TAROTEight of Cups
Upright
Moving away from a situation
Walking away and starting something new.
Creating distance from situations that don’t benefit you.
Moving elsewhere to seek a deeper fulfilment. Shedding an old skin to start again.
Intuition
The card shows King Odysseus embarking on his ten year long journey back from Troy.
He left several situations and overcome several obstacles on this journey back, as depicted in the book The Odyssey (Homer). This book is one of the oldest pieces of literature and is the most read non-religious ancient text.
Reversed
Inability to make the difficult decision to end a situation
A struggle to end a difficult situation.
Staying in a bad situation to please others.
Failure to detach and leave.
Astrologia
Mature responsibility and disciplined in moving forward. Wisdom coupled with intuition and compassion. Creativity and patience means an ability for great works. The ‘moving forward’ is often an internal journey but it can devolve into escapism and illusions.
Eight of Cups
After the new choices of the Seven of Cups we may have to leave behind an old self or situation that has either run its course or no longer benefits us.
This journey of disconnection, moving on or the start of a transformation is depicted in the Eight of Cups.
We see a man walking away from eight cups. The cups represent previous emotions. There are enough there to represent a major event or situation, so the man is not walking away lightly. If anything, he does so with purpose.
The man has also walked between the two sets of cups. This presumes they were once together. The man walking away has changed them. He has made a decision to move on, or has been forced or required to do so.
On the horizon we see mountains on either side, hemming the man in to a particular route and/or causing him previous problems.
Behind him in the sky we see an eclipse. An eclipse signifies emotional cycles that have run their course and the changes and transformation that may follow.
One of the oldest epic journeys occurs in the book The Odyssey. This is perhaps the oldest piece of non-religious literature still read by modern readers and tells the story of the return from the war over Troy (which is itself the subject of a first book, The Iliad). The man on the card is the hero of The Odyssey, Odysseus.
Odysseus
Odysseus (Latin; Ulysses) is a character in The Odyssey, one of the most influential pieces of literature in the West. Odysseus is seen as many different archetypes, from the Christian archetypal Wise Pilgrim to the Byronic Adventurer (i.e. a character who carries the weight of previous tragedies, and this is where his true strength comes from).
Odysseus had given a good account of himself at Troy because of his intelligence, bravery, guile, and common sense. The trick of the Trojan horse was his idea.
His journey back took ten years and his main aim was to get back to his kingdom before it and his family fell apart. Of the several hundred soldiers and sailors who accompanied Odysseus on the journey home, only Odysseus himself returned.
Description and Symbology
The card depicts a sense of walking away from something. It represents a loss that needs to happen before transformation to something better can occur.
The card depicts a sense of walking away from something. It represents a loss that needs to happen before transformation to something better can occur.
The man is striding away with purpose. He no longer wants to play a part, or it is no longer in his interest to remain. Something has ended or the man has something else to pursue.
The cups on the ground suggest this is an emotional or spiritual issue. The cups are split into two groups of four with a gap in the middle. They are incomplete, or the space in the middle is the place the man previously inhabited. Perhaps he has set out for the thing that was missing. Perhaps the incompleteness was inside him and he needs to move to fill that empty space in himself.
In the sky we see an eclipse. This symbolizes a transformation. The man’s spear connects with the eclipse, suggesting he is the one who will be transformed. The eclipse also suggests the landscape is dark and may mean the man is leaving in secret or suddenly.
Although the landscape contains equal parts of earth and water, there is no life. There are mountains in the distance. This suggests an untenable situation or difficult journey behind the man. He leaves a place that has scarred him, caused difficulty, or hemmed him in and prevented growth.
Finally, the man is covered in red, denoting emotion. He has become emotionally detached from the situation he is leaving but that does not mean he is unemotional - far from it! The emotions now are ones of release and escape. His energy denotes new adventures and a chance to finally change his life for the better after a period of stagnation.
He is ready and willing for transformation.
The man
The man walks away with purpose and emotion. Although he is moving away from an emotional situation, he has new emotions of his own and these are symbolized by his red clothes.
The cups
We see four cups on the ground and four in the water, suggesting the man is leaving behind material possessions and emotions. They are no longer enough to keep him (or are the reason he is leaving), or he wants something else. The cups are separated by a space that looks like it would accommodate the man. In leaving, the man has taken something from the cups.
The landscape
Although the landscape behind the man contains both earth and water, there is no life nor emotion other than the cups. The cups were the only thing that held him there. The mountains beyond suggest he spent some time and effort reaching the cups (which for Odysseus would represent Troy), but now it is time to leave.
The Eclipse
The eclipse represents transformations. In leaving, the man is fulfilling a need for personal transformation. The eclipse is also an important symbol for those performing shadow readings.
