The Eight of Swords—Let Go of Self-Limiting Beliefs

Tarot Tuesday

Dec 12, 2023

“Here you are: bound so loosely that you could totally escape, but you don’t; imprisoned by a half-assed fortress of swords you could actually walk right out of; and blindfolded, but making no effort to pull the blindfold off your face.” —Michelle Tea, MODERN TAROT

Deck: CROW TAROT by MJ Cullinane

The Suit of Swords

Swords govern thoughts, reason, perception, and mental health, among other things relating to the mind. Like the blade of a sword, our minds can be sharp—seeing our lives with clarity. They can also be dulled by confusion, delusion, and misinformation.

The stories we tell ourselves about who we are significantly impact how we move through the world. They determine, in large part, how we see ourselves, make decisions, and interact with others. The Swords suit reminds us that our minds can be tricksters. Don’t fall into its traps.

The Eight of Swords

At first glance, the Eight of Swords isn’t the most cheerful card, but it brings an important message. In fact, for me, pulling this card led to a breakthrough of sorts.

I’ll explain that later in the post, but first, some questions. Have you been feeling trapped lately? Blocked? Stuck? Often, these feelings are a matter of perception rather than reality. They are cages from which you can escape, even if freedom might require making some changes that might be uncomfortable or even deeply unpleasant.

We all have self-limiting beliefs that imprison us, but sometimes, they’re hard to identify. And once we know what they are, it’s even harder to change those beliefs so they’re more in line with reality.

To use myself as an example, when I began drafting this post yesterday, I wrote about feeling stuck exercise-wise. Part of it is the season—the cold weather makes me want to hibernate and do only fun or restful things. As a result, my morning walks have taken a huge hit and the problem is compounded by chronic back pain and a fear I’ll never be able to lift weights or run like I used to (and therefore, any exercise at all is pointless). Working out is not my favorite pastime, but I’ve been doing it consistently for a very long time, so it doesn’t feel good to be so sedentary. And yet, I don’t have much motivation to move.

This has all led to confusion and discouragement about moving forward with an effective exercise routine that doesn’t exacerbate my back injury. I feel trapped by indecision, lethargy, and the desire to curl up under a blanket in front of the fire and read a good book instead of getting a workout in.

Don’t worry, I’m not beating myself up too much about it. It’s the holidays, it’s cold outside, and the end of the year is approaching fast. It’s a natural time to wind down a bit and I’m leaning into that.

But as I thought about what I’d written, I knew I hadn’t dug nearly deep enough. In trying to relate the Eight of Swords to my own life, I’d settled for a superficial example because sometimes, the truth is hard to face. Sure, I need to start exercising regularly again, but calling my failure to work out a self-limiting belief isn’t quite accurate, and even if it is, it’s not the real problem. It’s more like a symptom. And though it’s a challenge, it’s not difficult to fix.

That’s when the breakthrough happened.

I realized my most serious self-limiting belief is that I’m fundamentally a broken person. Mentally, not physically. So broken, in fact, that it requires nearly all my energy, mental and otherwise, to fix myself. At times, I’ve even argued with others about having more “issues” than they do. Kind of like, “Yeah, I know you’re messed up, but that’s nothing compared to how messed up I am.” As if it were a contest I was hell-bent on winning.

It’s like “fixing” myself has become my life’s work. Which is great, but it can’t be everything.

It’s true I have chronic depression. It’s worth monitoring so I can catch it before it becomes overwhelming. But while there is a part of my brain that doesn’t function quite right, I’m far from unfixable. I’ve been living as though I am.

Now that I’ve identified this self-limiting belief, I have to be honest about how it impacts the way I navigate this world. How I interact with others, and how I approach my work. I need to think about why I’ve clung to this belief for so long, never questioning it. What do I get out of it besides having an excuse to center myself all the time?

My task now is to start bringing this self-limiting belief—I am fundamentally broken—into alignment with reality. It’s refreshing to finally realize that I’ve been lying to myself all this time. It’s exciting to imagine a version of me that is free of the “half-assed fortress” I’ve constructed for myself. But I also know I’ll need to keep reminding myself of the truth so I don’t continue to fall back on the lie.

The other day, I told my brother that sometimes I wondered if all this analyzing I do actually makes things worse. I might be better off if I let go of all of it and just lived without thinking so much about everything. We agreed that maybe I would, but then I wouldn’t be me. This is how my brain works, how it’s always worked, and I like my brain when it’s not fucking with me. But having identified this particular self-limiting belief (I have more!) I’ve profoundly shifted my perspective going forward.

I have the Eight of Swords to thank for that. The questions it prompted me to ask myself and the insights I gained are a perfect example of why I continue tarot journaling. I almost always learn something new about myself, and my mental sword is much sharper than it used to be.

Your self-limiting beliefs are likely different from mine, but you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t have them. It’s worth taking some time to reflect on what they might be.

The Eight of Swords—Let Go of Self-Limiting Beliefs

Tarot Tuesday

Discussion about this post