The eternal hourglass keeps on turning and from it’s sands emerge The Tower.
Symbolically the tower represents the axis of the world since it unites heaven and earth.
In the Bible, the first tower is the Tower of Babel – built out of human pride and fiercely destroyed by God. From this destruction came the plurality of languages which dispersed humanity. Indeed, since the fall of Adam and Eve never had humanity tried to build again the axis of the world and this first endeavor – being against God’s will – is fiercely fought against.
In Christianity specifically, the tower would always represent humans vanity and misfortune. Yet the lighthouse – which is a tower, emerging from the waves with a light on its top – would have a positive connotation since it’s light would guide the souls in the good direction.
It was only in the middle ages that towers would flourish in Europe since they would harbor the bells that would call in the population.
In China, the tower also has a positive connotation since wise men could better study the heavens. They would then serve as channels of good energy to the earth.
Now you take the floor, what do you associate with the tower?
tower: removed from the world/reality; something phallic; trapped in idealism.
Tower of song by Leonnard Cohen
I cannot explain why, but when I imagine a tall tower I have to think of Pan’s flute again.
it’s the link between the ground, and a limitless sky..
between reality and infinite dreams..
<3
Dear Love, I have just read what you are writing. I think that as everybody else you have the Right for a decent job. It is in the Human Rights Declaration.
To have a health problem is something human and not a ‘fault’. You are lucky you have your mother and I am sure she makes the utmost for helping you. I have known somebody who had ‘manic-depression’ and was taking medication and was able to live a nornal life. Trust your mother and the people around you and be sure there will be a better time for you.
LOVE,
Thelma
Towers remind me of the troubadours and their romantic era.
I am just readint in the newspaper: ‘The new tower of Babel in Dubai has not yet finished and it is supposed to be higher than 700 meter height. It is going to be the highest buildin of the World.
As you said above, dear Paulo Coelho the tower of Babel represents the vanity of the people, but at the same time the desire to reach God.
In Metaphor, we use it whenever we want to express misunderstandings. Each one speaking ‘his own language’!!
In Greek, whenever we want to express a big noise, confusion we say : BABYLONIA.
Love,
Thelma
Tower is associated with our imagination. What we imagine, is what we think the particular thing is associated with. A tower is the peak, a high tall thing which can be used in many ways.
Early it represented evil, later people associated with the positive connotations. It also represents the place where death meets the birth. It is the place where people some time go and kill themselves.
It can also be place where people go and enjoy themselves. It is the place in our mind which always demands something from the things associated in the real world. With these things, we can associate anything.
Based on what people have done in the past with tower, we try to do the same but the result does not occur different because, what some body else have already discovered, we will discover the same.
No difference is found when the tower in one region of the world gives light to every one around the village and in the next region it is used for the same purpose. But what if, some body uses as the negative symbol and in some other place it is associated with positive symbol.
What we associate with “tower” is what we associate with the “mountain”, “heights”, our emotions and with the happiness. All these associations are some how inter related and these inter relation gives us one common thing in our mind.
These association tells us that, we think differently on different things which is totally wrong. All these are for good purpose. Nothing is build just like that. Everything around the world comes with values and with some purpose.
Imagine a world where there was no water, no mountains, no green leaves and now imagine you being in such world. What would you associate with your life then ?
Our associations can be different on different things but those are just our perceptions. And I think perception differs in many ways from people to people, from culture to culture and from country to country, also from religion, sex, race, and through many other ways.
Anyways, to answer what you associate with tower- I would rather say that I do not associate anything with tower simply because I do not associate anything with any entity. It does not mean that these things are useless but it means that- these are useful and there is no association. These things also have life and these life will only be understood once we understand what is life.
Knowing something and telling something which you do not know are two different ways of looking at things in our life.
I do not know what is the association of what, but I can surely tell you that-whatever we associate is just a false assumption on our ideas in our general mind.
Tower can be assumed as death, but at the same time it can also be associated with life, light or whatsoever. It depends on what a person is thinking while he is thinking of association of the things being asked.
It also depends on the past experiences and future demands or desire with the things for example “tower”.
Well, I think I have given my point on what I associate on what, I need to read others point too.
I associate the tower with wisdom, with knowledge, with the challenge of aboard that knowledge but also with the warning to not fall in the temptation to hide that knowledge from the others. The tower on the monastery from “The Name Of The Rose”…
I believe that the Tower is tranquil serenity and persistence.
