Challenging the 8 of Swords: The Gift of Confinement

If The Fool were a symbol for absolute freedom and unbounded possibility, then the 8 of Swords must be its energetic antagonist. All you would need to do is observe the body language, posture and predicament to realize these two figures were occupying opposite ends of their particular polarity - liberation vs. confinement.

When I pull the 8 of Swords in a reading, yes it’s annoying, but it’s rarely a surprise. Usually, I'm able to identify right away that's how I've been feeling - frustrated, unsure, bound. I could equate it to a really bad case of writers block (though not limited to the act of writing). It’s actually one of the cards in the deck, in my opinion, that does a really good job of visually depicting the feeling it represents.