I get the 8 of Swords ALL THE TIME right now - it makes sense given where I am in my #trauma work. I'm puzzled by the Magician in the past - to me it's a card of action (receiving power, directing power; being engaged in the real world). Creativity, too.
3 Pentacles looks like an organic version of 8 Swords - cradled in living wood instead of circled with blades. It means work: practical work and work on the self.
I note all three cards are very vertical: reaching up, grounding down? #tarot
A tentative reading: after a time when I was creatively engaged, in touch with reality, and powerful, I lost touch with my power and became isolated, blind, dumb, and afraid. From that position, though, I can grow, with the swords turning into branches that tunnel through my mind.
It looks like a pretty dead tree, though. And I'm stumped about how the art here connects with the divinatory meaning of "work" - the Rider/Waite pack has a sculptor, so maybe the tree is the artist? #tarot