The Eight of Swords represents intelligence on the intellectual level of human expression. Eight of Swords upright: free/critical thinking. Eight of Swords reversed: conditioned thinking.
Since the Eight of Swords represents the sphere of intelligence on the intellectual level of human expression, we are once again in the belly of the beast. This time in the belly of the brilliant beast.
The faculty of consciousness of the Eight of Swords is intelligence proper. You need this faculty for IQ tests and math. Scientists, engineers, and technicians excel in this faculty.
The intellect is a tool: garbage in, intelligent garbage out. The intellect needs guidance. Otherwise, it may produce confusion. Combine confusion with anxiety, and you get witty but deluded conspiracy theories, like in the movie A Beautiful Mind.
Unguided intelligence always fails. Currently, there is a lot of negativity in the media, which influences people’s perception. That’s where the secondary meanings of victim mentality, self-victimization, self-imposed restrictions, anxiety, hopelessness, or a sense of feeling trapped come from. Better allow wisdom, understanding, and empathy to guide the intellect.
The respective inner demons are negative thinking and overthinking. That’s where the secondary meanings of indecision, energy wasted in petty affairs, ill-directed action, being busy but not effective, pettiness, and mediocrity come from.
If the querent’s question pertains to an undertaking, the Eight of Swords calls for openness, truthfulness, and a rational approach. An inauspicious Eight of Swords may signify perfectionism, doubt, and self-sabotage.
An inauspicious Eight of Swords may also hint at intellectual vices, e.g., that the querent is lost in the weeds, puts too much emphasis on details, and can’t see the wood for trees.
If the querent’s question pertains to adversity, the Eight of Swords calls for a thorough and unbiased analysis of the adversity at hand. An objective analysis breaks down the series of events and unravels the cause-and-effect trajectory that brought about the querent’s challenge.
Since communication and language are intellectual matters, an inauspicious Eight of Swords may also mean that the querent is prone to idle talk, (ill-natured) gossip, criticism, and intellectual bullying, which we can observe on social media.
Last but not least, the Eight of Swords may indicate notorious arguing. Arguing is an intellectual pastime at best and a zero-sum game at worst.
Eight of Swords Symbolism
The eight swords in the picture form an eight-spoked wheel.
Think of this wheel as a symbol of an intelligent rolling toward a goal.
In Buddhism, the eight-spoked wheel symbolizes the noble, eight-fold path. The corresponding eight virtuous practices prevent the intellect from bending or breaking rules. Buddhism offers excellent guidance for intelligence.
The eight noble practices are: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi (receptivity to the higher self).
This wheel symbolism also signifies wise intelligence. Wisdom (the knowledge of principles) is also a great guidance system.
The Five Psychological Core Meanings of the Eight of Swords
We derive the psychological meanings of Tarot cards from their position on the Tree of Life. In the Enlightenment Tarot framework, the Eight of Swords represents Hod of Hod, i.e., desire and creativity on the intellectual level of human expression.
Every Tarot card represents a faculty or power of consciousness. We can use faculties of consciousness constructively and destructively, which produces either a fortunate or an adverse state of mind. Hence, every Tarot card has five core meanings.
These are the five core meanings of the Eight of Swords:
- Enlightenment Tarot title: Intelligence
- Power of consciousness: Thinking
- Constructive use: Free thinking, critical thinking
- Unconstructive use: Conditioned thinking
- Auspicious state of mind: Diversity, splendor
- Inauspicious state of mind: Confusion, bafflement
Reflective Questions
If the Eight of Swords appears in your spread, it may be beneficial to ask yourself the following questions:
- Are my current thinking processes guided more by fear or by insight?
- Am I allowing external negativity (e.g., media or others’ opinions) to shape my thoughts and beliefs?
- Where in my life am I overanalyzing or overthinking instead of involving wisdom?
- Do I mistake busyness for effectiveness? What would a more meaningful focus look like?
- What limiting beliefs or self-imposed restrictions might be holding me back?
- What would free thinking look like for me today, and where am I still conditioned to think small?
