Eight of Swords

✦ Card Name

✦ Visual description

A small white kittycorn with a tiny horn sits wrapped in red yarn and a blindfold, eyes closed and looking resigned. Eight upright swords are planted in the ground around the kittycorn, forming a loose circle. A ball of yarn lies nearby and a rainbow tail peeks out behind the cat. The background shows a calm seascape with distant hills, a pale moon, and a few flying birds under a soft sky.

✦ Meaning

This cute kittycorn sits tangled and blindfolded, a picture of mental stuckness that still feels oddly undoable: upright energy echoes the classic RWS meaning of restriction, self-limiting beliefs, and the sense of being surrounded by sharp thoughts rather than help. At heart the scene is kinder than it seems — the yarn is soft, the circle of swords is not sealed, and the rainbow tail and nearby ball suggest small, practical exits if the kittycorn tugs at a loose thread. Reversed speaks like a playful paw batting the yarn free: unwrapping old stories, removing the blindfold, and discovering that options exist where fear said none did. Whether you read it upright or reversed, the card nudges you to test your edges, ask for a hand, and remember that much of the trapping is mental. Take tiny, brave steps — a tug here, a glance there — and you can transform a prison into a playground. The tone is compassionate and slightly mischievous: liberation is often gentle and undone one playful motion at a time.