The 8 of Swords – Becoming Your Own Hero

This article first appeared on The Awakened Network

 

“She needed a hero; so that’s what she became”. I don’t know the origins of that popular quote, but it is such an empowering message.

 

This is one of the messages on the flip side of the 8 of swords. The story of breaking free from our binds and removing our blindfold. Stepping out from the ring of Swords – our minds, our self created situations – all on our own.

 

There are so many ways we can feel trapped. As humans it is much easier to admit defeat and accept our fate, to give up and wait to be rescued. The problem with that is, most often, our rescuers never arrive.

So we slowly sink into a cycle of becoming bitter and frustrated.  We resent the people around us who should be saving us. We resent them secretly, and our vibrations are emitted into the universe. These vibrations then return to us and compound and are sent out again more intensely, and a cycle begins in which we become more and more isolated in our lonely, cold prison.

 

Perhaps we become needy. We are constantly complaining and venting our upset over being let down. ‘Nobody cares’ or ‘what about me?’. We are blind to the fact that the only person who can save us, the only person who can remove the binds and blindfold is ourselves.

 

Being the victim, or the one hard done by becomes the way we define who we are. It becomes a habit. Blaming others for missing our needs, or not doing what we think they should to help us become unstuck becomes our song. Especially when we a) refuse to actually ask for help and b) do not help ourselves!

 

It is indeed confronting when we are faced with the truth. The truth that if we wanted to we could slip out of the binds. Remove the blindfold and step out of that illusionary circle of swords – our thoughts – and free ourselves.

 

It seems easier to wait to be saved. But is it? While we are waiting for our hero to fix all our problems, our life is slipping by. If perchance we reach out for help – we might even just get it!

There is nothing like being able to be our own hero. The ability to take action to change things, to become liberated from our own prison of self defeat and helplessness is very much a wonderful feeling of release. Whether we do it on our own or seek help pro-actively – it all falls on us.

 

Taking steps, no matter how small, to free ourselves from whatever it is that keeps us stuck can be hard, but oh so worth it. Obstacles become challenges we are willing to overcome. Restricting thoughts – the ones that bound us up in the first place become catalysts for action and adjustment.

Most of the time, our limited perception creates limited circumstances. Wriggling out of our binds and opening up our vision gives us a clearer picture of how we can navigate out of our restrictive boundaries (represented by the 8 swords in the card image); and make our way to where we want to and need to be.

 

We are limited only by our thoughts. Becoming our own hero when we are held prisoner is reclaiming the power that each of us have within.

 

On the flipside, when we decide that no one can save us but ourselves, we will experience a lifechanging liberation in which we take control of our thoughts – and make our way back to living a life empowered with the knowledge that at any time, all it might take is a change of attitude, a realisation that removing our restrictions and stepping out of our prison is up to us! To be empowered is to be free.