I always picture a tower sitting on a behemoth of a mountain, and it poised there alone. In my mind there is always ivy growing up the side. It shows that it stands there alone, and it is not afraid of anything mother nature or time can throw at it.
No one dares go near it even though it does nothing to them. Just its simple presence sheds an aura about the whole mountainside. Its beautiful, and fearful all at the same time.
Ultimate power corrupts ultimately,
E.M.
Erroque, prisión, comunicación entre el cielo y la tierra.
Proverbios 18:10 “Torre Fuerte es el nombre del Señor, a ella correrán los justos y se pondrán a salvo”
I have never thought about this, so after a minute of thinking I came to this:
To me, towers are a way to isolate yourself from everything else, to be able to see everything from up high in that tower and admire the beauty of everything you cannot normally see.
This isolation can also be bad, in the way that it could be used to control a certain population, watching over what everyone does. Or you can hide anything on that tower that you do not want people to know. Or you can use it to protect something from any evil and danger.
I think a tower should be used to admire everything from below and to protect something “good”. Unfortunately there are also bad ways in which you can use a tower. So in short, towers have a good side and a bad one. It just depends how we use it and see it.
I don’t have anything agains towers, but I don’t like heights, no more than 2 stories. I don’t like high buildings, it’s not my thing! I don’t think men has to build a tower to get to God or the heavens, besides it wouldn’t work.
God is inside of us and in all Creation.
I am looking for a job.
If someone call me and ask me for any reference or what have I been doing durin these years, what could I tell them?
The truth?
The truth is personal and also a long story. But if I simplify the truth, most people wouldn´t offer me a job.
The other choice is to say lies, but I prefer to not consider that.
If I tell them that I cannot provide references because I have been sick or with a depression, who is going to employ me?
Besides, I don´t want to tell about that to them. I would be too exposed, too vulnerable.
I have been for years living with my mother in a bedroom of the house.
I have tried to escape twice, but by that time, I left my mother´s house with an attitude that was not the correct one. And the work experiences that I had by those times were obviously a disaster and I have no contact with the people I worked for, so I have no references.
I cannot lie but if I say that I have been sick … well, I neither want to open my Heart to people that I do not know.
I don´t know what I can I do.
loneliness
excluded
isolation
prison
arrogance
Now I remember the pain while trying to read the compusory novel,by Virginia Woolf,”To the Light House”.I know is considered great writer,for the new style,free flux of conscioussness,but really boring.Was really tough .Then the seminar on that topic.Double pain.So.there the light house ,like one tower,was one constant presence,and the intermitent light ,resembled the changes of the inner life that we should see,or the light on the stage,that iluminates one new actor.
The tower may be one prison.The Tower of London,or the tower in wich poor ladies in distress were waiting for the knights to rescue them.I can write much,but I stop here.Bye
It´s true that the past was terrible, painful and dark. But the past is gone and now we both have Evolved. There is no point in trying to escape, I´m fine here.
But she is being very good to me now, she is helping me.
AndI love her.
I don´t know why I have written the other messages.
Or there are someone out there who could Help me just for a month even being the way I am now, till I heal myself?
I wasn’t gonna reply cos the idea of tower didn’t seem to touch me much. But then I thought of the tower-type Moomin house in Tove Jansson’s stories. I’ve always loved the Moomins and wanted to visit the fascinating house they live in. And this reminds me of the other towers that I have visited and really enjoyed being in, cos of the great view.
So the tower shall resemble for me the humans’ ability to go beoynd the limits of their own heights, by using their brains and building some helpful devices.
Towers are also trademarks of the places they stand on, like their signatures. So seeing a specific tower associates with the feelings I have towards the place it’s on, and they of course also help with navigating towards that place.
I have to agree with Jonah, when I think of the Tower, I think of it’s significance (or my interpretation of it) when using the Tarot. To me the Tower represents the ego, and the lightening striking it is the blow which reduces it to its very essence, or reduces a person to the very core of who he or she really is. If you see someone who is undergoing a radical shift in his or her life, you can think of it as a manifestation of Tower energy – before you can truly rebuild into something magnificent, you must be reduced to your very core, or essence (which I believe is being a divine manifestation of God or the Universe). The crashing of the Tower is what happens before the Phoenix can rise from the ashes of it’s own destruction and be greater than previously thought.
when I see the Tower in my own readings, I know that I will need to hold onto my hat, because it’s going to be a rough ride. I try not to feel fear, because with such change comes the chance to begin again, and hopefully have the wisdom to make choices which are more in line with my passion and soul’s desire for my life. (at least that’s what I tell myself :) )
Y toda aquella oscuridad ya terminó hace tiempo.
