March 24, 2012: Eight of Swords, Utah Maninni One Tarot
Well, she's finally done it. All this time, she's been wielding that sword, not listening to anyone else's take on things, simply slashing and chopping her way to her own power in the situation...and now, look at her. All her own owls lie dead like a fence around her--wisdom has been slain with arrogance, and no new ideas can emerge here. She's immobilized by the impregnable force of her own previously-declaimed opinions, ultimata, and angry jabs, all of which have hurt, in the last analysis, no one but herself. And now she stands, her back to the situation, finally looking within, realizing that her only recourse is to look to the cup of sacrifice, to contain her emotions and thus her actions, and to withdraw into herself, awaiting the impact of others to clear the carnage she has strewn behind her...yes, I guess it really IS that bad---or is it? Take another look....
Yes, she's been wild and crazy with those swords. But the lightning striking is hitting the ground around her, not hitting her. The dead owl, really, is just one owl, one way of thinking, one single manifestation of ideas that have fallen dead by the wayside due to anger and impatience. One owl, multiplied again and again by her own fear, until it seems she's put herself in an inescapable prison of her own making. But--she is not bound. She is able to move, as is evidenced by her turning inward to the cup of peace and harmony. It is only her own fear that holds her immobile. Any time she wished, she could turn back to face the situation, and she could leave the swords behind and use the power of the sacred cup, of contained and focused emotion rather than wild aggression, to deal with it.
I won't interpret this further today. You know what it means to you, what it's about. Look at the card. Think. Act in accord. The power here is all yours.
When the Eight of Swords appears, its purpose is not to taunt you or to tell you something you already know. The reason for its manifestation is to show you that you can escape your situation just as quickly as you put yourself into it. You may not think your options are plausible, and you may not even know they exist, but they are there waiting for you to put them to use. The key is to stop using the Swords for negative purposes. Anger, aggression, haste and excessive force will only make your situation worse, so let them go and accept the mental clarity and peace that the Cup within idealizes. With that new and perfect vision you should be able to see the way out of every problem that you encounter.
