I was feeling a little stuck today. My mind is BUZZING. I have so much I want to do and so many different paths I’m on right now — my design business (@fox.and.sea), my spiritual journey (@betestarot), and my personal health and diabetes advocacy journey (@betesboss). I’m equally passionate about all of these aspects of my life, and for me they all go hand-in-hand (mind, body, and soul). I really feel like I need to combine everything somehow to get to my overall goal which is to help people. Today I just felt like, “WHERE DO I GO NEXT?”
So what I did was sit down and pull out my tarot cards, OG tarot deck, the first deck I ever got in high school – Tarot of Witches (which always help me think).
I asked my higher self: “Who am I here to serve and how can my gifts help serve them? More specifically I kept thinking “What should I focus on today (and for the end of my week) that will help me find my life path? Is there anything I need to do before end of week? What can I do to bring clarity and align my goals?” I thought about this and shuffled my cards, ran them through some sage smoke and gave them a few taps and shuffled some more, still thinking about my questions. I straightened out the deck and flipped over the top card — 8 of Swords.
At first, I’m like “EEEK.. 8 of Swords (Negative thoughts, self-imposed restriction, imprisonment, victim mentality).”
Traditional imagery of the 8 of Swords is a woman bound and blindfolded. Eight swords surround her, seemingly trapping her in place, a symbol of the limiting thoughts, beliefs and mindset that prevent her from moving forward in her life. If you look closer you can see that if the woman removed her blindfold, she would quickly realize that she can escape her predicament by letting go of her limiting beliefs and establishing a new, more empowered mindset. The water pooled at her feet suggests that her intuition might see what her eyes cannot.
The 8 of Swords reveals that you feel trapped and restricted by your circumstances. You believe your options are limited with no clear path out. It comes as a warning that your thoughts and beliefs are no longer serving you. You may be overthinking things, creating negative patterns or limiting yourself. As you change your thoughts, you change your reality. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones, and you will start to create a more favorable situation for yourself. (Description from @biddytarot)
Tonight, I think the 8 of Swords is telling me to let go of my limiting beliefs and free my mind of all of the many thoughts floating around. I need to trust in myself and my intuition and I will find alignment and guidance by thinking outside of this box that I’ve been restricting myself to. I’ve been working so hard in all of these different paths I set for myself, but why am I keeping everything so neatly in their own lanes? That’s not me. I am a combination of all of these things so why am I separating everything? I have very specific and unique gifts and skills. I can use my skillset and my experiences to create something new. I can offer people something different, something new, something entirely and uniquely me. In my mind I visualize a map with all of my paths meeting into one road. I don’t have a clear cut answer right now, but I do feel like I’m on the path to creating it.
That being said, if you’ve stumbled on this 8 of Swords, it was for a reason, so I encourage you to also remove your blindfold, trust your intuition, and begin to create your OWN path.