Eight of Swords Summary
The Eight of Swords reminds us that intelligence is a wonderful tool, but that it needs guidance, e.g., the guidance of wisdom.
Where Do Tarot Card Meanings Actually Come From?
The meanings of Tarot cards come from various sources. The most common are:
- The position of the Tarot cards on the Tree of Life
- Astrological correspondences (signs, planets, & houses)
- The symbolism of Tarot cards
- Intuition
- Meanings that pertain to fortune-telling
Most of the Tarot card meanings you can google are astrological correspondences and go back to the Golden Dawn and Arthur Edward Waite. Astrological meanings have dominated because Astrology favors fortune-telling. But Astrological meanings are unsuitable for (psychological) Tarot readings.
If you are interested in an overview of the astrological correspondences, you can download a high-resolution chart by subscribing to the Enlightenment Tarot.
Tarot card meanings are a bit of a mess since the meanings that pertain to their position on the Tree of Life mingle with astrological correspondences, symbolic interpretations, and fortune-telling connotations. That’s tedious to memorize. Further, tarotists’ opinions, knowledge, and linguistic backgrounds shaped some of these interpretations. Last but not least, many meanings are fuzzy, contradictory, and overlap. If you want to understand why they overlap, read the article How to Deal With the Overlapping Meanings of Tarot Cards.
The meanings of the Enlightenment Tarot are based on an objective and holistic framework: the Tree of Life and the four levels of human expression. The resulting meanings are transparent and logical and, hence, easier to memorize.
What Various Tarotists Say about the Meanings of the Eight of Swords
Let’s explore what various tarotists wrote about the Eight of Swords.
Tarotists emphasize the astrological significances of Tarot cards since these lend themselves to divination and fortune-telling. The Eight of Swords corresponds to the first decanate of Gemini, ruled by Mercury.
Gemini is associated with the Lovers/Relationship card.
The primary characteristics of Gemini are intellectual, inquisitive, and dualistic.
The first decanate’s double-Mercury vibes add the following characteristics to the mix: literary, versatile, and acute.
Gemini rules the third house, which governs intellectual pursuits. This is the house of science, education, communication, correspondence, documents, and books. The Relationship/Lovers card shows the correct scientific attitude: harmony between our cognitive and creative abilities (the man and woman) and receptivity toward intuition (the angel).
The 7th house is also the house of brothers, sisters, cousins, short journeys, letters and other correspondence, documents and other writings, books, and education.
What Paul Foster Case Said About the Meanings of the Eight of Swords
For the Eight of Swords, Paul Foster Case proposed the keyword mediocrity.
He explained that even if well-dignified, the Eight of Swords represents an excessive Mercurial influence, i.e., overthinking. Expressed in the intellectual-mental field of unstable forces and changing forms, it signifies a marked tendency toward ill-directed or wasted actions, whose outcome is likely to end up mediocre.
Paul offered the following secondary meanings: force wasted in petty affairs, too much talk or correspondence, busyness without accomplishing much, too much moving about, over-careful about details (goes back to anxiety), indecision, and crises (difficulties in making choices).
If the Eight of Swords turns up inauspicious, those tendencies may escalate to malice, ill-natured gossip, pettiness, and too much concern with personalities.
Paul suggests balancing the quick-mindedness and penchant for action of these astrological vibes with the depth of feeling and emotional warmth of Netzach and Venus. Venus rules Netzach, the seventh sphere on the Tree of Life, across the eighth (Hod), balancing it.
Paul added this card may also signify unbalanced, excessive Gemini qualities in third house affairs, for example, disagreements with brothers and sisters.
What Arthur Edward Waite Said About the Meanings of the Eight of Swords
Arthur Edward Waite suggested that the Eight of Swords signifies bad news, disquiet, crises, difficulties, opposition, censure, conflict, and unforeseen influences.
In particular for women, this card may foretell treachery, scandal, humiliation, and defamation, which the image suggests, too. This goes back to the misuse of speech, which is a Mercurial domain.