Ya se acabó.
I am already healed. All that darkness was finished a long time ago.
That was another time.
I just need to start slowly, with small dreams.
My small dreams will take me to the Paradise, I am already there.
I just need to describe It.
The problem is that, so far, I have failed everytime I have tried to leave.
And now, as time pass, I am … maybe the scars are still too open but I must leave this place despite of my fears.
It is true that I have not succeed so far, but it is also true that everytime I have failed, I have get up stronger.
That must count for something.
But at least it is good to know that I need profesional Help to cleanse my soul and become free.
The Tower is where the Princess was kept as a captive.
***
I have spend too many years living with my mother. That has left some scars in my spirit and I do not know how many years or what kind of phsicotherapy am I going to need in order to cleanse my soul.
Depending on the tower, I’ve felt most of the varying reactions mentioned here. But when I think of that generic tower in my mind’s eye, it seems to stand for imagination, the willingness to try something new, something bold. It’s more about the willingness to make a positive assertion of possiblity than anything else.
It certainly not the hidden seed of an idea, but rather the culmination of will into a statement of being. An assertion of possiblity, which doesn’t seem to be the “final say” but instead is a pathway to a new view, giving one the chance to see familiar things in a new way.
We need watchmen to take up their position on the heights, in a tower, so that they can see from a distance whatever approaches. Whoever is appointed watchman to a people should live a life on the heights so that he can help them by taking a wide survey.
Unfortunately, in my country of USA a large segment of the population has been encouraged to interpret the concept of a Tower as a Phallic symbol, reinforcing throughout the land a society dominated by males. This concept is taught as a very negative but pervasive example of how males naturally encourage subjugation and reverence to themselves.
I do not see anything Phallic about towers. My first impressions of towers are twofold; the implications of a Lighthouse, where light and wisdom can be disseminated; and second, as a structure that draws one to it, imparting perspective and enlightenment either by its inhabitants or as one climbs it.
Thank you for your inspirational post.
I love to walk the stairs of an old tower like I’m walking the inner of a shell…spiraling to the top…and then enjoy the beautiful view of your walk.
Love
All Ways
Hildegarde
I’m really surprised that no one has mentioned The Tower card of the Tarot yet. That is the first thing I thought of.
The card is usually read as dramatic ideological shift; a radical destruction of a previous way of thinking which comes of necessity to allow a more realistic and stable structure to be built in its place (Jessica did mention Death and Rebirth). The Tower tells us that the stories we’ve been telling ourselves, our belief systems, our preconceptions, or sometimes even our goals have been built on shaky ground.
Several people have mentioned pride, but I think this is a misnomer. Arrogance seems to be the concept people are after. Pride has been given a bad name. Healthy pride leads us to “keep up the good work” and to exercise our gifts with confidence. Arrogance, on the other hand, is pride gone unchecked. Arrogance causes us to seek out self-glorification without regard to consequence.
Paulo mentions the myth of the Tower of Babel. In this story, God says (paraphrasing) “Now there is nothing they can’t do.” The fact that God saw this as a problem is an important piece of the story. Perhaps a better way to put it might have been “Now there is nothing they won’t do.” Humans with knowledge and power tend to seek out more knowledge and power. We love to demonstrate what we can do but seldom stop to think if we should do it. Is it really in our best interest to do things just because we can? The story of Babel and the Tower card should remind us that it is not.
Peace,
Jonah
(I might have to expound upon this in my own blog at some point)
I see the tower as a practical monument for people, built ages ago for protecting them from danger outside the walls. Another practical thing is the minarets who echos the daily prays. A third practical thing is the water tower….
Love
Practical Tina
Dearest Annie, an echo can only repeat what we cry out… by just listening, perhaps we can hear exactly what we want to hear… and not the echo of our fears…? And as Paulo’s once suggested, “The Winner is Alone”…
Have a wonderful evening, Love, Paul
The tower for me is …the opposite of the mountain.
While the mountain is love, the tower is…pride. Maybe because it’s artificial, created by men and it supposed to to stand out, out of mediocrity. While love doesn’t need to prove its beauty, the pride is…constantly showing off.
