← Encyclopedia of Tarot · lesson 58/121
Eight of Swords
The Eight of Swords describes feeling stuck. A person sees no way out, often because worry, fear or a fixed way of thinking has narrowed what they can see. The card's quiet message is that the trap is rarely as complete as it feels: there is usually a way forward once the blindfold comes off.
The image
A woman stands blindfolded and loosely bound, surrounded by eight swords planted in the ground. Her feet are in shallow, muddy water, and a castle sits on a cliff behind her. The swords do not fully enclose her and her legs are free. The blindfold is usually read as not seeing clearly, the bonds as constraints that could be loosened, and the open gap as the way out she cannot yet see.
Upright
Restriction, self-doubt, feeling powerless, a situation that seems to have no exit. Waite gives "crisis, censure, power in trammels", yet adds it is "temporary durance" rather than lasting bondage. It often invites the person to question the beliefs that are keeping them still, and to ask for help.
Reversed
Waite's reversal lists disquiet, difficulty and the unforeseen. Many modern readers see release: the bonds loosening, new perspective, the courage to step out. Some readers do not use reversals.
Correspondences
Minor Arcana, the Eight of the suit of Swords, element Air. In the Golden Dawn system, which most English-language decks follow, it is Jupiter in the first decan of Gemini, 0°–10°, in Hod, the eighth sephirah. The Order called it "Shortened Force".
In a reading
As an obstacle it is often the person's own fear or a story they tell themselves. As advice: take one small step and see what changes. Beside The Hanged Man it suggests that a change of viewpoint is the key.
In astrology
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow (French, Marseille-based tradition differs for some Major Arcana).
Decan: Jupiter in Gemini, 0°–10°
Element: Air — the element of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius
Mode: Mutable — Gemini is a mutable sign