How a tarot reading can bring insight and self knowledge.
Today I did a tarot reading that helped me realise another aspect of the Eight of Cups that I hadn’t fully appreciated before.
The eight of cups is about having come to a crossroads and deciding to move forward taking a different direction to follow your passion.
The illustration on the card shows a figure in a red cloak and red boots walking away from eight cups that are standing, guided by the light of the moon.
A moment when we come to a crossroads leaving our emotional past behind. The Eight of Cups says its time to move on and follow our own passion.
The moon always reminds us of our deeper emotions, often unconscious. In the eight of cups, leaving eight cups symbolises a deeply emotional crossroads. Leaving eight cups standing indicates considerable emotional growth in the cup suit. The cups are all depicted upright on this card, rather than spilled as illustrated in the five of cups. At the 5 of cups level the card shows a man looking at three cups spilled in front of him rather than turning round and looking at the two that are still standing. This card describes a potential feeling of still being focussed on disappointment and sadness, times when things have gone wrong emotionally. We’ve been hurt, emotions have been spilled. As the cup suit progresses to the six of cups, this is where we move progress by reassessing past feelings remembering the happier days of the past, past friendships, shared values, emotionally fulfilling times, in order to bring that quality into our lives moving forward. Onto the seven of cups, where we see a figure who looks like a conductor with his back to us and seven cups up in the air. The seven of cups describes a moment when anything and everything is possible, but it’s all a bit up in the air, undecided, it’s as if the conductor has to become clear about which cup he wishes to pull down to the ground and make happen. A time to decide what would really bring us emotional fulfilment.
And then we come to the eight. The eight cups standing show that while there has been emotional turmoil and disappointment we are able to leave all the cups standing, as if we can see the gift in every cup. We are now able to move forward in our lives following our passion, leaving the cups standing behind us, unhindered by past hurts and disappointments. A significant moment of emotional development. Finding the gifts in our experiences is where the gold is and its funny how you when say to older people, do you regret anything, they often say no, because with age comes the wisdom that every experience builds on who we are and that without our particular and unique journey we wouldn’t be who we are today.
One way of working with this card, A card of coming to a crossroads and being ready to move forward on a different path, is to reassess moments when a cup was spilled and see the learning. Some experiences made us stronger and more resilient, some more compassionate to others having experienced pain and sadness. We now have a bit more emotional maturity to see how feelings can pass and we can move on. We can can leave them behind, standing, we don’t need to reference them anymore . Yes the eight of cups signifies a powerful moment of emotional growth. Now we are ready to follow what really inspires.
Do come and have a reading with me in Battersea or online via Whatsapp or Zoom. The Tarot is a beautiful tool for personal development and growth.