(well, that’s just my point of view)
:-)
love
Agnieszka
Climbing up the winding steps of a tower symbolizes the determination and endurance needed to achieve your goal, the effort you make to get to know yourself or to become a better person, or to get higher up the social ladder. Sometimes though you might not find what you were looking for at the top… You might also end up alone, trapped by vanity.
How not to associate the tower with 11 Sept?
or a princess or a dragon, magical formulas…all inclusive!
There is a story about the castle of Caccamo in Sicily: two condemned men to death asked to express their last desire before dying and made to carry two burlaps of cotton, thus was launch from the tower; one crashed on the wall and he died, the other man glided down along the valley and was pardoned.
Yes, my dear Pirate..That is true ;)
Thank you
You really made my day ;)
Love and Graditude
Annie
p.s.I also want to share with you the story of the Little Prince, who climbed up high in a high mountain, ancd felt alone…and he cried : i m alone..and the echo said : Alone Alone….And he cried again: I feel so alone..And the echo replied: Alone..Alone…
Maybe we want to reach the highest of our potential..but the one who does (maybe because not all try to do it!! and it takes great courage and love for your dream) is alone there in the peak of the mountain, or tower or whatever…
Love and Graditude
Annie
I associate the tower with wealth. The higher the better. love
As is the case “in the forest” dearest Annie, Pirates & “Gladiators” can protect you also in high places & “Towers”… so keep the faith and don’t be afraid of the dark, without which, we could not see the light…
Love as always, Paul
For me it symbolizes -Love …God -light -strength -also romance ,fairy tales -Shrek ,sleeping beauty ,all of those wonderful things where good always overcomes darkness ..
Blessings Tania
For me they simbolize shelter, refuge, security, freedom within, defence,
and ultimately force….all positive !
Lighthouse I do not see like tower, I see it as Rock, as
Beam of Light, as Saviour !
Luce
It is said that the higher you get, the more likely it is to find your inner self…Climbing the Eiffel Tower for example and reaching the clouds and sky makes you think..on several matters..
Ofcourse, the towers that are now constructed compete the rest in height showing that human effort and competence can reach these heights and that human vanity is just..human.
Towers have always been a theme in fairytales, when the princess would be locked in one, and Prince Charming would rescue her..In that case, towers represent the difficulties and the barriers a love can overcome. I think this is my favourite association
Towers suggest to me presumption of ascendency to a god-like status. What has become important to me, and very difficult, is to recognize godliness in horizontal relationships. Therefore building taller structures is at the expense of the welfare of communities, the caring for one another and awareness of our interconnectedness, not just as human beings but within the biosphere.
Tower- stone building, guard on top, cylinder shape, great view from top, protector
Towers for me symbolize mystery. An opportunity to explore new heights.
As a symbol, for me, the tower is an ascent; an act of faith, a paradoxical reaching upward into the darkness of the unknown, a strenuous ascetic effort of self-mastery with an aspiration, perhaps never fulfilled, to gain access to an illumination and a vision of the earth below. It is a ritual of encirclement and instinctive pursuit, an ascension through the shadows; the body labors, but the soul struggles to take flight. It is outward darkness, inner light. From life, through a struggle, to a new life.
I associate the tower with something that is hidden and/or locked away — protected and safe…or…forcefully imprisoned.
There can be a lover hidden at the top of the tower, if one is capable of getting past the dangers of getting to the top…
Towers… It symbolizes faith. It’s sturdy, tall of course and has a strong hold in wherever it stands…
-Angeline
Towers are very phallic aren’t they? I only say so because someone had to do it. ;)
To me towers are mystery, romance, magic, and seclusion. I think of Rapunzel pining away and of mad scientists trapping lightning. Crumbling stone, infinite circuitous steps, deep-set keyhole windows that let in a bit of rain and less light. And at the top a refuge, a mystery, love, or terror?
I dont like towers..
For me they resemble darkness, and death if you fall from up there..
Also i associate tortures with towers..
Oh and Magica de spel with her raven; that is the only good association i make :)
Witches :)
Oh, and gladiators :)
Love and Graditude
Annie
The tower symbolizes God’s eye. Being watched over and cared for by your Creator from up high. Wherever you wander you can look up and see the Tower.
The tower from me symbolizes Death and Rebirth. If it´s a crack in the wall of the tower, after a while the whole tower falls apart. But from the wreek something new can be build. A new foundation.
Love Jessica