VIII Of Swords

January 14th, 2023

Today begins my journey of learning to read tarot cards. I’ve spent the past week or so reading and researching how to learn to read tarot cards. Every source I’ve read says to do a daily card pull and then journal about the card. So that’s what this is. I’ll pull a card from the deck each day, write about it, and share my insights.

I woke up this morning and immediately grabbed my tarot deck. It’s a Rider-Waite-Smith deck. I have a few other decks, but I thought I’d start learning with this one. When I picked up the box the bottom flap fell out and the cards almost fell out of the box! I feel like it was a sign telling me it was time to start this journey. I’m ready and so are the cards.

I shuffled the deck by doing three bridge shuffles, then cut the deck using a method that throws the cards from my left hand into my right hand. On the third time through this cutting technique, three cards fell out onto my desk. I guess threes are a thing today. I chose the card on top of the three and it was the eight of swords. Here are my impressions.

The card depicts a woman in a red dress, a white blindfold covers her eyes, and a white sash is wrapped around her body. In the distance, you can make out a town or a castle. And she is surrounded by eight swords stuck into the ground.

At first glance, I thought it was a little dark. A woman blindfolded and bound far from town. But I know the cards themselves are not really as they seem. So I started to work through the symbolism in the card. First the eight. I had to wrestle with this one for a bit because in my mind eight symbolizes abundance. Others have suggested that the eight, due to it being a Roman numeral eight might represent a hard effort or strength. Since my first impression was of abundance, I’m going with that interpretation. And there seems to be an abundance of swords surrounding her in the image.

Next the swords. Swords are a suit connecting to the element of air and also represent intellect and communication. Here I got a sense of knowing. Perhaps there is information she has already.

I looked at the card again and pondered further. Who is she? Why is she tied up? Who tied her up? I continued to focus on the image on the card and what I saw was a person who could have all they need or want but something is preventing them from seeing it or obtaining it. If they could see it they would know that it’s right there next to them. They already have the abundance they seek and to some degree, this person knows it. They just need to find a way to see it.

And that’s my read for the day. It feels like I could go further but it’s my first card read. I’m hoping that as I work on this I’ll get better and more will come to me. I hope you’ve enjoyed this. Please stay tuned for more of these and please let me know what you think.