Eight of Cups
walking away · leaving behind · a search · disillusion
Card art: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, for A. E. Waite. Public domain.
The suit of Cups
In a few words
- walking away
- leaving behind
- a search
- disillusion
Eight cups stacked, and you walk away under the moon. Leaving what was enough but not right.
Upright
- Everything
- Eight cups stacked, and you walk away under the moon. Leaving what was enough but not right.
- Love
- Leaving a relationship that no longer feeds you, even though nothing is dramatically wrong.
- Work
- Quitting a comfortable role to find meaning. The mountain is far; go anyway.
- Money
- Walking away from a safe income for something truer. Plan the road first.
- Myself
- The search for more than comfort. It is not ingratitude; it is growth.
The card speaks for itself on the surface, but other readings are entirely antithetical—giving joy, mildness, timidity, honour, modesty. In practice, it is usually found that the card shews the decline of a matter, or that a matter which has been thought to be important is really of slight consequence—either for good or evil.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 210
Reversed
- Everything
- Afraid to leave, or leaving too soon. Drifting between staying and going.
- Love
- Staying out of fear, or running before trying. Decide honestly.
- Work
- Stuck in a job you have already left in your heart. Or returning to one you fled.
- Money
- Fear of losing security keeps you in the wrong place. Build a bridge, then cross.
- Myself
- Avoiding the inner call. It grows louder, not quieter.
Great joy, happiness, feasting.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 210
The card, as Waite described it
A man of dejected aspect is deserting the cups of his felicity, enterprise, under-taking or previous concern.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 210
The plain-word meanings on this page were written for ShreeJyoti and are still under review.