WHAT THE TAROT CARD THE TOWER TEAcHES US ABOUT CHANGE

Card number 16 in The traditional Rider Waite Smith deck is the Tower, showing two people falling from a tower with a lightening bolt. It has a dark background and depicts shock and upheaval.

It is easy to fear change in out lives. We are taught from a young age to value routine and steadiness so when change occurs it can be frightening. The midlife decades of your 40’s and 50’s can be a huge time of uncertainty for many women. First of all are hormonal changes. It can feel like a second puberty. Lowering of oestrogen and progesterone can lead to migraines, joint pain, mood swings and anxiety among many other symptoms.

Secondly, relaionships can change. Children may be growing up and leaving home so women’s roles feel like they are changing as they are not needed in the same way. Marriages and long term relationships can break down as women realise they are the not the same people they were in their teenage years and their 20’s.

Careers often shift in midlife, as due to technology changes including AI, jobs people began in their earlier years have become obsolete and completely altered with many women chosing to change jobs and retrain once they reach their 40’s.

Another change people face is financial. This can happen at any age but often due to breakdown of relationships, som women may be worse off financially than they were previously where others have been able to occur more wealth and now have more choices available.

When these shifts occur, it can feel painful and messy. What was previously known has disappeared, and there can be feelings of emptiness, fear and worry.

Sometimes anxiety comes from thinking there is only one right path and anything else happening is a disaster.

The Tower shows an unstable foundation and the old structure has to collapse in order to create space for the new.

Midlife often shows us areas of our lives that are no longer suistanable. Old ways of functioning are no longer appropriate and its time to create the new.

When a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, the process is messy and dark, like the image in the Tower card.

However, the process is necessary in order for the caterpillar to evolve into a colourful buttefly, capable of flying and transcending the ground.

Without the chaos and darkness, beauty cannot emerge.

The changes that are occuring can lead the way to a new way of living, one of truth and clarity.

Once hormones have settled, women no longer have to worry about monthly periods and pregnancy. New jobs and careers can lead to better life/work balance and finances can improve.

A knowledge of what people really value in life can emerge and a sense of better boundaries. Women often become more comfortable to say no rather than people please.

As well as upheaval, midlife can become a place of truth and authenticity. It can be a fresh start and reset.

It may be helpful to see all the possibilities ahead rather than just endings. Mindset can really help, and having a growth mindset rather than a closed one can be very supportive.

If you are going through change and feel worried, remember to talk to others. As well as family and friends there is always help available, from your GP, bank, and organisations such as Citizens Advice and the Samaritans.

Change is a natural part of life- the one thing we can be sure of is that in our lives there will be change.

Nature reminds us of the cycle of growth, expansion, transformation, endings and new beginnings- we are nature too and midlfie changes are a natural pa