8 of swords haunting me

[powerazero]

Hello all,

I'm pretty much a novice, even though I've bee practicing for 2 years.

The 8 of swords is haunting me. Haunting me!

It appears in all of my readings about myself for the past year or so. It comes up in love, health, money, social...WHATEVER reading I do.

It's getting to the point where I can't even make sense of it. Im getting annoyed, and I want it to go away.

Ideas?

 

[schwammyy]

Hello all,

I'm pretty much a novice, even though I've bee practicing for 2 years.

The 8 of swords is haunting me. Haunting me!

It appears in all of my readings about myself for the past year or so. It comes up in love, health, money, social...WHATEVER reading I do.

It's getting to the point where I can't even make sense of it. Im getting annoyed, and I want it to go away.

Ideas?

Are you stuck in a situation? It might be telling you that you aren't really stuck. You can get out but you don't leave when you should. For example, you might feel like leaving is not an option or changing is not an option when it is...and it's what you should do. Does this sound right?

 

[nisaba]

The 8 of swords is haunting me. Haunting me!
...
It's getting to the point where I can't even make sense of it. Im getting annoyed, and I want it to go away.

Well, you never really made sense of it, because if you had, it wouldn't have kept coming back.

It's about limitations, and in particular, about limitations you place on yourself because of your own thinking. Evidently, you limit yourself in al the areas of life that you've listed.

Do you say "Yes, but what if.." when people make suggestions? That's a direct symptom od your limiting yourself.

 

[shadowmack]

I agree with Nisaba. If you want this particular energy to go away you ought to look at how to resolve your issues – become unstuck. This involves self work over wishing it will stop following you around in your readings. Think of this as an opportunity for you to change direction in your life.

 

[Grizabella]

Good points, nisaba.

When I see this card I'm reminded of something I said to a lady in prison I was mentoring. I told her that the worst prison and hardest to leave behind is between our own ears.

Sometimes, depending on surrounding cards, I see it as the person in an abusive relationship who has been brainwashed into thinking she'll never get out of the relationship so there's no use trying. If both the 8 and 9 of Swords both appear together, I'm pretty sure there's been significant abuse going on. Once I even got the 8, 9 and 10 in the same reading and it left no doubt in my mind that this person absolutely needed to seek help right away.

 

[Haley]

Good points, nisaba.

When I see this card I'm reminded of something I said to a lady in prison I was mentoring. I told her that the worst prison and hardest to leave behind is between our own ears.

Sometimes, depending on surrounding cards, I see it as the person in an abusive relationship who has been brainwashed into thinking she'll never get out of the relationship so there's no use trying. If both the 8 and 9 of Swords both appear together, I'm pretty sure there's been significant abuse going on. Once I even got the 8, 9 and 10 in the same reading and it left no doubt in my mind that this person absolutely needed to seek help right away.

I agree with the abuse angle when combined with other cards. I'd look the cards surrounding the 8 sw. Or if it's a single card draw, I'd say you're not in control of your own destiny at the moment. But since it's a pip and not a court card or major arcana card, you might have more control than you think.

 

[Rhinemaiden]

Whenever I see the 8 of swords, I regard it as shooting yourself in the foot... being your own worst enemy, creating your own prison. The question becomes: what in your life makes you feel imprisoned/caged/restricted, what can you do to break free?

 

[werewolfmoon]

I get this card a lot as well. Scared and wanting to break free of whatever is holding you back but feeling like you are unable to. The image on the card is of a man surrounded by swords, he can get past them he just doesn't want to or doesn't feel he has the power to leave.

 

[happyfish]

I was also 'haunted' by this card for a long time when I began using tarot. Eventually, I realized it was because there were certain situations in my life that weren't working, but I felt stuck in (namely, the awful job I had at the time). I wouldn't even allow myself to think about other options, because I was subconsciously convinced that I *had* no other options. Therefore, I just avoided thinking about the problem, and hoped it would go away on its own. It didn't. Only when I was able to be honest with myself, and finally realize that I did have options, did this card stop haunting me!