Eight of Blades (Hokhma/Decisions)
Daughters of the Moon Tarot
by Ffiona Morgan
June 25-26, 2022: If you're a strict Tarot traditionalist now gazing at Ffiona Morgan's Eight of Blades, you might be thinking, "Wait! What happened?" Pamela Colman Smith's bound and blindfolded woman from her familiar Eight of Swords for the Rider-Waite deck has been transformed by Morgan for her feminist Daughters of the Moon Tarot.
No longer imprisoned and disempowered, Morgan's woman of wisdom (Hokhma) now stretches her arms in freedom and agency, grasping a scythe in either hand. Six other scythes encircle her, floating in mid-air under the power of her intelligence and magickal will.
In this astonishing image, I love how the scythes also suggest swirling question marks, and the desert scene evokes a place of hard, possibly urgent decisions to be made in a landscape devoid of comfort and distractions. The figure shown here seems skilled at juggling these questions and, in fact, may have deliberately chosen this rigorous place to set this inquiring process in motion.
The scythes could also symbolize discernment and choice, as Tarot's swords often do. However, as scythes, specifically, their function is even more focused on pragmatic acts of cutting and clearing, not potential conflict and violence. Sometimes truth and the path forward become obvious when clutter and obstructions are successfully removed.
We might even imagine these scythes are what severed the rope that once bound this woman.
Here we have the power of deep inquiry, interrogation, and change that goes far beyond shallow, surface examination and acceptance of easy answers.
Consider this:
What are the right questions, the incisive ones, that lead to true freedom?
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