By Audrey Hall

As I was offering tarot card readings at a local flea market, I was approached by a woman of 75 years who said she’d never received a reading before. I told her I’d be happy to be her first, and she said, “Just as long as you don’t pull the death card.” Lo and behold, she shuffled the cards, and Death was the first card I pulled. We laughed, and it turned out the placement in this spread was her biggest distraction, which she affirmed was a common fixation for those her age. Though she was being facetious, this isn’t an uncommon hysteria surrounding tarot. I often hear people say things like, “Just as long as you don’t pull the Tower!” or avoiding tarot entirely because of having pulled daunting cards in the past. Many who have no familiarity at all see Death or the Devil and wince. There’s obvious cultural and personal tensions these cards can conjure given the unsettling archetypes of oblivion, destruction, and suffering they draw upon. Traditionally, interpretations of these cards match the sentiments they manifest, but could there be a deeper dynamic therein?

When it comes to the Death card, popular consensus tends toward seeing a symbol of rebirth. This has made it relatively easy to assuage anxieties surrounding the “Child of the Great Transformer” as an omen to be celebrated as the dawn of a new chapter. The stigma remains for the likes of Judgment, the Devil, and the Tower. I have personally developed a serious soft spot for these ominous archetypes. When reading with the classic Smith-Waite, I find these cards both contextually and individually capable of positive, optimistic, and empowering messages. I do embrace their darkness as there are readings wherein their brutal truths are necessary, but never do I marry them to misfortune. By opening ourselves to the strength and hope they offer, we can become more versatile in what we learn from tarot as a whole.

Below I will disambiguate traditional, popular, and personal interpretations of three Major Arcana which are feared—and even loathed—by the masses. Together let us redeem these cards as tools, lessons, and reassurance rather than condemning them to fear.

Judgment

Though this card is mentioned far less than other ominous Major Arcana and may even be celebrated at face value among certain spiritual sects, I chose to redeem this card based on my own personal anxieties surrounding its symbolism. Being one of the most overtly Christian archetypes depicted within the tarot, the Judgment card depicts events described in the Book of Revelation. At the end of time, the Archangel Gabriel blows his horn, and the souls of the living and dead are judged for their sins. Depending on denomination and personal belief, our souls are then directed to heaven, hell, or purgatory. While some may look upon this day with great anticipation and enthusiasm, it remains a source of anxiety for others as we were raised to fear this great reckoning and become “right with God” before he comes “like a thief in the night” to cast us into a “lake of fire.”

Largely the redemption of this card lies in its traditional interpretations and an allegorical instrumentation of the apocalypse it represents. Taking it at face value with the symbolism of the Marseilles deck, we see an angel calling from heaven to earth below where the masses gather nude beneath. Easily enough this can be seen as an opportunity to let go and ascend, to heed the call and rise above our present circumstances to absolution above. In the story of the Major Arcana, this comes just before the world which represents absolution and fulmination, thus affirming a message of ascendancy.

Revisiting the darker depths of this card, a reckoning that comes without warning can still be empowering. In the Hermetic Deck, this card is called “Spirit of the Primal Fire” drawing upon the scorched earth nature of the Rapture as described in Revelation. Scorched earth may seem daunting, but often this approach is necessary to bring an end to negative cycles, a final resolution following a serious judgment call about what’s working and what isn’t in our lives. We often fear and avoid the reckonings we face, especially if we are the ones judging the quick and the dead, but they come whether or not we’re ready or willing. Taking agency over Judgment is a powerful tool. Though there may be fire, peace and silence is soon to follow.

The Devil

Almost as easily recognized as Death itself, this card tends to particularly perturb those aforementioned as enthusiastic for the Last Judgment. Devils are found in the folklore and cosmologies of many cultures. Portrayed as tricksters, tempters, punishers, destroyers, and overall adversaries of goodness and life, they are universally feared and hated by the pious. Traditionally, the Devil is seen as a severe and even violent ordeal wherein two individuals are bound. This can represent a legal contract like a lease, job, or marriage that cannot be escaped. More generally this card is interpreted as a burden we must carry or a terror we must face. When interpreting the Devil as a negative force, I describe him as a “bond formed in severity” in contrast to the Lovers, “a bond formed in harmony.”

Horrors aside, these chains that bind the two individuals before the Devil are very loose around their necks in the classic Smith-Waite. At any time, we can relieve ourselves of this burden, but we choose to continue our bondage for better or worse. In the interest of empowerment, I sometimes refer to the Devil as a taskmaster who calls others to task on their promises and contracts. I encourage the querent to take on this role and hold others accountable or accept accountability for themselves when the time comes. It can be horrifying to be or face the Devil, but if we are unwilling to make good on our promises, we have nothing. Our word is a bond we should not break.

