Meaning of the "Tower" Card / TAROT

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 133420

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "inkling108" <inkling108 at y...> 
wrote:
> A few ideas--
> 
> With the debate swirling on about the meaning of what happened in 
> the Lightening Struck Tower Chapter, I thought it might be helpful 
> to look at the Tarot card from which the chapter takes its name.
> 
> It is trump #16 of the Major Arcana of the Tarot, is traditionally 
> associated with the planet Mars, and has been called by various 
> names through the ages, including the Tower of Babel, The House of 
> God, the House of the Devil (go figure)
> 
> Go here for a picture of it:
> 
> http://www.facade.com/tarot/description/?Deck=rider_waite&Card=17
> 
> If you really want to go to town, check out this 
> iconographic/historical essay:
> 
> http://tarot.com/about-tarot/library/boneill/tower
> 
> Like the HP series, tarot cards are subject to endless and 
sometimes 
> contradictory interpretations, but here are some typical meanings 
> attributed to the tower:
> 
> Conflict, change, unforeseen catastrophe.  Old notions 
> upset...overthrow of existing way of life. Disruption will bring 
> enlightenment in its wake -- Eden Gray, Mastering the Tarot
> 
> Destruction (is) an idea that conveys the card's usual meaning.  
But 
> we can also look at this card in a different way, as the 
lightening 
> flash of revelation...In normal usage we can think  of the 
> lightening as...some kind of discovery that unlocks a secret or 
ends 
> an illusion under which we are laboring.  --Rachel Pollack, The 
> Complete Illustrated Guide to the Tarot.
> 
> Here's what I take from this card, in the context of HBP:
> 
> If the change is unforeseen, a bolt from the blue, that would 
argue 
> against the theory that Dumbledore's murder was some kind of plan 
> between DD and Snape.
> 
> If it means shattering of illusions...well, that Dumbledore always 
> knows best, the Snape is on the side of the Order -- these 
illusions 
> are now well shattered.
> (snip the rest of the post)
> Inkling

Now me:

There's the Tower in the series, and there's also the Hanged-man 
(Snape in the Pensieve scene, in OotP). So my question is: does JK 
Rowling follow in her series a program based on Tarot?
Personally, I see five Arcana from the 21 / 22 you can find in 
Tarot: theHAnged-man (12); Death (13); Temperance (14); the Devil 
(15) ; the Tower (16). Dumbledore at the beginning of PS/SS could 
turn out to be the 1 st Arcanum, but as for the following cards,I 
don't know where they are hiding.
I'd be glad if someone managed to find them,supposing they are inthe 
series.
I've already put what follows on other lists I belong to, see 
whether it can help. 

Possible summary, if the series happens to follow the Arcana:

12) The Hanged Man, and Harry doesn't study Occlumency any more, so 
he has a vision that leads to the Minister raid and to
 
13) Death, with Sirius passing through the Veil, and Harry finally 
learning that he has to start a new period in his life, as the 
Chosen One. Such a revelation makes him become quieter and leads him 
to
 
14) Temperance, thanks to which he is able to attend Dumbledore's 
lessons, to follow him quietly in the Pensieve, in order to face

15) Devil, because this is what Tom Riddle is actually. Because of 
him, Dumbledore has to sacrifice his own life on
 
16) The Lightning-Struck Tower, where Harry looses his mentor but 
reaches at the same time another level, and starts a new period, as 
he decides to hunt Voldemort...

See if it's worth playing cards with Harry,

Amicalement,


Iris