Eight of Swords in 6 decks
The same card as 6 decks draw it, five and a half centuries apart. What stays the same is the card’s core; what changes is where a reading can find something new. The meanings are written for the Rider–Waite–Smith picture; the descriptions here are of each deck’s own. Not in Oswald Wirth, which has no Eight of Swords card.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A woman stands blindfolded and loosely bound, surrounded by eight swords planted in marshy ground. A castle sits on a cliff behind her. The bindings are not tight and the swords leave gaps; she could walk out if she could see, or if she tried.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
Eight curved grey blades form a broad quadruple oval, their crossings at top and bottom woven in blue with red diamonds and bound with yellow bars. A single green star-shaped flower with a red centre sits in the middle. Red flowers fill the corners. Numeral VIII at both sides.
Marseille number cards are read through their number and suit; the written meaning here gives the scene the Rider-Waite-Smith card adds.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A woman stands blindfolded and loosely bound, surrounded by eight swords planted in marshy ground. A castle sits on a cliff behind her. The bindings are not tight and the swords leave gaps; she could walk out if she could see, or if she tried.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
Eight curved grey blades form a broad quadruple oval, their crossings at top and bottom woven in blue with red diamonds and bound with yellow bars. A single green star-shaped flower with a red centre sits in the middle. Red flowers fill the corners. Numeral VIII at both sides.
Marseille number cards are read through their number and suit; the written meaning here gives the scene the Rider-Waite-Smith card adds.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
Eight curved blades, four on each side, form a broad striped oval woven together at top and bottom. The centre is empty except for a tiny yellow and red flower, and small leaf shapes sit in the corners.
Viéville number cards show only their suit symbols; read them through number and suit, with the written meaning as a guide.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
Eight swords cross four by four, their brown hilts forming a pointed arch at the top and their blue blades making a dense diamond lattice with gold lozenges at the crossings. The brown points fan out below. Green sprigs and flowers fill the margins of the cream ground.
In the Visconti-Sforza deck the number cards show only their suit symbols, and the trumps are unnamed and unnumbered.
Sola Busca
c. 1491
A naked youth with curly hair leans round a bundle of swords in red scabbards, pushing them into a bowl decked with laurel, fruit and red ribbons. The bowl rests on blue twisting supports. The numeral 8 is at the left.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
A woman in a red kimono stands blindfolded with a white cloth, her arms tied behind her and rope wound around her waist. Eight swords stand point down in the long grass around her, four on each side. Her long hair blows sideways, red leaves fly through the air, and dark bamboo rises behind.