The Bound Woman

At a party a while back I let someone read my Tarot cards. It was an experience that I found both interesting and oddly motivating.

I'm a skeptic by nature. I don't believe in ouija boards or crystal balls. I'm not sure about spirits from the afterlife or having my palm read. I think there's a definite psychological component to all of these things – as soon as the practitioner hits on something that makes sense to the person being read they react and the practitioner knows which direction to go.

Now that I've confessed my misgivings I have to say that it was one of the most interesting things I've ever done.

I did not know my tarot reader beyond his first name and where he had moved here from. He didn't know me at all. He laid out the cards and started talking. I was careful not to react very much. He was RIGHT. ON. THE. MONEY. Every single card.

I can't remember the significance of the placement of the up-turned cards, but they all had something to do with this bound woman – the Eight of Swords.

Lost. Alone. Blindfolded. Bound. Caught in a prison of swords. Wandering away from the security that is behind her on the hill.

I interpreted it to mean that I can sometimes feel restricted by circumstances that seem to be beyond my control. That there are situations in my life that make me feel confused and powerless. Help and relief seem to be in my past – far away and on a hill I can't climb back up.

But then I started looking closer. The bound woman has options. Her feet are not bound. If she chooses to, she can walk over to one of those swords and use it to cut the ropes that hold her back. She can throw off the mask that is restricting her vision and run towards freedom.

Why wouldn't she?

Perhaps the same fear that got her in her current situation is keeping her from escaping from it. Just a thought.

I don't think that I'm suddenly a Tarot convert. Like everything else, it's open to personal interpretation. I think it's much more likely that it was a message I needed to hear at this particular moment in my life and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to hear it. I've been scouring antique stores and flea markets since that party. I want to find the Bound Woman Eight of Swords card and frame it. Just to remember.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.
—Luke 4:18

Can I get an amen?