TAROT CARD GUIDE

Eight of Swords Tarot Card Meaning & Interpretations

← Suit of Swords

Eight of Swords Card from the Rider Waite Smith Deck

Introduction

If you are new to Tarot one of things you will quickly pick up on is a theme of negativity around cards in the Suit of Swords. The cards in the other 3 Minor Arcana Suits are generally about the positive aspects of their numerological value whereas with the Suit of Swords half of its cards reflect the negative traits. The 8 of Swords is one of these card. A positive 8 gives you a "can do, will do" energy and drive. A focus to get things done. Not only the ambition but also the direction and resources to manifest goals. The 8 of swords is the exact opposite of this.

The negativeness of the 8 of Swords leaves you feeling directionless and lost. Trapped, isolated even imprisoned. Swords deals with mental challenges and therefore the root of this disempowerment will be in the mind. Too many choices, obstacles, problems. Too much data to process. Confusion, frustration and going around in circles which is what the 8 is, an upright infinity symbol.

Typical illustrations of this card, originating from the Rider Waite Smith (RWS) deck, are one of a bound and blind folded person standing partly surrounded by a semi-circle of swords sticking out of the ground. In the RWS image the land is barren, wet and swamp like. In the background there is a citadel positioned high on a rock outcrop. The mood being set by this imagery is one of isolation, imprisonment and despair. The artist's inclusion of the citadel might be to suggest that this person has been ostracized and punished by its citizens. The meaning of the 8 of Swords, in this context, would be one of feeling left out of things by others. The number 8 is empowering but this card represents the opposite and symbolises being disempowered. Thoughts and feelings go together and the emotional aspect of this disempowerment is represented by the water on the ground, the feeling of being left out gives rise to the thought.

The RWS artist, Pamela C. Smith, cleverly illustrated her cards in a way that leaves interpretation open to your intuition and not fixed and rigid. Blind folded, with arms bound, the central character can walk but cannot see or touch. Each of those 8 swords may represent a dangerous direction which could result in inflicting personal injury or damage. The water at their feet provides a possible solution to this tricky situation. By feeling the water with their feet and following it they can navigate their way out of the sword prison. Water represents feelings, and since the mind is the root of the problem, your way out is to use your intuition, gut instinct or just follow your heart.

Another way to interpret this card is to start with the Water and not the theme element of Air. This card, on it's own, could reflect a feeling that something is missing or not right. There's something you should be doing, or a new direction you should be taking, but you just can't figure it out in your head. The feeling alone makes you realise that on some level you are trapped or caught up in something you need to get out of.

8 of Swords in a Tarot Reading

The 8 of Swords describes a loss of direction or agency within a difficult mental situation. Too many options, obstacles or conflicting pieces of information may leave you unable to identify a safe next step. The mind keeps working while the person feels increasingly stuck.

This reverses the practical confidence usually associated with 8. The card can also concern feeling excluded or sensing that something is wrong without being able to explain it clearly. The difficulty should be understood before assuming that every restriction is either imaginary or immovable.

Upright Meaning

Upright, the 8 of Swords can indicate confusion that makes action feel impossible. Each potential direction may appear to contain a problem, and further analysis may return you to the same starting point. The issue can be the way information is organised as much as the amount of information available.

The RWS figure cannot see or freely use their arms, but their feet remain in contact with the ground and water. That water suggests an alternative route through feeling and intuition. A quiet sense of what needs attention may offer a starting point when argument alone has stalled.

This does not require ignoring facts or genuine restrictions. It asks whether another way of understanding the situation can reveal a small possibility that the current mental loop excludes. A modest first step can be useful without resolving every obstacle at once.

Upright keywords: disempowerment, confusion, mental restriction, indecision, exclusion, information overload, lost direction, blocked agency.

Reversed Meaning

Reversed, the 8 of Swords may indicate a restriction becoming clearer and therefore more workable. You may distinguish a real boundary from an assumption, receive missing information or recognise one direction that does not require solving the whole situation first.

Alternatively, the sense of entrapment may intensify if every new possibility is immediately absorbed into the same discouraging argument. The reversal can also expose how exclusion by others contributes to the problem, rather than locating all responsibility within your own thinking.

Context helps determine what is loosening and what remains binding. Look for an actual increase in choice, however small, and for support that makes it possible to exercise that choice safely and realistically.

Reversed keywords: emerging options, recognised restrictions, restored agency, persistent mental loops, clarified boundaries, deepened confusion, possible release.

Love and Relationships

In relationships, the 8 of Swords can describe feeling unable to say what is needed or decide how to proceed. You may anticipate a difficulty in every possible conversation. An unspoken sense that something is wrong can deserve attention even before you have a complete explanation.

Reversed, a clearer boundary or supportive conversation may restore some choice. Alternatively, the relationship may continue limiting your participation. Do not use the card to dismiss external constraints as merely a mindset. Identify what is actually preventing action and what assistance or information would change that.

Work and Career

At work, this card can indicate unclear authority, excessive information or competing requirements that make progress difficult. You may be expected to act without access to the knowledge or permission needed to do so. The resulting paralysis is not automatically a lack of ability.

Reversed, priorities may become clearer or a blocked dependency may be removed. If the confusion persists, reduce the problem to the next decision and identify who can resolve the missing condition. A more workable structure can restore capability that was present but inaccessible.

Money and Finances

For finances, the 8 of Swords can concern feeling trapped by commitments or overwhelmed by choices. A complex situation may be treated as one undivided problem, making every action seem dangerous. Separate the actual obligations from assumptions about what they make impossible.

Reversed, clarification or suitable assistance may reveal an option previously overlooked. The card does not establish that an easy exit exists. Its useful contribution is the question of where understanding, information or a smaller decision could restore some practical room to move.

Advice from the 8 of Swords

Identify one restriction precisely instead of accepting the whole situation as an indistinguishable prison. Notice what your feelings are drawing attention to, then connect that signal with facts, support and a manageable next step. You need not solve every possible future before beginning.

Ask yourself: Which limit is real, which is assumed, and what small choice remains available between them?

The 8 of Swords begins to loosen when the experience of being trapped is examined in specific, workable parts.

8 of Swords According to A. E. Waite

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
Arthur Edward Waite (1911)

A woman, bound and hoodwinked, with the swords of the card about her. Yet it is rather a card of temporary durance than of irretrievable bondage. Divinatory Meanings: Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny; also sickness. Reversed: Disquiet, difficulty, opposition, accident, treachery; what is unforeseen; fatality.