Eight of Cups
The Eight of Cups signifies change, seeking, exploration, and escapism. It symbolizes abandoning learned experiences to seek new meaning and fresh starts. However, it also acknowledges that true progress includes carrying forward past knowledge and experiences. The card reminds the reader of the adventurous spirit, chosen solitude, and the surrounding mystery and darkness on the journey.
Keywords
Personal Anecdote
I have a streak of liking the “saddest” cards in the deck and being inordinately pleased with how they turn out. Once upon a trip to the Ren Faire, a fairy giving out sample candle wax massages took my hand and noticed, with some distress, the Three of Swords tattoo on my arm. The fact that the card was in its reversed position gave her some comfort, but I still couldn’t help laughing at myself for being that dark, broody guy.
No Sad Cards
I’m just kidding. By definition there are no sad cards in the deck. Yes, there are cards that point to hard times, painful situations, difficult transitions—but that’s life. And it isn’t that bad things don’t happen in life, or that it’s always about a lesson. Sometimes awful things happen for no reason at all and give us nothing but pain. But even that, in and of itself, is an experience that we, as humans, will by nature make the most of. We will learn, we will grow, we will expand from the bad in our life sometimes even more than the good. Human resilience is an evolutionary tactic that has kept us surviving, and sometimes even thriving, for centuries with a vengeance.
Change and Exploration
The Eight of Cups is a card of change, of seeking and exploration, and of escapism in its more positive aspects, and of loneliness and aimless drifting in reverse. The traditional Smith depiction has the seeker leaving the cups behind them, a symbol of having to abandon all the person has learned in order to seek new meaning and fresh beginnings.
True Progress
I don't think personal progress works that way. There is no truly blank slate, and no matter how fresh a start we want to have, we never truly abandon everything we've ever learned or the habits we've built up. We carry them with us, for better or worse—the hard work is making it for the better. And so the cups are stacked across the treacherous terrain through which the seeker travels, among turbulent waters and steep rocks. They represent the foundations of their knowledge, talent, of their life, and the new lessons and gifts waiting to be discovered on their journey.
Reminders
I wanted the card to remind the reader of the Fool in the adventurous spirit with which the traveler takes on this new challenge, of the Hermit in her imposed loneliness or chosen solitude, and of the Moon in the darkness, mystery and uncertainty that surrounds the seeker.
Fyodor Pavlov tarot
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