devil, tower, star

lessons from the Tarot in impossible times

“When something can’t be fixed, then the question is: what can we build instead?” -Mariame Kaba

These are impossible times. Impossible that the belief that children should not be casualties of war and hospitals should not be targets is a radical act. Impossible that we are told to accept politicians that cater to warmongers as our only reasonable choice. Impossible that the stores are already filled with the glitter of holiday decorations while groceries cost nearly double and our phone screens are endless scrolls of doom and violence.

The stories of our own anatomy and physiology help me find the ground in impossible times. I can turn to the way the heart rests on the breathing diaphragm, and the delicate space between each cell, as a reminder that there is always support, and always space, even when life feels that it is pressing in on us. I have books I go back to, many of them young adult books, like Madeline L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series of Micheal Ende’s Momo and The Neverending Story, to help me remember to believe the magic of time and space and love.

And the Tarot is a guide I always turn to.

I turn to the Tarot not only to ask a specific question about my own life, but also to read the story of the Tarot itself. The cards aren’t in a random order, they tell their own story.

And the story I am turning to most often right now is the story of The Devil, The Tower, and The Star in the Major Arcana.

It is worth noting that 2023 is considered a Tower year, because 2+0+2+3=7, and 16, the number of The Tower in the Major Arcana, is condensed to 7 because 1+6=7.

Believe in it as much or as little as you wish, but I’m looking around and it does seem like the archetype of The Tower is a fitting one for this year. The Tower is chaos. What we thought we could believe in, we realize we cannot. What we thought would last forever, begins to crumble. What seemed invincible is shown to have seismic cracks down to its very foundation.

When The Tower card shows up in a personal reading, it doesn’t mean the querent is doomed. But it does mean they’re in for a rocky, intense ride. When we’re navigating The Tower as a global community, even more so.

It would be easy to fall in to the doom spiral, and consider ourselves irrevocably lost. But this is where the Tarot offers a story to guide us, because The Tower doesn’t just exist alone in the cosmology of the Major Arcana.

The Tower lives between The Devil, card 15, and The Star, card 17.

The Devil pulls us into thinking of others as the problem. Other people are less than people. If other people didn’t exist, the problem wouldn’t exist.

When we are within The Tower and pulled by the Devil, we’re trapped by our own hate, and The Tower falls on us.

The Star nourishes life by nourishing beauty. The Star recognizes that what is life-giving might not always be aesthetic, and what is aesthetic might not always be life-giving. Where The Devil keeps us trapped within the chaos of The Tower, The Star pulls us free so we might see the sky once more.

So, in these impossible times, I am turning to this ancient story of mysterious origin as a guide. How can I nourish life, and beauty, in any way? I can make art, not necessarily to sell but simply to enjoy the process of creating. I can slow down and play with the children I’m so fortunate to be an auntie to, and I can listen to their questions and do the best I can to answer them. I can put the garden to bed, and plant the garlic for next year. I can make the tinctures from the last herbs and roots before the long cold winter truly begins. I can tend the fire, sweep the floors, and fold the laundry. I can seek out the beauty of the new leaves on the houseplants, and I can be sure I am giving them and myself enough water.

And I can call my representatives not because I hate what they are doing (even if I do) but because doing that small act is in service of life. It is a small act of belief in their humanity, which in turn, nourishes my own.

I’m not perfect at this, and I don’t think perfection is the point. But when I wonder what might come on the other side of all this, I know that I would rather move towards The Star than The Devil, and so I do.

The Devil, The Tower, and The Star from the Rider-Waite Tarot deck.