The Tower and the Eight of Swords

[werewolfmoon]

Tarot of the Old Path
Five card reading
General reading for the evening

The Tower and the Eight of Swords came up in the central position of the spread, The Tower is unexpected change and karmic cleansing and the Eight is self imposed bondage, to me they cancel each other out.

Sudden change will bring self imposed bondage??? Huh? Sudden change will release the bonds that bind me??

Thoughts?

 

[tarotmka]

Not so sure they "cancel" each other out - the cards don't usually do this, though I can see how it looks this way.

The Tower can mean a sudden discovery of some kind of deception that destroys what you thought you knew. It can simply mean something that shakes your foundations.

The Eight of Swords can be about your thoughts or what others are saying about you.

Together, I could see this meaning untruths that others are saying about you (lies, gossip) that shake you up and trap you. Or thoughts you are telling yourself. The tower that crumbles could be your previous sense of how things were, maybe your self-esteem or even a relationship you thought you had. Some aspect of reality. But, this is not the same "structure" as the swords that trap you. I can see the destruction of false beliefs as being distinct from the subsequent trap that follows.

Together these could also be saying that what's keeping you trapped needs to be seen and destroyed. Both cards point at deception/lies.

I'm stabbing in the dark because I don't know the rest of the spread...

 

[seaglass]

Tarot of the Old Path
Five card reading
General reading for the evening

The Tower and the Eight of Swords came up in the central position of the spread, The Tower is unexpected change and karmic cleansing and the Eight is self imposed bondage, to me they cancel each other out.

Sudden change will bring self imposed bondage??? Huh? Sudden change will release the bonds that bind me??

Thoughts?

I'm inclined to agree with the latter interp you gave. I've had this combo come up for me, in the past. Are you worrying a lot? Perhaps obsessing over something or feeling trapped, delayed, stunted, unsure, confused about some issue or toward life in general? Maybe you are obsessing or nit-picking about something or making something complex that others find quite simple? These are some ideas that come to mind for the 8 of Swords. The Tower suggests that you will have a breakthrough, you will see things clearly and clear away the fog. I love this rendition of The Tower from the Mandala Astrological deck - http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sLB9XnEWDNU/SfUI1ITILCI/AAAAAAAAAPY/ARCN4RkWDI0/s320/mandalaTower.jpg - you see the eyes being released from the crashing tower - this shows awareness, clear sightedness, like a eureka moment!

 

[nisaba]

The Tower and the Eight of Swords came up in the central position of the spread, The Tower is unexpected change and karmic cleansing and the Eight is self imposed bondage, to me they cancel each other out.

If they were to "cancel each other out" they wouldn't even be bothered showing up. It's just a waste of spread-space, if two cards say "There's no message here, move along now".

The mere fact that they HAVE turned up, means they want to be looked at and thought about, which means they don't cancel each other out. Duh.

Sudden change will bring self imposed bondage??? Huh? Sudden change will release the bonds that bind me??

Thoughts?

Either is possible. Although the Eight Swords is often about anxiety, being internally bound by your own fears, and the Tower is usually about some disturbing event over which you have no control; so perhaps a valid reading might be that in order to get you to stop holding yourself back through anxiety, you will need some kind of big external event to shake you out of your rut.