The Eight of Swords may look like a challenging tarot card, but it offers us a way out of our current distress. Learn more about the spiritual meaning of the Eight of Swords tarot card.

The Eight of Swords can be a disturbing card to pull. The traditional Rider-Waite-Smith version of this card shows someone tied up and blindfolded standing in a puddle, surrounded by eight swords arranged like a cage. This card looks cold and scary. But the cage of swords is fairly open. The blindfold is loose, and the person doesn’t look particularly distressed.

Recurring headaches can be a sign that there are imbalances in both the body and mind. Learn more about the spiritual meaning of headaches.

Headaches are rather common and can be caused by a number of factors, and can range from slightly annoying to debilitating, especially if you suffer from migraines. Sometimes headaches can indicate an underlying issue, and if you’re concerned about your headaches, it’s a good idea to see your doctor to find out if there’s something else going on. In the meantime, let’s consider the spiritual meaning of headaches.

While the common retelling of Persephone’s story may seem heartbreaking, a deeper, more powerful truth lies within.

In the classical Greek myth “The Rape of Persephone,” Persephone, the daughter of the agriculture goddess Demeter, is abducted by Hades, god of the underworld. Demeter grieves Persephone so bitterly that the world stops producing food, and winter falls. In order to bring abundance back into the world, Persephone is returned to her mother, but because Persephone ate six pomegranate seeds while she was in the underworld, it is decided that she must stay in the underworld for six months each year, causing the cycling grief of her mother to bring on winter once a year.

Demeter was likely one of the pre-Hellenic goddesses who was worshiped before the northern Zeus worshipers arrived. “The Rape of Persephone,” as well as many other Greek myths we know today, may actually tell the story of this conflict: The masculine invaders work to subdue indigenous feminine spirituality, leading to uneasy alliances and unhappy marriages in myth.

Inspired by Tricia Hersey’s book Rest Is Resistance, Julie Peters shares her thoughts on the radical healing power of rest.

“A grieving person is a healed person. Can you guess why our culture does not want a healed person in it?”

I was stuck in a snowstorm in rush hour traffic when I heard this line from Tricia Hersey’s book Rest Is Resistance. As I listened to her powerful voice explaining in no uncertain terms that slowness is a powerful reclaiming of power in a world that disempowers us, I didn’t mind the traffic. I drifted with the snow, taking my sweet time to get home, letting Hersey’s words wash over me.

This line in particular has been haunting me: “A grieving person is a healed person.”

Instead of viewing the universe as a confusing, scary place, try seeing the universe like a social media algorithm.

Defining one’s spirituality isn’t always easy. If we are raised in a religious context, the rules are laid out and all the answers are provided for us, usually by a book or an authority figure who can tell us why there’s suffering in the world and why bad things happen to good people. Believing in something outside of those dominant narratives can be a bit more challenging—we still want to know why horrible things happen, why praying doesn’t always get us what we want, and why it hurts so much to be a human being so much of the time.

I’ve been thinking about ways of getting together as a group to feel into the moon phases, explore some Tarot, and connect groups in a healing capacity. And I think I’ve got it—let’s start a coven!

A coven is a gathering of witches. The word “witch” can mean a lot of things, but all it means to me is someone who taps into their own intuitive powers and the powers of the natural world. Being a witch doesn’t have to require initiation, a leader, or any religious doctrine—in some ways, it rebels against all that. It’s a practice of inner connection that doesn’t need an authority figure.

One miscarriage is traumatizing enough, but some unlucky few have to deal with two, three, four, or more miscarriages in our lives. It can be incredibly frustrating to have to go through the same nightmare over and over again, especially if there is no explanation for why this keeps happening. As someone who has experienced five miscarriages, I have thought a lot about the spiritual and energetic considerations of recurrent miscarriages.

Miscarriage is a devastating experience and shockingly common, happening in about one in four pregnancies. It is defined as any pregnancy loss before 20 weeks of gestation, so it can look like anything from a chemical pregnancy, which happens before 5 weeks, to a loss beyond the 12-week mark, when many of us assume we’re in the clear.

It is normal to ask about the meaning of horrible experiences like this, and there are a few ways we can think about how the body, mind, and spirit may be communicating through miscarriage.

How do you relate to your wildness? The Chariot tarot card can teach us how to honor the wild parts of ourselves and release grasping onto maladaptive ways of being.

The Chariot tarot card usually shows someone at the reins of a chariot, driving forward. In the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the chariot is depicted as being drawn by a black and a white sphinx, facing in opposite directions. In some more modern cards, they are horses that are pulling the chariot, one dark and one light, in opposite directions. The charioteer often looks calm despite the opposing directions of the beings in front of him.

What do you think laziness means? Most of us think of it as idleness, especially when something needs to get done. The image of a “lazy person” is of someone sitting on the couch watching TV or scrolling through their phone when the garbage needs to be taken out. Laziness is associated with procrastination, an inability or unwillingness to complete the task required. Most of us also think of this as a bad thing.

What if it’s not? What if laziness—sitting on the couch scrolling on your phone, unable to get up even though the garbage needs to go out—is a natural human need? What if it’s even more than that: a resistance to productivity, a rebellious act of rest?

