Gilded Tarot - Eight of Cups

blackadder

I've just noticed something on the Eight of Cups that confuses me. Ut's teh little brown thing on the right hand corner by the cups. What is it? I'm thinking it's some kind of animal or maybe a big rock. I can't quite make it out.
 

Disa

I've seen this before, too. I thought it was a mole. I looked in the book and it does say it's a sleeping mole indicating blindness.
 

StellarMyst

8 of Cups - The thing about it that I noticed...

I questioned whether or not the mole was actually a rock or perhaps some kind of bag left behind with the cups. This was back when I first got the deck, and now I rarely take notice of the mole in the foreground of the scene.

The thing that now jumps out at me usually is the stance of the man in this picture. He seems to be starting back out after a rest, or maybe even pausing for reflection of some kind or other. Either way, I think of him as an individual whose journey is a reflective one but in action and movement he seems to be a little more laid-back. The man seems to be wandering; he might have a designated path, and he might not--unlike the speed of the 8 of Wands, the self-imposed restriction of the 8 of Swords, and the progress in some form of work expressed within the 8 of Pentacles, this one is more physically active.

But the card is also said to represent the possible need to clean up a mess in one's life. The mole really doesn't jump out at me though. I see what you both see here, and I question the extent of blindness on the part of the querent. The man's back is to the cups as if he's been rooted to the spot for just a bit. I see this, and it (more so than the mole) suggests blindness as an aspect of the card in my opinion. Sometimes one is able to nail-down what "mess" needs attention, and at other times, the querent is completely lost on "Which mess!?" this could possibly be...

--StellarMyst
 

rubyyarn

Before starting a new thread to ask this same question I did a search and came here. My first thought upon noticing a brown lump was "what is a platypus doing in a medieval-themed tarot deck?"

Could be a mole, I guess...