1. Tarot
2. Card meanings
3. Eight of Swords

Minor Arcana · Swords

Eight of Swords

• temporary durance
• conflict

Upright meaning

Feeling hemmed in. Waite calls it rather a card of temporary durance than of lasting bondage: the binding is loose and the way out exists.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Waite gives disquiet and difficulty. A prompt to take one small step toward freedom.

• difficulty
• opposition

Symbolism

A woman, bound and blindfolded, stands among swords planted around her.

Group

Minor Arcana · Swords

Element, astrology

Not given by Waite, so we give none

Source

Our own plain-English summary of A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1911), Part III §2 (The Lesser Arcana). The keywords are Waite’s own words. Waite’s fortune-telling lists also contain harsher terms; we keep to the reflective readings he gives and never state an event as certain.

Tarot is a tool for reflection, not a prediction of fixed outcomes. This is not medical, legal or financial advice.