The Devil also takes on many positive forms, especially in the lives of those aforementioned as less enthusiastic about the Last Judgment. Many have seen the Great Satan as rebel leader and accuser of hypocrites. Other appreciators of this archetype see him as capable of placing us in touch with our true natures against the grain of ascetic dogma. The Devil is called “Lord of the Gates of Matter” in the Hermetic deck. While some interpret this to mean he is a deceiver because the world of matter is an illusion, I choose to see him as a revelator capable of placing us in touch with material reality. Many might see material reality itself as a burden and a bond formed in severity. In my practice,

I embrace this mantle as Truth.

The Tower

This card is an example of one more intimidating to seasoned readers and querents alike than it would be to a layperson. Still even without familiarity, the imagery speaks for itself. In the classic Smith-Waite, the tower is destroyed by lightning from the heavens, and from it, screaming people fall to their doom. The Tower has a clear message: something is destroyed violently and abruptly. The imagery is dark, gritty, and uncomfortable by design. Unease is a reasonable emotional response to this card.

Though it may be difficult to imagine destruction as a comfortable process, it’s only healthy that we acknowledge the very powerful niche it’s held in existence from the beginning of time. We may not be ready for it, but the reality of it can be embraced and forgiven. A model for this can be found in the Three Vinegar Tasters, a painting by an artist at the Kanō school in Japan. The sixteenth century painting shows Confucius, Buddha, and Lao Tzu all tasting vinegar from a vat. Confucius tastes the vinegar and holds it in his mouth with a grimace. Buddha spits the vinegar out in disgust. Lao Tzu tastes the vinegar and smiles, teaching us to accept suffering alongside pleasure as they hold equal space in life. This is the wisdom with which one can lovingly accept the Tower in our reading.

Another perspective on the Tower I often offer my querents is being the bolt and not the Tower. This reading offers the strength and power to destroy an obstacle—often one of our own making. We don’t always have to wait for permission to take matters into our hands. We don’t always have to meditate before the wall until it erodes away. We can take our thunderbolt and smite the Tower looming over us. Hesitancy toward this approach comes in many forms. Sometimes there is a feeling of sunk cost, an unwillingness to wrend the structure we’ve poured ourselves into developing. Other times we don’t want to be messy or offend others by exercising our power. Either way, the Tower card bears the omen that this destruction will come whether or not the time is right. It could be worth it to initiate that process on our own terms.

I also strongly disclaim any sort of major life decisions being made at the behest or signal of tarot cards, especially the call to destroy. I never find my querents discouraged or disappointed by this because they often find the Tower holds a much-needed mirror to the cataclysms we all face regardless. Tarot cards are designed for these reflections by archetypes drawn from collective consciousness. It’s through these archetypes we find not only ourselves but each other. My deepest draw to tarot as a reader is the connections I’ve made with friends, strangers, and even myself through their poignant depictions of human life. You share the meaning of a card in a spread and watch the eyes of the querent glisten as they glean wisdom for related dilemmas they need not share…but I do love when they share them.

As we embrace the more kind and positive outlooks on these ominous and jarring Major Arcana, we should also take a look at the ominous messages held within tarot cards we revere as kind and positive. Whether one considers these shadow meanings as relevant only to reversed cards or takes stock of them regardless, one cannot ignore the darkness held beneath the light. The Sun may seem gleeful, but optimism can blind our eyes to the truth with mirages and naïveté. Strength can represent our patience and fortitude, but it can also be holding a lion at bay with everything we have. The World may be our absolution, but it can also be the crushing weight of the universe around our minuscule presence and the vulnerability therein. No card is necessarily “safe” between the traditional and intuitive miasma we can extrapolate, and sometimes that very vapor can be affirming to the sadness and suffering we feel. Acknowledging these afflictions is necessary to healing them.

Within tarot, I see faces of life both beautiful and haunting. Avoidance is not the answer to suffering. We don’t necessarily benefit from focusing exclusively on the messages that give us comfort. Allowing ourselves to be confronted by the tarot and held accountable for our choices is where I’ve found growth. We should celebrate our joy and console ourselves for wounds we had no say in, but the choice is ours to heal. When life gives us Death, let us seek rebirth. When Judgement befalls us, we are called to ascend. As we face the Devil, let us seek the truth. Our towers may fall, but let ruin be the foundation of our greatest triumph.

Audrey Rosanna Gabrielle Hall is a dirt witch from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains raised on a cattle farm and baptized in a creek. She studies cartomancy as well as Appalachian folk magic. For readings and services in witchcraft, she is Madame Brute, the Bull Woman of Ypsilanti. She performs bestial chant rituals as Mother Behemoth. You can contact her about readings and/or rituals at brunhildabrute@gmail.com.