Man, I gotta tell you, learning tarot, especially when it comes to love readings, has been a journey. Not like some textbook thing, you know? It’s all about getting your hands dirty and seeing what pops out. One card that really made me scratch my head at first, and then totally clicked after some real-life stuff, was the 2 of Spades. You see it, and your first thought is usually, “Oh boy, swords. Trouble.” But in love? That’s where it gets interesting.
I remember this one time, my buddy, let’s call her Jess, was in a real pickle. She had been with her boyfriend, Ben, for ages. Comfortable, steady, but honestly, a bit… flat. Then this new guy, Mike, popped up at work, all spark and excitement. Jess was torn, utterly paralyzed. She couldn’t make a decision to save her life. She was coming to me, talking circles, just totally stuck. So I told her, “Let’s pull some cards, see what the universe is trying to tell you.”
We laid out a simple spread, nothing fancy. And wouldn’t you know it, right there in the “what’s blocking you” spot, the 2 of Spades stared up at us. My immediate reaction, based on what I vaguely knew about swords, was like, “Uh oh, conflict. Arguments? Or maybe she’s fighting with herself?” But Jess, she just looked at it blankly, like, “What does two swords have to do with Ben and Mike?”
We sat there for a bit, just looking at it. I could see the image in my mind’s eye – usually two swords held or crossed, often with someone blindfolded, kinda frozen, not moving. It’s not about being in a fight, not exactly. It’s more about being between two things, stuck in a sort of standoff. And that blindfold? That was key for me in understanding it in a love context.
The Blindfold Moment: My Breakthrough
I started thinking about Jess’s situation. She wasn’t fighting with Ben, and she definitely wasn’t fighting with Mike. She was fighting with herself. She was actively refusing to look at the situation clearly. She was putting up this mental blindfold because if she really saw things, she’d have to make a choice, and that choice felt too big, too scary, too painful. She was trying to maintain a sort of uneasy peace, a fragile balance between her old comfort zone and this new, exciting unknown.
That’s when it clicked for me about the 2 of Spades in love readings. It’s not just about having two options. It’s about being paralyzed by those options, often because you’re deliberately refusing to acknowledge the truth of your feelings or the reality of a situation. It’s like you’re trying to keep two opposing ideas or desires balanced, but in doing so, you’re actually creating a stalemate in your own heart.
I looked at Jess and I said, “Look at this. Those two swords? They’re your two choices, Ben and Mike. But you’re not actually picking one. You’re just holding them out there, keeping them both at arm’s length, and you’ve got this blindfold on.” I pointed to the imaginary blindfold on the card. “You’re not letting yourself see the truth, because the truth might mean making a tough decision. It might mean hurting someone, or maybe even hurting yourself by letting go of something familiar.”
She got quiet. I could see the wheels turning in her head. “So, it’s not about them fighting?” she asked softly. “No,” I said, “it’s about your internal fight. It’s about the fact that you’re putting off a really important decision, and that indecision is actually causing you more pain than just picking a path would.”
This isn’t about choosing the “right” person. It’s about choosing to choose. It’s about taking off that blindfold and facing the emotional reality, no matter how uncomfortable. The swords represent the mental effort, the intellect, the tough truths. In love, those truths are often about what we truly want, what we’re willing to give up, and what we’re afraid of.
We talked it through for a long time. I explained that the card wasn’t telling her who to pick, but that she had to pick. She had to confront the reality that trying to avoid the decision was just making her more miserable. She needed to look inwards, feel her feelings, and then, with clear eyes, make a move.
- It’s about avoiding a tough truth.
- It means you’re at a crossroads, but paralyzed.
- There’s a need to make a conscious, sometimes painful, decision.
- You’re likely putting up emotional barriers.
Eventually, Jess did take off her blindfold. It wasn’t easy. She had a very honest, very difficult conversation with Ben. It wasn’t an argument, it was just… clarity. They realized they were on different wavelengths, and though it hurt, the decision to part ways brought her a strange sense of relief. She didn’t immediately jump into a relationship with Mike, either. She needed time to actually see what she wanted for herself, without the pressure of two external options.
That experience really hammered home the meaning of the 2 of Spades for me in a love reading. It’s not about drama or fighting between partners. It’s usually about the internal struggle, the difficult choice, the emotional paralysis, or the deliberate avoidance of a painful truth that needs to be faced in a relationship. It’s a call to drop your guard, open your eyes, and make that conscious decision you’ve been putting off.
