Eight of Swords

UPRIGHT

A blindfolded woman stands bound among eight swords planted in muddy ground, a castle on the cliff behind her. The Eight of Swords is the cage of one's own thinking — the bondage that looks total but is, on inspection, loose. The swords leave a clear path forward; the blindfold is the prison.

REVERSED

Reversed, the Eight of Swords is the blindfold slipping, or the rope tested for the first time. The card can name the first honest look at a self-imposed trap, the small permission to question the story that built the cage, or the relief of discovering that the cell was never locked.

Return to the full deck, or draw the cards and see Eight of Swords in context.