Tarot: The Tower Today

I have been avoiding writing this post, simply because it is such a difficult subject, but of course another modern Tower has happened again this week.
The Tower is one of those cards which people dread turning up in a reading, since it represents monumental, irresistible, sudden and traumatic change. The actual tower itself can represent any of the physical, psychological, or social constructions which help to shelter us from the world outside. Much of the point of the card is that these are the sort of defences which can be suddenly brought to an end by a life event or'act of God'.

This is ironic, since the traditional name for this card is La Maison Dieu, with the phrase's historical connotations of being obliged to depend on the hospitality of the church, through poverty. That G*d could cause the downfall of his own sacred institution is one of the fears of the G*d-fearing, and a reminder of the need to please him at all times.
It is of course more difficult when the 'lightning strike' is not caused by inscrutable divinity but by humans, and one of the main characteristics of this card is that the events will bring out the real motivation behind events. A marriage ending in murder, for example.

This theme has been apparent this week, as apparently a few French billionaires have pledged a huuuge amount of money to the cathedral's restoration. They could have used this cash, which is obviously surplus to requirements, to end world poverty, but they didn't. Thus the restored cathedral will be a monument to the wealth of a few, and another tower in the sense of this card.
There is another way of taking the events of this card, for example if you are stuck in an abusive situation you may be at least partly relieved to be out of them. There is a tradition that the tower in the Tarot de Marseille has an unseen exit in the back, implying that the tower we are in is one we could get out of if we tried.
I mentioned above the ambivalence found in an abuse survivor, and the events of this card, because they are traumatic, will normally provoke complex reactions. The best example of this is probably Grenfell Tower. A huge proportion of emergency services workers at the towertower trauma symptoms, as do survivors, complicated by survivor guilt. This complex reaction makes it difficult even to engage in the therapy which the local mental health services have set up, and to get on with life.
While on balance it is better to be out of the tower, it will have ongoing effects.