“Spiritual awakening is not all rainbows and sunshine.” We will hear some variation of this on our journey many, many times…and it is true.
Spiritual awakening uncovers our biggest joys, but also our biggest fears. Going on this journey, we can’t predict what is going to happen with our logical minds – we have to let go of any preconceptions.
In today’s post I want to talk about why these ‘Tower moments’ happens and how to navigate them.
What is a Tower Moment?
The Tower is a card from tarot that represents our stability coming undone. Everything we take for granted, have as our security, falls apart.
The Tower card often comes up to symbolize the loss of a long-term job, relationship, an overnight change in your home environment. While we may focus on or be most concerned with the physical changes, old ways of being are also being rearranged.
A Tower moment serves as a reminder of what we are attaching ourselves to: identities, relationships, routines etc. and how easily these things can be taken from us.
A Tower moment is not to punish us but to align us with our highest good.
We’ll often have one major Tower moment and then several smaller ones throughout the course of our life. With most phases on the spiritual path, we tend to revisit old lessons so we have properly learned what we need to.
What is the Universe saying when everything goes wrong?
Spiritual awakenings are most often initiated by two major things; an increasing awareness that the physical is not all there is, or a major life event that wakes us up. The death of a loved one, heartbreak, career instability, a nervous breakdown etc.
The biggest question we’ll have during these periods is ‘Why is this happening to me?’
The logical/ego mind can only grasp things on a very superficial and physical level; as a personal attack or failing. Whereas the spirit knows that everything situations holds many layered meanings and solutions!
The Universe does not punish or even reward us (in my view), it simply guides us to the things that make the most sense for our evolution.
These Tower moments happen to shake us out of this narrow view of things and wake us up to the multi-dimensional nature of our being.
Whenever we work on our energy and clarify things we naturally move towards a new reality, and all creation comes with some form of ‘destruction’. At least it can look and feel that way from where you are standing.
When everything goes wrong, we are being led to the ‘right’ things.
How to navigate a Tower moment
I hate how trite some of this may sound, even if through experience I have seen it to be true. Navigating a Tower moment that completely destroys the old and puts you on a scary new path is not as simple as ‘being positive’. There’s a lot of shadow work required!
For a lot of us the shadow rules our life – in big and small ways.
We go down the path prescribed to us by our parents, friends, the media. We don’t set clear boundaries in order to please others. We ignore our intuition out of fear.
We move through our programming rather than heart.
A spiritual awakening prompts us to reckon with all of this, no stone will be unturned if we continue to hold awareness. Every gift we have pushed down and left unexpressed will have to be brought to light, every unhelpful habit and inclination examined.
This requires a lot of faith, in our ability to confront all of this but also to persevere and create something positive out of it.
It requires a lot of gratitude, even when we don’t feel so thankful or quite the opposite.
When I started on this path I naively thought everything would just get better and better. My life has improved immeasurably through a daily spiritual practices…but not in a straight line.
You will be called to circle back time and time again, to expose the ego numerous times, so that it can be integrated and the relationship you have with it clarified.
I notice that in periods where I think I have it all and am somehow entitled to it all, when I think I can control every outcome, things fall apart the most.
The Universe is consistently asking ‘What can you let go of?’
Tower Moments: turning chaos into creation
The main lesson of the Tower Moment is transforming chaos into order.
And so, over the next few weeks & months start to look at the chaos occurring in the your life through a different lens.
When you face your next obstacle, detor or redirection, ask yourself ‘What is this teaching me?’
When you notice internal chaos, ask yourself ‘How can I accept this part of me even more deeply?’
Cultivating inner peace on the spiritual path is not about getting rid of every obstacles or being aware all the time, but understanding your chaos better and putting it into the right context.
Most importantly, create more! Create more from the heart. Move from your joy rather than disappointment.
Don’t wait for heartbreak to go in a new direction or try something new, don’t wait for everything to fall apart before putting certain things into order.
So much of what I create is based upon a shadow I have integrated. A wound I look at, or a disappointment I experienced and going ‘How can this help others?’ or ‘How can this help me grow?’
Hey there, I’m Ashley. I hope that by sharing my experiences with deepening my intuition, I can help you find that ‘spark’. That magic we can all experience when our energy is aligned and we feel deeply supported by the Universe.