Tips for Readings
The following table shows the upright and reverse meanings for general questions. The last row ('Yes/No') is useful when you are picking a single card to decide a yes or no decision.
Upright
Reversed
You need to walk away from relationships or friendships that no longer serve your best interest.
This may take courage and create a loss in the short term, but staying means putting up with something that does not suit you anymore.
In the long term there is a need to let go and move forward from previously constraining situations.
You are locked in a relationship or friendship that is constraining you, but you are not ready to let go and move on.
This may be because you lack the courage or because you hope for better days, or you are overlooking serious issues for what you believe is going well.
There is also the chance that the real issue is you; living in a fantasy or expecting too much.
Whatever the case, there is a need to consider yourself and your goals, and this will mean making some space to reflect.
You are either dissatisfied with your current position or have a feeling that something is not right. This card suggests you are correct. You are not reaching your potential or are holding yourself back by remaining.
At the very least look at the current market value of your job position (this is easy to do now via an online search of your positions ‘job-spec’) and actively explore other opportunities.
You are in a position you either don’t enjoy or are becoming bored of, but are not doing anything about through inertia or fear of the unknown and ‘the devil you know’.
It is time to break this situation but you first need to gain the courage and momentum to do it.
You are unfulfilled in other areas of your life and this may be affecting your physical or mental health.
It is time to consider what is good for your own development and leave any relationship that is both not fixable and not good for you in its present form. The card suggests at least one such relationship, friendship or work related issue.
One or more issues within your life are preventing you moving forward and you are either not addressing it through fear of the changes it would cause, or are ignoring it.
The time has come to address these issues as they are having an effect on your wellbeing. This will include stepping up and having the courage to remove such situations and relationships from your life.
Growing up always involves replacing one set of beliefs with another more rounded and correct set. This is seen clearly as you move from child to adult, but what is less obvious is that it also occurs many times as you continue to grow.
Old beliefs are now holding you back and you need to discard what no longer works.
This can be a painful exercise as it creates loss and initial confusion, but this loss is needed in any transformation.
You are being blocked by outdated beliefs that you feel are no longer relevant but you still have a connection with or feel you have a moral obligation towards (possibly imposed by people in your life).
You are failing to take action on them for whatever reason, and they are now holding you back.
You must make a decision to drop what does not work anymore, or accept that you are being held back by it.
As you consider this, remember that only the first step is the hardest one.
It is time to reassess your priorities when it comes to money and finances. This may be because they reflect a previous lifestyle or relationships that no longer exist, or that you have simply changed as a person.
Whatever the problem, it is time to remove the deadwood and make your money work for you and not the previous you!
If nothing else, changing your finances is a bold statement that signals this new you.
Either through inertia or holding on to the past, your finances reflect a previous life or are being eaten up by things that you do not really want, and in doing so are blocking yourself from engaging in the real journey to you.
Either through inertia and fear of change, or loyalty to the past, you are not making the necessary changes, leaving you with nothing to fund your true passions.
At the very least you should realize that most chains holding us back consists of many links, and the financial aspect is a large one in your current chain.
Yes through proactive change.
No through ignoring the need for change.
Reading the Card
The upright card
The upright Eight of Cups signals a period of withdrawing from aspects or situations of your life. This is because your best interest is no longer served by remaining engaged or present in them.
There may be a lack of personal growth, disillusionment or toxicity. You may simply be stuck in a rut that you need to overcome.
To get out of the situation there is a need to create distance.
As well as moving away there is a significant chance that the move will cause a transformation of some sort in you. This may not be something you initially want nor desire as it may cause regret or loss, but it is necessary to move forward and get on with your life.
The reversal
The reversed Eight of Cups describes the same situation as the upright card except that you lack the ability to move away.
There may be things preventing you moving right away and these may cause a less than clean break or an extended period of stress during the disconnection.
You may be avoiding difficult decisions or be prone to toxic positivity of the ‘it will get right itself’ or ‘this just needs more communication’. The card does not involve Air, so there is no reversed communication component here. It is pure emotion (Water, Saturn in Pisces).
Finally, there is a chance that the problem is you. Overreaction or living in a fantasy world may be the root cause. This does not unfortunately change the card - you still need a time away to reconsider. The situation is still toxic to your growth irrespective of who is applying the poison!
Card Design Process
The standard card is one of a few that is not immediately obvious in its intent as it does not show a strong direction of travel, possibly because the man moves away from the viewer. This card design makes the man move towards the viewer so that we see his expression and body language. He is moving with definite intent, confidence and direction
Final Words
The Eight of Cups speaks of detaching yourself and moving forward from aspects of your life that no longer fit nor work for you. Although it represents a loss of the old and familiar, this is often necessary.
This is how we grow from child to adult; by moving away to find our own space to grow. It is also how we grow beyond to further stages in life.
