The Eight of Swords (Tarot Triptych)
Name: Interference, the Eight of Swords
Number: 8
Astrology: Jupiter in Gemini
Qabalah: Hod of Yod
Chris Gabriel April 19, 2025
Interference is the perfect name for this card. If the Ace of Swords is pure Signal, the Eight is pure Noise. The message is lost, the image is blurred, the static drowns out the song.
In Rider, we see a woman in bondage. She is blindfolded and white ropes tie up her red dress. She is standing in mud and surrounded by eight swords. A castle sits on a mountain in the distance.
In Thoth, there are two sabers atop a medley of 6 swords. The background is the deep purple of Jupiter, and the erupting fragmented spikes are the orange of Gemini. This is Jupiter in its detriment.
In Marseille, a small flower sits at the center of eight crosshatched swords. For Jodorwosky, this was the achievement of an empty and receptive mind: overstimulation leading to trance. To Eliphas Levi, this is the Intelligence of the Prince.
The best path to grasping the nature of Interference is to take its name literally. Let us consider the two sabers in Thoth as AM and FM. These are pure and directed signals but when we listen to radio, we are often assaulted with static, which are the six interfering swords. The same applies to VHF and UHF, AC and DC, etc. Two streams of energy disrupted by background interference.
This is the nature of the fallen Jupiter in Gemini: when domiciled in Sagittarius, Jupiter launches arrows of belief into the distant unknown. When in Gemini it gets lost in immediate multiplicity,missing the tree for the forest. The grand spiritual faculty no longer focuses on the Heavens, but on what surrounds the body.
Rider shows us a grim image of confusion, a very occult view of the situation. Without divine clarity we are blinded, bonded, and beset on all sides. This is the same trouble Hamlet is afflicted by. The Prince who has guided us through the suit of Swords has shown time and time again to lose his contact with the signal, to the point where the Ghost of his father has to return and remind him of his duty after he gets thrown off track.
We can look at this dynamic more positively with another technology, stereo sound. The Eight of Swords is like a record needle, moved wildly by left and right waves of the vinyl but still producing a singular, coherent, Sagittarian sound.
In our lives we experience this very often. When you go into a room but forget what you were going to do, this is background interference overtaking clarity. When you intend to use your phone for a given purpose, but notifications and bright visuals distract you, this is interference. It can happen at greater and greater scales to the point where you have wasted your whole life on distractions, and like the figure in Rider, you are left tied up, blinded, and alone.
When pulling this card, clear your mind, beware of external distractions, and maintain your direction.
