The Haunting

The Tower

If we were asked to choose one tarot card to represent the times we are in, a great many of us would conjure the Tower without skipping a beat. The Tower, crumbling under the strike of lightning, can no longer support the people or the institutions within its walls. Systems that once worked no longer function. The rug is pulled out from under us as everything we depended on trembles and destabilizes. Before we ever know what hit us, we are thrown into chaos. We cannot continue as we have, yet we cannot conceive of a new way of being. We do not see a way forward; we see only collapse, uncertainty, and loss.

Our fear is warranted. Many suffer during such times. Yet, within these great resets lies the opportunity to create something better. We are given a chance to review, re-evaluate, and re-imagine a world that takes into consideration what we currently understand and need as people. The sooner we can apply our imaginations toward solutions that better serve people, the more suffering we can alleviate.

We must come to terms with the fact that an economy based on extraction and exploitation is not sustainable. Promising endless growth in a world of finite resources is a Ponzi scheme. A reckoning must, and will come that will restore health and balance to the planet. Whether that rebalancing includes us humans is up to us.

I have explored these themes in my recent Undertow album. Each song invites a meditation of sorts, for contemplating the decisions we make as individuals and as a society, and their likely ramifications. As Pagans, we learn that all life is inter-connected. Our actions matter. Holding ourselves and each other accountable matters.

For this essay, I have chosen to focus on the last song on the album, called The Haunting. The Haunting signifies an end, but also a beginning. When we allow the structures that no longer serve us to crumble and fall away, the way becomes clear. Perhaps we couldn’t see it before, because so much archaic structure was in the way. We resist the crumbling, because we can only see what we’ll lose. But once the crumbling happens, a new way emerges.

Let’s look at the song, and explore the symbolism as a meditation.

Of Song and Shadow

Breathe it in and feel
The mist upon the moor, concealing
Nightmare in a dream
The night is not so tranquil as it seems

The first stirrings of disharmony often begin in our dreams. What dreams of portent have come to you in the last 5 years? Are there recurring themes in your dreams? What haunts your subconscious mind; a knowing that you’d rather keep in shadow just a little longer?

Wild wind is keening
Wailing on the cliffs revealing
Waves come thundering in
I can hear the haunting rolling in

We begin to feel the foreboding of our dream world spilling over into our waking life. We sense the restlessness of angry spirits, as their screams grow too loud to ignore.

Bygone lighthouse crumbling
Falling toward the sea, she is tumbling
Go away, where you can’t see
The desolation of apathy

Now we see the crumbling ruins fully manifest before us. It is overwhelming. We feel hopeless. We want only to hide.

This is not admonishment; it is understandable that the magnitude of what is before us would cause us to bury ourselves under the blankets. Let us be kind to ourselves, to own our feelings without shame.

But let us not get stuck here. Let us emerge, and band together with the helpers. Find the solar-punks. Find the hope-punks.

The haunting comes in like lightning
Never know where she’ll be striking next
You glimpse her but you will never hold her
To catch the wind we must be bolder.

The haunting is the wild soul of nature, seeking redress. She will find her balance. Whether or not that includes humanity remains to be seen.

We must have the curiosity and the courage to find ways to live in cooperation with our world, not in competition.

Promises you made
Never meant to keep them anyway
Comes a reckoning day
The haunting will take back what you claimed.

This is for our supposed “leaders” who talk a good game to get elected then sell themselves – and the rest of us – out to corporate bribes. Does this make you angry? It should.

Greed has been our undoing
But I see flowers rising from the ruin
Come alive and plant the seed.
We can build the life we need

But listen, witches! Herein lies our magic. We must hold this space no matter how bleak things look. We must see through with our inner eye to a regenerated world, and then act in whatever ways open in accordance with this vision. We must be the flowers struggling through the crumbling concrete. Life finds a way. May our reverence for life empower us to find our way.

The haunting comes in like lightning
Never know where she’ll be striking next
You glimpse her but you will never hold her
To catch the wind we must be bolder.

