A reader named Thomas sent me the following pop tarot card. It’s his take on the Tower card from the traditional Rider-Waite deck.

I know some other people had mentioned this connection previously, and I think it’s a good one. I think a lot of people were sort of intimidated to work with this image though, as it’s something obviously so emotionally-laden since we all experienced it. But in a way, that actually makes it perfect for use in our burgeoning pop tarot deck. The whole point of the images on the tarot deck is that they are supposed to evoke a reaction from you. Sometimes the more visceral the better. And the Tower card is really a perfect place to do that, since it’s so much about violent upheaval. It can be a pretty scary card to see, but it also has positive aspects, such as:

having a revelation
suddenly realizing the truth
exposing what was hidden
having a burst of insight
seeing through illusions
getting the answer
seeing everything in a flash

Whatever your take on 9/11 is, I think you could definitely apply that interpretation to this card and event. I actually think Thomas did a pretty nice job on this card, managing to combine the recognizable image, but without making it too graphic. Here’s his description for various elements in the card:

The corp logos are delta (apparently there were some questionable stock trades right before 9/11, and I forget now), note the nice shape of the triangle, with CBS on top, denoting the communication aspect, media control, the eye is bigger than the triangle. With regards to the tower, the middle of the eye is the ICQ logo, there is a whole thread out there about people being told to leave the building before the planes struck, that is my attempt at a bit of sarcasm. Note the dragon of the apocooypse (sp.) up top there (reversed from crowley deck - ie fire is at bottom), opposed with michael & sword, as this event more or less started WWIV I think they call it now. Note the little AIM buddies falling too. Couldn’t fit the 4 winds in there but they deserve a spot, hell I worked on this piece of shit for like 4 days so there it is.

My absolute favorite part of this rendition is the AIM buddy icons which are falling out the windows. I think it’s simultaneousy funny, tragic and really keen social criticism all at once.

[For more info on the pop culture tarot, go here]