We’re all familiar now with COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. Most of us have encountered it intimately, whether through infection, vaccination, or both. But it’s a new virus, and such a strange one—it shows up often as a cold or flu, but sometimes as vomiting and diarrhea. It can have some strange symptoms, like loss of taste and smell, pink eye, light sensitivity, mental fog, rashes, menstrual changes, and “COVID toes,” where your toes turn purple. For some people, the COVID-19 infection is no big deal, while others get hit hard for weeks or even months, and we know that it can threaten our lives.

There are many layers to why we get sick with one thing as opposed to another. There isn’t always a rhyme or reason to it, but understanding the energetic signature of a certain illness or injury can help us align ourselves with what’s best for us spiritually, physically, and psychologically. If you are sick, talk to your doctor or health practitioner about your best course of action. But we can complement that health advice by looking at things from a more spiritual perspective and see if there’s anything we can learn from the illness. What is the spiritual meaning of COVID-19?

Broken bones force us to slow down and seek medical help, but they can also offer us spiritual lessons about what’s happening in our lives.

A broken bone is a powerful experience. When a bone is broken, we are forced to stop doing things the way they were done before. Depending on the type and placement of the break, a broken foot means we may not be able to walk at all. While attending to the advice of your doctors and other practitioners, let’s consider the spiritual meaning of a broken foot.

The Four of Swords tarot card usually shows someone lying on a bed (or something that looks like a coffin) with three swords hanging above their head and another lying beneath them. In the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, the person’s hands are pressed together in prayer, and a stained-glass window is depicted on the wall, representing a sort of spiritual sanctuary. The person looks as peaceful as can be, considering they are lying on a coffin with three swords hanging over their head.

Swords cards tend to be the most difficult cards the tarot to sit with. They often depict scenes of heartbreak, struggle, and loss. This is because Swords represent intellectual energy, which is truly like a double-edged sword: Clear thinking can help us discern between reality and illusion, while muddled thought can make us believe terrible untruths about ourselves and the world.

While often remembered as a demon, Lilith was once an empowered goddess who dared to stand up for herself, and was exiled. Her story has powerful lessons for those of us who need to learn to stand up for ourselves.

Lilith is a goddess with roots in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, dating back to 2100 BC. She was once known as a goddess of fertility and sexuality who aided mothers and their newborns. But she’s also been called a demon, a succubus, a killer of children, a temptress, and even a vampire. She was also the biblical Adam’s first wife.

I’ve been thinking about ways of getting together as a group to feel into the moon phases, explore some Tarot, and connect groups in a healing capacity. And I think I’ve got it—let’s start a coven!

A coven is a gathering of witches. The word “witch” can mean a lot of things, but all it means to me is someone who taps into their own intuitive powers and the powers of the natural world. Being a witch doesn’t have to require initiation, a leader, or any religious doctrine—in some ways, it rebels against all that. It’s a practice of inner connection that doesn’t need an authority figure.

“A grieving person is a healed person. Can you guess why our culture does not want a healed person in it?” 

I was stuck in a snowstorm on rush hour traffic when I heard this line from Tricia Hersey’s book Rest is Resistance. As I listened to her powerful voice explaining in no uncertain terms that slowness is a powerful reclaiming of power in a world that disempowers us, I didn’t mind the traffic. I drifted with the snow, taking my sweet time to get home, letting Hersey’s words wash over me. 

When the Queen of Wands presents herself in a tarot reading, she brings lessons about personal power, sovereignty, and the power of being a lion in cat’s clothing.

The Queen of Wands is generally depicted in the tarot as a beautiful woman, comfortable on her throne, holding a staff (or wand) and a sunflower. Lions adorn her throne and a black cat sits at her feet. This queen seems confident, independent, and intuitive, but what is the spiritual meaning of the Queen of Wands?

Endometriosis is a complicated but common condition. When Western medicine offers no explanation, you may want to explore the spiritual meaning of endometriosis.

After exploring what the Western medical model has (or doesn’t have) to offer, what might endometriosis be trying to tell us from a spiritual perspective? What if we could listen to its messages and help manage our symptoms better or improve our general wellness through that knowledge? What is the spiritual meaning of endometriosis?

When the medical system fails to heal chronic illness or chronic pain, we may find solace in a spiritual understanding of our lived experience.

When we’ve exhausted the support we can access from the medical system, it may be time to think about a spiritual understanding of a chronic illness or injury. What might our bodies be trying to tell us that we do not yet understand? What is the spiritual meaning of these chronic issues? Let’s practice some ways to learn the language of illness and injury so we can understand them (and ourselves) better.

Rest doesn’t always have to look like more sleep. When we listen to the body’s needs and triggers, we can better understand what true restfulness looks like.

It’s easy to be busy in our modern world, which puts so much value on productivity. Many of us believe somewhere deep inside that we are human doings, not human beings. That if we rest, take a break, or don’t work for a while, we lose our right to exist.

And yet rest is important medicine. Our bodies are capable of healing so many ailments and injuries without much more intervention than rest. Additionally, stress is implicated in something like 90 percent of acute and chronic illnesses.