the Will to Die; they represent the feminine and masculine impulses.