Eight of Swords

Trapped, mostly by what you believe.

The picture

A woman in a red robe stands with a blindfold over her eyes and a band of cloth wound around her upper body and arms. Eight swords are stuck point down in the ground near her, three on one side and five on the other. She stands on wet ground with pools of water at her feet, and a castle sits high on a cliff in the distance.

Upright

Eight is the number of effort, movement and mastery. In the Eight of Swords all that effort has turned on itself. The mind is working very hard to keep you exactly where you are.

Look carefully at the picture. The swords stand beside her and behind her, with nothing blocking the way in front. Her feet are free. Nobody is guarding her. What holds her in place is the blindfold.

This card is a good picture of F.E.A.R.: False Evidence Appearing Real. The thoughts say there is no way out, and they feel exactly like facts. They are thoughts. Some of them are old ones, picked up long ago, and never checked since.

Upright, the card asks for one small step. Pick a single belief about your situation and test it. Ask someone. Look it up. Take one pace forward and see whether a sword is really there.

Reversed

Reversed, I read this as too little, and here that works in your favour, because what is running short is the trap's hold on you. The blindfold is slipping, the binding loosening, and you are starting to see gaps that were there all along. It can also be delayed: freedom is on its way, and you are still standing still out of habit.

To tell which, notice whether you have started asking questions. If you have, the trap's hold is running short, and the next step is to keep going. If you can see the way out and still have not moved, it is delayed, and the only thing left to wait for is you.

When it turns up

What belief would you test if you knew the swords could not touch you?

If you would like the cards read against your own chart, my readings are here.

Related pages
The Number 8