In the Rider-Waite style depiction of this key tarot card shows a woman wearing an orange-red dress, with her arms tied tightly against her sides. She is blindfolded, and wanders through a bog or a marsh, with eight swords blocking or complicating her path. A gray mountainside, covered with buildings and castles, is seen vaguely in the background of the Eight of Swords.
The classical tarot illustration of the Eight of Swords repeats the imagery of the Two of Swords and Justice, in the that it portrays a blindfolded woman. However, unlike in the other cards with similar characters, the woman is crippled by her blindness-- not strengthened or unhindered like the characters in companion cards. The fertile landscape indicates a person who is in fertile, but unpleasant, territory. Potential for happiness is great, but the Eight of Swords indicates that its realization is hindered.
When the Eight of Swords appears in a tarot reading, it is viewed as a universally upsetting card, but the problems signaled by the card are usually easy to solve. Often, it simply indicates that a lack of determination and endurance has caused an individual to lose their ambitions and dreams to apathy. If they re-orient their intentions and set their sights on hard work, specificity, and determination, they can regain the correct path toward achieving their goals.
Unfortunately, when the Eight of Swords card appears in a tarot reading that relates to a long-term or interpersonal issue, it can be a sign that the interferences indicated by the card are external: a person or group of people is deliberately hindering the querent's personal progress. This unwelcome interference can be the work of an enemy, a rival, or someone who is emotionally unsettled and seeking to control the subject of the tarot reading. The best way to address this problem is by confronting any person who is known to have malicious intentions that relate the querent or the goal.
When reversed, the Eight of Swords acts as a command to release oneself from the chains of interference. Succumbing to loss from interference is not an option; the querent must make every effort possible to resist challenges to his or her self-sufficiency. Joy and prosperity will result from breaking out of past obstacles, and choosing not to overcome them will result in failure.
