Towers and castles in tarot: a quiz on the deck
Two towers by a moonlit path, a crystal castle in a cup, a fortress behind a festive arch: find the towers and castles of the Tayna deck and read them.
- 5 questions
- ≈ 2 min
- +5 bronze keys for a flawless run
What do towers and castles mean on tarot cards?
This quiz is about the stone buildings in the Tayna deck: towers, fortresses and faraway castles. It checks whether you can name a card from the tower on its horizon and whether you know why the artist put it there. On our cards a castle is rarely a prison. Far more often it is a goal, a home or something built with your own hands.
The best-known tower in the deck stands on The Tower itself: lightning strikes its top, the crown flies off the roof, and what felt like solid shelter comes down. Yet many towers are calm. On The Moon two stone towers frame a golden path that winds toward the mountains. On Death the sun rises between the towers of a distant city, and on the Ten of Pentacles a tall tower rises beyond the arch of a family home.
A distant castle: goal or shelter?
A faraway castle usually shows what the figure is reaching for. On the Ace of Wands a white castle on a peak is a goal that can only be seen from afar for now. For the King of Wands the castle on a mountain is a plan he already knows the road to. For the King of Pentacles the castle on the hill is the realm he built himself.
Sometimes a castle means safety. On the Eight of Swords its windows glow on the cliff behind the blindfolded woman: home is closer than it seems. On The Chariot the cliff-top castles fall behind, because the rider has already left the walls and is heading for his aim. And one castle is not real at all: the crystal fortress inside a cup on the Seven of Cups is a castle in the air.
When a tower or castle shows up in a reading, notice where it stands in relation to the figure: ahead, behind or close by. That often tells you whether the card is about a dream, protection or a road already travelled.
How the quiz works
Each run draws five questions from a pool of twelve, with the options shuffled. Answers are final, but you can replay as often as you like. Keys are awarded for a flawless run, and each explanation links to the card page with the whole scene described.
All questions and answers
Open after you play: the full question set with right answers and explanations.
1. On which card does a path wind between two tall stone towers?
Right answer: The Moon
On The Moon a golden path runs from a dark pool to the mountains between two towers: visible, but not all of it.
2. What pours out of the windows on The Tower?
Right answer: Flames
Flames pour from the windows, two people fall and lightning tears off the crown: false shelter comes down.
3. On which card do cliff-top castles fall behind while a road glows ahead?
Right answer: The Chariot
The Chariot moves on: the castles fall behind, a golden road glows ahead and the stars recall the higher aim.
4. What does the white castle on a distant peak mean on the Ace of Wands?
Right answer: A goal seen only from afar
The castle is a goal you can only see from far away for now. There is a road to walk, but the first push is given.
5. On which card does a crystal castle sit inside a cup beneath a crescent moon?
Right answer: Seven of Cups
The crystal castle is one of the seven dreams of the Seven of Cups: a castle in the air that lives only in fancy.
6. A tower on a tarot card always foretells destruction.
Right answer: Myth
On The Moon two towers frame a path, and on the Ten of Pentacles a tower is part of the family home.
7. On which card does the sun rise between the towers of a distant city?
Right answer: Death
Behind the rider on Death the sun rises between a city's towers: every ending is followed by a dawn.
8. You draw the King of Pentacles with a castle on the hill behind him. What is that castle?
Right answer: The realm he built himself
The distant castle is the realm the king built himself, held together by calm confidence rather than fear.
9. Behind which blindfolded figure does a castle glow with lit windows on a cliff?
Right answer: Eight of Swords
The castle with lit windows on the Eight of Swords is home and safety, closer than it looks with your eyes covered.
10. What pours down between the castle-topped cliffs on The Chariot?
Right answer: Waterfalls
Castles crown the cliffs on either side of The Chariot, waterfalls pour between them, and the rider leaves them behind.
11. On which card does a tall tower rise beyond a stone archway?
Right answer: Ten of Pentacles
On the Ten of Pentacles a family gathers under a stone arch, with a tower, a villa and cypresses beyond it.
12. What does a distant castle most often mean on the Tayna cards?
Right answer: A goal, a home or what you built
For the Ace of Wands it is a goal, for the Eight of Swords home and safety, for the King of Pentacles his realm.