Considering Accessibility, Neurodiversity, Mad Studies & Victory with the Tarot | 8 of Swords
This month, I’ve been going through each of the various cards in the Swords suit of the tarot to unpack the major themes and things going on "in the universe of each card" (JTP). The Swords deal with the life of the mind, with how we think (cognition & mental formations), the ways that we think ABOUT how we think (metacognition), the mouth aka communication styles, and strategy. They can also call back toward events that have occurred (or might occur, in some cases) that greatly impacted how we think, process, feel, strategize, or communicate.
Prior sessions have existed on IG live - I’ll log on in an impromptu fashion with gathered notes about the cards. Then, the replay is saved with captions onto the Patreon page (currently functioning as a primary programming portal as well as in-depth online library).
It's interesting because while I was teaching the 8 of Swords on IG live, I was also moving through a fair bit of incoming and outgoing "brain fog." Brain fog is a word typically used in the disability and chronic illness communities to communicate about symptomatic changes in the brain's ability to do what psychological & psychiatric communities call "executive functioning." Executive functioning is what allows us to put things in order for our days (planning), utilize our working memory, and "manage" our time. The first time that I’d heard of this term was during my work in Higher Education, in the process of assisting students with finding offices and resources for disability accommodations.
Mad Studies scholars and activists have begun to utilize both written texts and social media to critique the idea that the brain must have an "executive" to be able to function, naming that globalization and capitalism have impacted the ways in which we both see and then pathologize neurodiversity. (Connections of "time management", as well as framing these capacities as “executive”, certainly call to mind the tenets and principle interests of capitalist production and the indoctrination into this system). Thus, the mad studies movement focuses on the following:
x. The survivors of psychiatric violence
x. The systemic reasons behind psychiatric distress in individuals
x. The lived experience and leadership of those who are "mad" (named by psychiatric complex as mentally ill and / or those who are neurodiverse). This aligns with the larger principle of disability justice which is "leadership of those most impacted", as expressed through disabled artist-educators, Sins Invalid
Given this, the 8 of Swords might remind us that sometimes we find ourselves stuck, through no fault of our own. Most popular tarot interpretations suggest that this is a card that reminds us that we can break through self-limiting talk & self-limiting thoughts. But what happens when you are a part of a marginalized group? What happens when the limitations don't solely come from the inside, but also primarily from the outside? What happens when your reaction to systemic violence & erasure is pathologized? I find that the 8 of Swords speaks to this given the swords surrounding the primary figure from the outside.
In traditional Rider-Waite-Smith decks, the 8 of Swords figure is surrounded by the swords AND tied up with ropes so that the movement is restricted. In the JTP video lesson, you can see a figure from the Modern Witch deck that is similar to the traditional rendering. It's important to note that the figure is only restricted by the ropes from the waist up. Their legs are completely free and it looks as though they might be able to move either forward with small steps and / or backward, in order to reflect. The 8 of Swords reminds us that it's okay to take small steps in the healing journey; you're still moving! This might also remind us that the process of finding compatible care happens one step at a time and is based on both things we can AND cannot control. This is cause for great self-compassion.
Finding victory with this card might suggest that a level of self-advocacy is upcoming. But here's the shout: This card also suggests that there are otherwise ways* of moving through a space when there is appropriate accommodation! It is not your fault, beloved, that we live in a world that does not readily or continually center accessibility and accommodation. Moving toward that would actually also help the Able-Bodieds (those who believe and / or are perceived as able-bodied, even in a society that consistently destroys and debilitates the body for profit; it's giving fiction to me, but that's just me *wink. This is why solidarity is important. Or as Beyonce says, "When you love me, you love yourself).
Read in this way, the card might lead to the following reflections:
+ How might I be experiencing the Swords suit in my everyday life (cognition, metacognition, mental health, communication, & strategy)? Are there any ways that I wish to be supported through matters pertaining to the Swords? Who can I reach out to and / or where might I start to build resources for matters of the Swords
i.e. jadetperry.com/resources & patreon digital care packages (use search bar to find)
+ What are the systemic issues at play here? What might these 8 Swords represent systemically?
+ How can we utilize the qualities of water towards our healing? (Water is often seen at the base of the card, and water in tarot typically pertains to matters of heart, spirit, emotion, art, and ritual)
You can also share your thoughts on Instagram, tagging me @jadetperry OR on Twitter, tagging me @Jade_T_P. Talk to you all soon!
*Special thanks to Dr. Ashon Crawley for the language of “otherwise ways”
Primary photo is the 8 of Swords via the Black Queer Tarot Deck
Image Description: A digital collage of a brown skinned Black person seated on a beach under the light of moon and stars. There are swords surrounding them and swords coming out of each eye. In the background you can see stone structures; one is in the shape of a hand