Randomness: The 8 of Swords

[Joan Marie]

As a part of a spread this morning drew this:

Looking at the card without my glasses, I saw something I had not ever seen before, a smiley face.
Okay, sort of a strange smiley face, but still, click on the image and squint your eyes a bit and see if you can see it too.

(The sword hilts look like eyes to me-the hilts have eyes)

This card does not speak of real calamity. And in the Book of Thoth Crowley describes how it is often one's own good-naturedness that takes a minor setback or bit of bad luck and turns it into real trouble for one's self.

Now that I have seen this funny face, this smiling knife-visage, I can't help but have a sort of warm feeling for this card. Crowley calls the interference "accidental." There is no one out to get you here, it's just the randomness of life, the banana peel on the dance floor.

The RWS version of the 8 of swords has a more dire vibe:

And not just dire, but a kind of "this is all your own fault" feeling. To me this is a big difference between the RWS and the Thoth. I totally realise what I am about to say is strictly my own projection but the RWS feel more "religious" to me in the sense of looking all the time for fault and guilt and blame. Too many years of Catholic school no doubt instilled this general concept of religion in me. Yes, I had trouble with the nuns.

I was happy this morning to discover this hidden smiley face on the Thoth 8 of Swords.
Crowley also says that the symbols, Jupiter and Gemini indicate that the interference won't be totally destructive, some good fortune will seep through despite the human tendency to thwart one's self from time to time as we see our "best laid plans" go awry.

This card comes across to me as a friendly warning.

[Saba]

Yep, I can see the eyes & face... smiley with the curved bottom sword and having orange furrowed brows, chin and pointy beard. Definitely a comic aspect I haven’t noticed before. Laurel & Hardy...

[fire cat pickles]

I'll never forget this was my first Thoth card. It was at AT years ago for an intuitive exercise (I won't say who it was for.) I thought I saw a problem in a marriage. Not a major problem, just a small argument or setback. The person I was reading for claimed they didn't know what I was talking about and dismissed it, said I was totally off-base, etc. In fact, they seemed a little offended. Later it turned out I was correct, easily determined by subsequent posts this person made elsewhere in the readings forums. Yes, this sort of thing sticks with you and in your craw!

Anyway, this was a roundabout was to make a point that this card, for me at least, can show life's little annoyances that don't really amount to anything consequential in the long run, such as the lover's quarrel I predicted, unless of you allow it to.

[TheLoracular]

Anyway, this was a roundabout was to make a point that this card, for me at least, can show life's little annoyances that don't really amount to anything consequential in the long run, such as the lover's quarrel I predicted, unless of you allow it to.

I never saw the smiley face before either and now I can't unsee it (which is awesome). And I'm going to start approaching the Thoth 8 of Swords this way more because it does make sense.