Hmm, just personally, I'd guess that if he had a terminal diagnosis, she wouldn't be asking, as she'd already know. With a different diagnosis, he might live for decades.
But evidently she's worried about him, and so maybe in a sense, they are confronting "the unknown" and embarking on a kind of journey. I wouldn't see any of those as "conclusions" but rather, starting points.
People often don't really accept a terminal diagnosis readily a great deal of the time. They keep hoping that it's a mistake. An a.talternative meaning for the 8 cups is moving away from what you have emotionally invested in in the past because you Re now moving towards something even better. Could be welcoming death and whatever comes after.
Think about some of the interpretations for that card:
If the man's illness had been protracted and/or difficult, he probably was ready to turn away from it, to move on from it, to withdraw from it, to leave it behind and to walk away from it. Given it was cancer, about the only way to do any of those would be to welcome or move towards Death.
- A change of heart
- Turning away
- Moving on
- Withdrawing
- Parting
- Leaving the past behind
- Walking away from a difficult situation
So I wouldn't say that the 8C could always mean death, but in this particular case I'd say that death is definitely within the realm of applicable interpretations for the card.
Rodney
