The Eight of Swords depicts a blindfolded and bound woman wearing a pale red dress and standing in pool of shallow water, surrounded on both her left and right by eight upright swords. An austere castle with dark red tiled roofs rises up from a hill in the background behind her. A lone, feminine figure, she seems powerless and oppressed. Unable to escape her bindings or see a way out. Looking at this card with a more analytical eye however, we can see that though her upper body is bound, her feet are able to move freely, and the swords only surround her partially – she is by no means caged or completely fenced in by them and could easily walk forward toward freedom. And where are her captors? She stands alone and yet it seems she makes no attempt to leave a confining and untenable situation. So what is stopping her? What does she say to say to herself that stops her from fleeing?
Sometimes we meet the wrong partners. We take the wrong jobs. We collide with illness, loss, crises or calamity. At times we invite it. At times, it invites us and we end up at the wrong party – a party of disaster or mayhem. Either way, we end up in a place or with people that do not respect us. We are not safe. We find ourselves oppressed, dismissed or misused. We want out. We know if we stay, nothing good will come. But we don’t leave. Either we can’t find the exit or we see it but there are complications in taking the stage left. Maybe it’s how our family will be impacted. Or we’ve been held down for so long, living differently is weirdly frightening. The longer we stay in toxic relationships, the harder it can be to feel we have the strength or smarts to leave and make it on our own. Even if we can see how bad it is, it may be harder to see how it has distorted us – shrunk our self-esteem, eaten away our independence, dissolved our ferocity, starved our stamina. And like the woman in the Eight of Swords, we passively accept our fate when there is actually an escape. A gate – just waiting to be discovered.
Tom Robbins wrote in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues that “one has not only an ability to perceive the world but an ability to alter one's perception of it; more simply, one can change things by the manner in which one looks at them.” Here we arrive at the heart of the Eight of Cups. Beneath the oppressive sadness, beneath the passive acceptance, the obedience and silent suffering, there is something more. A way out. But we have to change the way we’re looking at the problem to find it. When we see this card in a reading, we must ask ourselves, what haven't we considered? What angle are we discounting? How are we underestimating ourselves? If this wasn’t happening to us – but someone else, perhaps someone we love, what would we say to them? What advice would we give? It is time for us to be our own friend – to look a bit more objectively. Step back. See the whole picture. We’re missing something. What is it? Leaving may not be as difficult as we believe. But even if it is fraught with challenges, there is still a way forward. We just have to acknowledge it.
The most useful antidote for the immobility of the Eight of Swords is a pretty vine with a delicate white flower which grows in China. The root of this flower, called Codonopsis (Codonopsis pilosula), has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as far back as the Qing dynasty to replenish a patient’s Qi or vital life force, strengthen their spleen, tonify weak lungs and nourish blood and vital fluids like lymph. Recent research indicates that the polysaccharides found in the root help balance and strengthen immune cell activity. It also supports gut function, protects the stomach lining, and encourages the growth of helpful probiotic bacteria. As an adaptogen, it helps the body manage stress, boosts endurance, and fights tiredness by protecting nerve cells and supporting cognitive health as well as memory. Not only does it aid in balancing stress hormones – it also lowers blood sugar levels and improves how the body metabolizes fats. And the latest laboratory studies show it can also induce cancerous cell death, halt tumor growth and disrupt the ability for cancer to metastasize. Commonly called dang shen or the "poor man's ginseng" in China, this amazing herb strengthens the body in more ways than one while also making it more resilient to life’s stressors.
The clarity of the Eight of Cups combined with the nourishing, strengthening medicine of Codonopsis are a great gift. We should accept this gift of awareness and take our first step toward freedom by admitting that we imprison ourselves when we undermine our own abilities. It is time to remove the blindfold. The gate is so close. And it is open. Freedom is ours – we just need to believe in ourselves enough to take it.
*Tarot reading is based on the Rider-Waite Tarot Card deck, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith
References
Liu Cai-Yue, Li Zheng, Cheng Fan-E, et al. “Radix Codonopsis: A Review of Anticancer Pharmacological Activities.” National Center for Biological Information, 7 January 2025. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11747557/
Pollack, Rachel. Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom. San Francisco, Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC, 2007.
Robbins, Tom. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. New York City, Bantam Publishers, June 17 2003.
Shi Qi Shi, Chen Zhengjun, Yang Jie et al. “Review of Codonopsis Radix Biological Activities: A Plant of Traditional Chinese Tonic.” ScienceDirect, 5 October 2024. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874124006330