IN A NUTSHELL
 
A fine art print, made to order, of the Tower card from the Spirit Vertigo Tarot collection, 8x10".
 
SYMBOLISM
 
The Tower in tarot symbolizes catclysm and catalyst. It's about those moments when shallow-rooted or ill-conceived structures must topple and fall in a rapid re-balance. Through the Tower's dizzying shakeups or overwhelming destruction, what cannot stand surrenders to what comes next.
 
In this design, we find an impressive, ornate piece of architecture lightning-struck and up in flame. This Tower was built so tall, it extends far off the page, but it was built on the edge of a cliff. We can see through the ground that its crumbling foundation is far shallower than its reach, and that its construction further destabilized the edge of earth it occupies. Its collapse was both predictable and preventable--a sneeze in the wrong direction might've tipped this thing. The lightning's presence and strike against center and base, rather than turret, suggests the involvement of Chaos, Divinity, or Fate, depending on the viewer's worldview, and calls up tales of punished hubris. Where the storm gathers, no stars are seen in the sky--their light is eclipsed by smoke and fire. But if we find ourselves moved wistfully by the beauty of falling architecture, we must also be moved by the beauty of lightning, rock, cloud, plume, and wave.