Tyldwick - Eight of Cups

BodhiSeed

The "sevens" are generally about assessing and evaluating, but in the "eights" things have been put in order, so now it is very clear what is real and what isn't. There can be no more wasting time with denial or fantasies. And what is seen in this Eight of Cups? An old potting shed is filled with broken and neglected tools. What should have been kept in good working order has been discarded in a dark shed. What should have been valued and appreciated is now ignored and neglected. This relationship is obviously lacking in what Aretha spells out in her song: R-E-S-P-E-C-T. However, the stack of pots do show some order - five on one side and three on the other. The imbalance in the relationship is apparent; one person thinks their needs and desires are more important than the other person's. But the biggest "tell" of all are the empty pots; there is nothing growing at all. The feeling of emptiness is what characterizes this relationship, whether it is with a person or group. Time to move some of those pots into the sunlight and fill them with fresh soil and seeds.

malpertuis.co.uk/2013
 

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swimming in tarot

The shelf is broken between the two groups of pots. The left part of the shelf seems to be held up by a pole (staff), and the right part by something sword-like. A wheel or disk hangs off the right shelf, supporting nothing. It could be the wheel belonging to the barrow propped up against the wall, carrying nothing, going nowhere. Bridging the gap between broken shelf halves is a short-handled tool, perhaps a hand cultivator. Some hands-and-knees, get-dirty effort will be required to reconcile the two parts, that implies to me. But nobody's putting their hand to the plough, as it were.

It's hard to see all the details, so I don't know if I've been seeing right--but I like to think that I've been thinking right! :-D

ETA: Wondering if the staff and sword, warlike suit signs supporting the opposing halves of the shelf, could be referencing "beating swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks"; transforming the two sides' hostile attitudes into tools of fruitful reconciliation work.
 

Tyldwick

I love swimming's observation that the sword, staff, and coin all appear in this card. The Rider Waite image depicts a man with a staff and the moon shining as a disc in the sky. The stacking order of the cups is an obvious parallel (no sword though).

There appears to be a light source at the top of this card as well. A moonbeam peeks through a weathered crack in the roof of this abandoned shed. Maybe it can "shed some light" on your spiritual journey.