Arthur also proposed that this card may foretell accidents and fatalities (Mercury retrograde or inauspicious Mercury) as well as sickness.
On the positive side, this card may signify restrained power.
Taking into consideration the connection to the third astrological house, the Seven of Swords may foretell the departure of a relative.
What Etteilla Said About the Meanings of the Eight of Swords
Etteilla, a French occultist, wrote that the Eight of Swords may signify criticism and incidents.
Criticism is a Mercurial ability, and incidents refer to Mercury retrograde (inauspicious Mercury).
What Papus Said About the Meanings of the Eight of Swords
Papus, another French occultist and the founder of the Martinist Order, wrote that an auspicious Eight of Swords may indicate that the querent’s enemy will be only partially successful.
With this, he continues a sequence he began with the Four of Sword:
Four of Swords: The defeat of the querent’s enemy.
Five of Swords: The querent’s enemy will triumph at the last moment
Six of Swords: The querent’s enemy is powerless
Seven of Swords: The querent’s enemy will succeed.
The term enemy is tinged with the sense of separation. Adversity would be a better term.
What Gregor Mather Said About the Meanings of the Eight of Swords
Gregor Mather, the founder of the Golden Dawn, believed, like Arthur, that the Eight of Swords may foretell sickness as well as defamation, criticism, treachery, and blame.
He also considered retrograde Mercurial influences like accidents and other remarkable incidents.
What Mme. Le Marchand Said About the Meanings of the Eight of Swords
Mme. Le Marchand, a celebrated 19th-century Parisian fortune teller, suggested this card foretells that the goal the querent strives to reach is close at hand. An event may happen at any moment, which will lead her to it at once.
The Psychological Framework of the Enlightenment Tarot
Every Tarot card represents a faculty of consciousness. We can use faculties of consciousness constructively and destructively. This produces favorable and adverse experiences.
We can express faculties of consciousness on four levels:
- The spiritual level (wands/fire/intention)
- The creative-feely level (cups/water/imagination)
- The intellectual level (swords/air/intelligence)
- The bodily level (pentacles/earth/bodily action)
The four tools on the magician’s table symbolize these four levels:
- The wand (spiritual)
- The cup (creative-feely)
- The sword (intellectual)
- The pentagram (bodily)
These tools correspond to the four so-called elements: fire, water, air, and earth.
For this reason, the Enlightenment Tarot wands are made of fire, the cups consist of water, and the pents are composed of earth. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to illustrate something made of air, since air is invisible. For that reason, all swords are made of crystal to show at least transparency.
The Enlightenment Tarot derives its meaning from the Tree of Life and the four levels of human expression. This is an objective, holistic framework that reveals the psychological imports of Tarot cards and their faculties of consciousness. Read more about this framework in the article The Psychological Framework of the Enlightenment Tarot.
The Enlightenment Tarot project attempts to rediscover the original meanings of the Tarot cards that pertain to their position on the Tree of Life. These meanings are simple, clear, and easy to memorize.
*This framework is compatible with Paul Foster Case’s qabalistic system.
Do you want to learn more About The Enlightenment Tarot?
If you want to delve deep into the psychological meanings of Tarot cards, read the book Tarot of Life.
If you are curious about how the Enlightenment Tarot came about, read this article.
If you are interested in learning how to perform psychological Tarot readings, subscribe to receive a free copy of a guide on how to perform psychological Tarot readings.
If you are looking for a psychological Tarot deck, you have come to the right place. The Enlightenment Tarot derives the cards’ meanings from a holistic and transparent framework that is easy to learn and memorize. All major and minor arcana carry psychological titles, and the court cards display psychological profiles. Have a look at the Enlightenment Tarot deck here.
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This exceptional Tarot deck is based on an objective and holistic, psychological framework: the Tree of Life. All minor and major cards feature psychological titles. For example, the Magician has the title ‘Attention’, and the Six of Cups has the title ‘Decision’. The court cards exhibit psychological profiles. For instance, the Queen of Wands stands for a willful woman: generous or stubborn, resolute or revengeful, intense or tyrannical, magnetic or dangerous.