We cannot control nature. It is foolish to ever have thought we could. Our hubris will be our undoing. But it doesn’t need to be. We can approach the majesty of the natural world with respect and reverence. Instead of assuming we know best, we can ask the natural world what she needs. We do this by observing.

In order to truly heal from the failures of our current society, we must be willing to acknowledge the shadows that created the mess we are in. If we cannot take accountability for our mistakes, and humble ourselves, we will forever we stuck in apocalypse.

We must do our collective shadow work as a culture every bit as much as our personal shadow work. We must look at the aspects of culture that cause us shame, and face them with unflinching honesty and compassion, that we may liberate and redirect that energy into more life-affirming streams.

Accountability is always the first step toward re-routing practices that have proved damaging into something more healing and restorative. While we are not responsible for the sins of our ancestors, we are called upon to re-make the world our ancestors created, in keeping with the type of people we want to be, and in keeping with the world we want to leave to future generations.

Reading with the Thoth deck, conceived by Aliester Crowley, with art by Lady Frieda Harris

From Reckoning to Regeneration

To deepen our contemplation of this theme, we can create a tarot spread. Here is an example of cards we might map to this song:

The Queen of Cups, for the intuitive realm of Dream. The Queen of Cups often seems mysterious, for she is tuned to the inner realms, and what she sees is not yet revealed outwardly. The first stirrings are often felt here, even before we have words for them.

The Moon reflects the sense of foreboding that grows from our subconscious awareness that all is not well. While the High Priestess in tarot represents the full moon, this card represents the dark moon, and thus the knowledge that resides in shadow. This card encourages us to face the things lurking beneath he surface.

The Tower; when the sense of foreboding manifests in plain sight in the material world, there is no denying the truth anymore, though we may go through periods of overwhelm. We must be gentle and compassionate with ourselves, taking time to rest as needed. And then we rise to the challenge.

The Wheel of Fortune reversed signifies the main theme, that of the Haunting. The wheel of destiny turns, through forces beyond our control. We do best to find our harmony with natural forces, rather than trying to combat them. In this way, we can surf the ebb and flow of the Wheel, accommodating ourselves to her great force rather than trying to conquer.

The Three of Swords represents the betrayal we all feel at the inefficacy of world leaders, especially here in America. The people we have entrusted with our well-being and that of our descendants are sell-outs. Yet the card is inverted; it is possible that this betrayal will not be the last word.

The Ten of Cups reversed is the corruption of greed that seems to plague humanity so.

The Universe is, of course, the flowers rising from the ruin. We have the ability to choose harmony with the natural world. Many are seeking out and building this harmony. Many are listening to indigenous voices. Many are throwing in with regenerative communities as we seek to build systems that give back to our planet rather than only extracting.

Creating Hope in the Wake of Tower Times

What if everything we did also gave back to the world in some way? Replenished and strengthened our communities? Enriched the soil? Restored the ocean? Cleaned the rivers? What if we created a circular economy, where all waste breaks down into something useful? We simply don’t use materials that cannot break down, because money at all costs is not worth it. Some costs are too great to pay. We have decided that there are other measures of wealth and abundance besides money. There is clean water and fresh air, time with our loved ones, good food to share and animals to pet.

There is hope, friends. There is always hope while we have love in our hearts and imagination to guide us. Through the darkest of days, we will see through to a world of beauty and bounty. Though we can rest, and we will spot each other, we must never give up. This is the fight for all living things and we must win through until the flowers are rising from the ruins.

Take my hand, and I will take yours. We are in this together.

Listen and purchase the Undertow album here.

Featured artwork and lyrics by Sharon Knight.

For more information about Sharon Knight, including her collected articles here on Pagan Song, her bio, and links to Sharon’s sites on the web, check out Sharon’s page on Pagan Song.

For more Pagan Song posts about Tower Time, visit our Justice, Ethics & Resistance page.

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