VIII of Swords Spell
I know why the caged bird swings.
It's got no feathers.
It has no wings.
But its heart still wants to fly
up high,
among the clouds, among soft things.
I know why the caged bird sings.
Wrought iron bars can’t cage in dreams.
A voice still shimmers with glints and gleams
even if the songs are dirges and requiems.
The swords have spoken...
In the inside and the outside, I'm broken.
In the mind the problems are pointy,
but outside they're larger and might destroy me.
So, still here, I'll be swinging.
My forlorn melody I'll be singing.
My voice will be ringing.
My soul will be stinging.
Pity, party of one, I'll be bringing.
For I think I'm trapped;
My childhood's kidnapped.
There's no way out of this
room of pendulums and pits...
I'm restricted in this prison,
I'm the abused, I'm the victim.
My mind can only depict
a world that can only afflict.
But, if only I’d stop to look around
instead of weighing my own self down,
I'd see eyes surround
me, waiting for me to agree:
I'm more than my story.
There's more to my glory.
Can't I see?
The prison in which I'm stuck is only voluntary.
I can leave any time because I'm already free.
The prison in which I’m stuck is only voluntary.
I can leave any time because I’m already free.
SELF-IMPRISONMENT, PLAYING THE VICTIM, TOXIC INNER CRITIC
Eight is the infinity symbol upright so it clicks that it would mean a beginning ending and an ending beginning. Cycles are never-ending. The cycle in your mind right now is one that needs to be a broken pattern of thinking. Bad stuff happens to everyone, but you’re choosing the role of victim right now instead of using the trauma as strength. Get out of that negative headspace before your situation can be nothing positive. Right now, even surrounded by swords, you need to see that there’s still a way out of the cage you’ve been placed inside. Did you put yourself there or did someone force you inside its steel bars? Either way, you don’t have to stay there, swinging and singing. It’s a choice. Your feelings are a choice. Even the worst of situations can be escaped. Get out of there and find solace in the fact that your mind has become a cage and can also hold the key. It’s all within you. Just open those eyes to see what awaits.
Eight’s Insight: Sometimes our circumstances can be so harrowing that it takes every little cell in our bodies to get the energy to move. And you’re moving! The limiting inner critic isn’t being listened to anymore because you understand it’s not even talking about you. It’s an old record, stuck in a bad groove, blathering on about someone else at this point. Even if what you’re hearing are the toxic voices inside that your parents, guardians, and teachers built for you, you know you can destroy them at any moment. Shrink those bullies and flick ’em out of your way. You don’t need to hear that sad, poor-me song anymore, so stop singing it and hit the floor to the door. If you’re singing something, make it an anthem about your bad-assery.