Tarot has been a part of Barbara Moore's personal and professional lives for nearly twenty years. Right from the start, tarot intrigued her with its marvelous blending of mythology, psychology, art, history, mystery, and magic. She has studied under...
We leave situations all the time and for different reasons. The Eight of Cups is about leaving the known and comfortable for the unknown. The reasons and results are different for each journey and each seeker. What is common to the experience is the promise of transformation. The act of leaving is the first step on a journey that will change us. Even if we return, we will be different, and therefore nothing will ever be the same again.
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In the Universal Waite card, a man leaves his ordered rows of cups. There is clearly something missing, indicated by the open space in the top row. He seeks that missing piece. The mountains in the background imply a challenging journey, and the moon represents change and the unknown.
Core meaning: Leaving something behind to search for something else.
The Legacy card shows the transformative aspect more clearly. The figure leaves the known, the water, in which he exists as a sea creature, and turns toward the unknown, the sky, and becomes a man. The symbolism of leaving the waters of the subconscious for the air of the rational mind affects the meaning. It indicates coming out of a fog into clarity.
The Shadowscapes card shows the same situation as the Legacy card, except in reverse. In this card, the figure is leaving the surface of the water to delve into the depths of the ocean. The journey of transformation in this card is an inward one, a searching for what lies below the surface.
