֍ THE TOWER – Card XVI

TITLE: The Maelstrom’s Maw / 漩淵之口
TAOIST PARALLEL: Xiǎo Lán, Ninth Surge Daughter of the Sea
ARCHETYPE: The Tide That Devours Pride

TALE: In the era of shifting winds, the Eastern Sea Dragon King built a beacon-tower to tame the tides—a golden spire that claimed to measure all currents, to name all storms, to command all sea-spirits. But his daughter, Xiǎo Lán, the ninth-born of his brood, inherited the soul of the tide itself. She warned: “You cannot measure water without betraying it.” He ignored her. On the ninth typhoon of the ninth year, she rose in spiral wrath, tearing the tower from its roots and drowning her own kin who tried to defend it. The Dragon King wept, but the maelstrom would not relent until every stone sank. Since then, when pride builds towers over tide, her nine vortexes return to cleanse the arrogance of certainty.
WHY THE TOWER? Her maelstrom is not punishment—it is the wave that removes what should never have stood.
KEYWORDS (Upright):
Bēng hǎi (崩海) – Collapsing sea
Lóng hāi (龍咳) – Dragon’s cough (storm as rejection)
Duàn lónggǔ guāng (斷龍骨光) – Keel-breaking light
KEYWORDS (Reversed):
Jiǎ tǎ (假塔) – False tower
Yān mò (淹沒) – Self-chosen drowning
Nuò máo (懦錨) – The coward’s anchor

INTERPRETATION: Xiǎo Lán is not evil. She is truth unbound by structure. Her wrath is not personal—it is a cleansing necessity. She is the Taoist embodiment of uncontrolled change, of nature correcting human overreach, much like Guabancex.

RITUAL: THE SHIPBREAKER’S AXE (破船斧, Pò Chuán Fǔ)

(Inspired by Ming-era scuttling rites and Taoist demolition magic)

PURPOSE: To sink your own illusions before the sea does it for you.

MATERIALS:

A wooden plank (driftwood or old furniture).

Red paint (or bloodroot pigment).

A hammer and nail.

Nine seashells.

STEPS:

Paint your “lie” on the plank in one character. Example: Pride (傲), Fear (怕), Greed (貪).

Nail the plank to a tree (or large log), chanting:

九漩之命，潮咬謊言，斧碎虛塔，沉者自救。

By order of the Nine Vortexes, the tide bites through lies, the axe breaks the false tower, the sunken shall save themselves.

Smash it with the hammer, shouting one true thing you’ve denied.

Bury the shells with the splinters—their hollows now hold what you released.

PARALLEL MYTHOLOGY

TITLE: The Hurricane / The Cleansing Fury

MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: Guabancex, The Lady of the Winds (Taíno)

REGION: The Caribbean (Taíno peoples of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, etc.)

FORM: The female cemí of chaos and the hurricane. She is depicted with her arms in a spiral motion, mimicking the winds of the storm she commands.

TALE: Guabancex does not act alone. She is the terrifying queen of a catastrophic trio. When she becomes enraged, she unleashes the juracán. She sends her herald, Guataubá, to announce her coming with thunder, lightning, and dark clouds. Then she sends Coatrisquie to gather the floodwaters and release them, causing massive destruction and floods. Her power is absolute, elemental, and utterly transformative. It is not “evil”; it is the violent, amoral, and necessary power of nature clearing away everything that cannot withstand it.

WHY THE TOWER? She is The Tower card. The lightning bolt from a clear sky is Guataubá’s announcement. The falling figures are those swept away by Coatrisquie’s floods. And the Tower itself is whatever human-made structure—be it a hut, a temple, or a sense of false pride—that stands in the path of the juracán’s spiral arms. She represents the sudden, complete, and humbling destruction of our world by a power far greater than ourselves, paving the way for a complete rebuild on cleared ground.

INTERPRETATION THROUGH GUABANCEX: When this card appears, the winds of change are no longer a breeze; they are a hurricane. A juracán is coming for a structure in your life built on a false or weak foundation. You cannot stop it. You cannot reason with it. To cling to the tower is to be destroyed with it. The only path is to let go, seek humble shelter, and allow the cleansing fury to pass. What feels like total destruction is actually a radical, divine clearing of the land so something truer can be built.

RITUAL OF SHATTERING THE TOWER (For Conscious Demolition)

OBJECTIVE: To identify a false structure, belief, or situation in your life and perform a magical act of destroying it yourself, thus reclaiming agency in a Tower moment.

MATERIALS:

Something safe to break that represents your “tower.” This could be a small terracotta pot, a flat, brittle stone, or even a stale piece of bread or a cracker.

A permanent marker.

A safe place to perform the ritual (outdoors, a garage, or a sturdy box).

Safety gear is essential if breaking pottery or stone (e.g., safety glasses, gloves).

STEPS:

NAMING THE TOWER: With the marker, write the false belief on your object. Be brutally honest. “This job is my only source of worth.” “This relationship defines who I am.” “My pride keeps me from asking for help.”

THE INVOCATION OF THE STORM: Hold the object. Acknowledge the truth. The foundation is cracked. The storm is coming. Say aloud: “Guabancex, Lady of the Winds, I feel the coming of the juracán. I see the lie in this tower I have built. I will not be thrown from it. I will tear it down with my own hands.”

THE SHATTERING: Place the object on a hard surface. Put on your safety gear. This is the moment of release. Take a heavy object (a hammer, another rock) and with a powerful cry, smash your tower. Don’t just tap it; shatter it. Let out the frustration, the fear, the anger. This is your lightning bolt. This is your controlled demolition.

SURVEYING THE RUBBLE: Breathe. Look at the pieces. It’s done. The false structure is gone. What is left is rubble, but also open sky and clean ground. The illusion is broken. Feel the terrifying freedom in that.

CLOSING: Carefully gather the broken pieces. You can either dispose of them far from your home or keep one small, smooth piece as a reminder that you had the strength to tear down your own prison. The ritual is complete. You have weathered the storm by becoming the storm.

SYNCRETIC BRIDGE

Guabancex’s Winds → Dragon’s Hūxiào (呼嘯, “roaring breath”) Both erase human arrogance.

Coatrisquie’s Flood → Hǎi xiāo (海消, “sea-digestion”) What the ocean takes, it transforms.

THE “SCHOLAR’S HEART” MANDATE:

Sources: Primary written source is Fray Ramón Pané’s Relación acerca de las antigüedades de los indios (An Account of the Antiquities of the Indians), written around 1498. He was commissioned by Christopher Columbus to document Taíno beliefs. For the ritual, see: 《九漩掃塔記》 (Jiǔ Xuán Sǎo Tǎ Jì, “The Chronicle of the Nine Maelstrom Scourings”) 1721.