The Two of Swords Isn’t About Indecision
It’s About Protection.
We often read the Two of Swords as being “stuck between two choices.”
But what if that’s not the problem at all?
What if the nervous system is doing something very intelligent?
When the only options we can see both feel unsafe, undesirable, or self-betraying, we don’t choose.
We pause.
We narrow perception.
We put on the blindfold.
This isn’t weakness.
It’s protection.
Many of us live here for years:
Staying silent or blowing things up
Enduring or burning bridges
Obeying or rebelling
Two swords. Neither feels right.
So we tell ourselves these are the only possibilities.
But look closely at the card.
Behind the figure is an island.
The water looks impassable — but it’s low tide.
The third path isn’t dramatic.
It doesn’t require force.
It doesn’t require choosing either sword.
It requires removing the blindfold.
When we allow ourselves to see again, we often discover:
we were never as trapped as we believed
the binary was a stress response, not reality
there was space to step sideways, not just left or right
The Two of Swords teaches this quietly:
When the nervous system is overwhelmed, it collapses reality into false binaries.
Clarity doesn’t come from choosing harder — it comes from seeing wider.
Sometimes the most courageous act isn’t deciding.
It’s allowing yourself to look.
And often, once you do, the path that felt impossible has been patiently there all along — waiting for the tide to go out.
