(i) Eight of Cups YouTube Video

My new YouTube channel is : Thoth Tarot Videos. The minor arcana videos are yet to be remade.

(ii) Thoth Eight of Cups

The Eight of Cups is a dark card where the cups are broken & have small unstable bases. The top row of cups are empty, the middle cups are filled with water from diseased lotuses. The centre bottom cup is empty.

Indolence definition = laziness, inactivity, dislike of work, lethargic and sluggish are all words that describe it.

(iii) Rider Waite Eight of Cups

Man abandons cups to pursue other matters.

(iv) Eight of Cups & the Tree of Life

Hod in Yetzirah

Hod is far down on the tree of life and like Netzach, is not in direct contact with the spirit of Tiphareth or Kether.

(v) Shemhamphorasch Angels of the Eight of Cups

Veuahiah: prosperity, abundance. When distorted, poverty, discord, waste of energy. Search for an artificial paradise. Worry about the future. Deliverance from bondage.

Ielahiah: Bravery, justice, and protection. When negative, fanaticism, war, feeling overworked.

(vi) Astrology of the Eight of Cups

1. Decan : 1st decan of Pisces (0 – 10°) ruled by SATURN

2. Saturn in Pisces

Saturn = structure, organisation, discipline, heavy energy, responsibility.

Pisces = intuitive, spiritual, fantasy, emotional

Saturn dominates and suffocates the joy of Pisces and also slows the flightiness of Mercury so the overall influence of the card resembles dark Saturn with no growth.

Mercury is also in its detriment in Pisces so we have conflict within this pairing as well.

(vii) Symbology of the Eight of Cups

Poisoned soil = our life is not ‘fertile’ at the moment and we suffer a lack of creativity. Nothing can be cultivated as Crowley states.

Drooping lotuses = no sunlight, the energy from the ace is rapidly lost. We feel as if we have had the life sucked out of us.

Broken Cup Handles/Cups = like us we are not receptive to pleasure and happiness. We need time to heal ourselves and feel whole again.

Lower Cups not filled = lack of emotional nourishment in our life.

Yellowish light in background = that is our clear vista, where we need to be to see the light and feel warmth in our life again. At the moment it seems a long way off. The light of Tiphareth.

(viii) Quotes from the Book of Thoth

” time and sorrow have descended upon pleasure” (p.184)

“the card is not exactly the morning after the night before but very nearly.. the difference is that the ‘night before’ has not happened” (p.184)

“Compare with the last card; it represents the opposite and complementary error. The one is the Garden of Kundry, the other the Palace of Klingsor” (p.200)

(Mihoko Fujimura as Kundry in Parsifal, staged at Bayreuth, July 2008. Photograph: Eckehard Schulz/AP)

This last statement is saying that the 7 of cups is an overindulgence in pleasure and this card is the opposite. Both are not the correct way forward for personal and spiritual growth. From both of these we get a gross distortion of the energy of pleasure that we had in the 6 of cups.In Wagner’s last music-drama Parsifal, we encounter a mysterious creature called Kundry.

In the domain of the Grail, this Kundry appears as a wild woman, an unkempt, shabby and repulsive crone.On the other side of the mountains, however, in the magic garden of the sorcerer Klingsor, she appears as a beautiful maiden.

(ix) Divinatory Meanings of the Eight of Cups

Upright

Many people interpret this card as being representative of ‘over extending oneself and not setting limits and giving too much to the point of exhaustion’ but this is NOT what indolence means and is clearly not what Crowley intended for the card.

Stagnation in our life with no interest in friends or personal projects. This affects us emotionally and mentally.

Not wanting to participate in any pleasure and we are deliberately or otherwise denying ourselves in this respect.

Lack of effort. This may be due to personal issues from our past and/or the fact that we just cannot see a point to our life at the moment. Like the debauch card, it can be a reaction to feeling empty in our life of anything that really fulfills us.

Reversed

Depression , emotional problems over a period of time , suicidal thoughts.

(x) Crystals Associated with the Eight of Cups

Carnelian: (Deep Orange to red) A stone of protection, it protects against envy, fear and anger. Helps increase physical energy, personal power, creativity and compassion. Stabilizes energy in the home and protects the environment from negative energy. Chakra: Sacral