10/13/2026
Quick question.
Are you feeling trapped right now… or are you just afraid to open your eyes and move?
Welcome to this week's Tarot Tuesday. We continue our journey through the suit of Swords. Air, thoughts, truth, conflict, and the stories we tell ourselves that keep us stuck.
May I introduce the Eight of Swords.
And before we begin, let's clear something up.
The Eight of Swords does NOT mean you are powerless.
It can feel that way. It can look that way. But the older Rider-Waite tradition gives us something much more compassionate.
Bad news. Censure. Crisis. Conflict.
But also, the moment before freedom.
This is the card of the mental prison.
Sometimes the bars aren't real.
Sometimes they are made of thoughts.
The Symbology:
The Bound Woman:
Look at her. She is blindfolded, bound, surrounded by eight swords stuck in the ground. She appears trapped.
But look closer.
Her feet are not chained. Her bindings are loose. The circle of swords is not complete. There is an opening right in front of her.
This is not a picture of someone who cannot escape.
This is a picture of someone who believes she cannot escape.
The Blindfold:
She cannot see.
Is someone else keeping her from seeing the truth?
Or is she keeping herself from seeing it?
In the suit of Swords, the blindfold is almost always about the mind refusing to look. Fear. Shame. Anxiety. What if I make the wrong choice?
Sometimes we choose not to see because seeing would mean we have to act.
The Loose Bonds:
The ropes around her look tight, but they are not tied to anything.
This is so important.
Much of what holds us in place is not as solid as we think. It is habit. It is expectation. It is someone else's voice in our head telling us we can't. The Eight of Swords asks you to check your bindings.
Are they real?
Or are they thoughts you have agreed to carry?
The Eight Swords
Around Her:
Eight swords. Eight thoughts. Eight worries all at once.
This is mental overload. When the mind spins, every direction looks dangerous.
So you don't move at all.
The Marsh and the Bare Feet:
She is standing barefoot in marshy ground, in mud and shallow water. Uncomfortable. Uncertain footing.
This is the feeling of anxiety. You don't feel grounded. You don't feel safe enough to step.
The Castle in the Distance:
Behind her, far away on a hill, is a castle. Or a town. Safety. Help. Home.
It is there. It has always been there.
But with a blindfold on, she cannot see it.
Sometimes help is closer than your fear will let you believe.
*Upright Meaning:
When the Eight of Swords lands right side up, I first look for where you feel stuck.
Feeling Trapped:
You may feel trapped by a situation, a relationship, a job, a decision that feels like it has no good options.
The card says, I see that feeling. It is real.
But is it the whole truth?
Self-Imposed Restriction:
Are you telling yourself you can't? I can't leave. I can't say that. I can't do that yet.
The Eight of Swords gently asks, who told you that?
Mental Loops:
Your mind may be replaying the worst-case scenario over and over until you freeze.
This is not the time to fight harder.
This is the time to breathe, remove the blindfold one inch at a time, and look at one true thing.
The Shadow Side:
And yes, there is a shadow here.
Sometimes we stay stuck because being stuck protects us from having to try and fail.
Sometimes we identify with being the victim of our thoughts because it feels safer than taking responsibility for the next step.
The Eight of Swords does not shame you for feeling stuck.
It asks you to be honest about how you might be participating in staying stuck.
*Reversed Meaning: When the Eight of Swords lands upside down, I see release.
The old Rider-Waite meanings give us: The past. A background. Treachery in the past.
But in practice, reversed, this card is often freedom beginning.
Opening Your Eyes:
You are starting to see. The blindfold is slipping.
You are questioning the story that you have no choice.
Loosening the Bonds:
You are realizing the ropes were never that tight.
One small movement. One boundary. One truth spoken out loud.
Finding the Opening:
There was always an opening in the swords right in front of you. Reversed, you finally see it. Or someone is showing it to you.
This is where advice and counsel from the Seven reversed now becomes rescue.
Are you willing to let yourself be helped?
From Seven to Eight:
With the Seven of Swords, we learned to strategize, to move quietly, to use our mind to find another way.
Now, with the Eight of Swords, that same mind has turned on us.
Strategy has become anxiety. Thinking has become overthinking.
The Seven said, find a better plan.
The Eight says, what if the plan that is trapping you is the story you keep telling yourself about why you can't?
Sometimes the way out is not a more clever plan.
Sometimes the way out is simply taking the blindfold off and taking one small, barefoot step forward in the mud.
So my question from the beginning:
Are you truly trapped…
or are you just afraid to see how free you actually are?
Sometimes the prison door was never locked.
You just needed the courage to turn the handle.
Love from Julie
♥️🙌🏼♥️THVT
