Eight of Cups
Minor Arcana · Cups · number 8 · Otto di Coppe
Upright
The Eight of Cups is a man walking away at night, leaving eight cups neatly lined up: he is leaving something that worked. Waite says the card shows the decline of a matter, or the discovery that what seemed important matters little. Waite recalls, though, that other readings say the exact opposite, joy, mildness, timidity, honour, modesty: the card is ambiguous, and in practice it reads as a quiet decline, for good or for ill. If these days you feel a job, a relationship, a project no longer fills you, and it does not even hurt as much as you expected, it is no accident. It is not a sentence: it is a phase closing without drama. The practical advice: do not slip away in secret. Say goodbye honestly, leave the cups in order, and walk towards whatever is calling you.
Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage
Reversed
Reversed, the Eight of Cups turns back and finds the feast: great joy, happiness, feasting. What you were about to abandon proves to be alive again, or a source of merriment appears just as you had decided to leave. If these days you receive an invitation, a reconciliation, a lovely surprise, it is no accident: the card tells you to stay, at least tonight. In love it may be a rekindled flame; at work, an unexpected recognition. Just do not mistake one good evening for a final solution. The practical advice: enjoy the feast, and decide about the future on a full stomach and a fresh mind.