Eight of Wands

Minor Arcana · Wands · number 8 · Otto di Bastoni

Eight of Wands, plate by Pamela Colman Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1910

Upright

The Eight of Wands is speed: eight staves flying through the air like arrows, a messenger running, everything moving at once. If these days things are accelerating, answers arriving, journeys, phone calls, a venture finally taking off, it is no accident. Waite adds something everyone likes: they are also the arrows of love. A message, a declaration, a swift encounter that changes your mood. Just be careful not to run faster than you can control. The practical advice: answer important messages within the day, but reread them before pressing send.

Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage
«Activity in undertakings, the path of such activity, swiftness, as that of an express messenger; great haste, great hope, speed towards an end which promises assured felicity; generally, that which is on the move; also the arrows of love.»

Reversed

Reversed, the Eight of Wands changes target: the arrows become those of jealousy, of remorse, of quarrels, and Waite explicitly mentions domestic disputes for married people. If these days there are arguments at home over nothing, if a suspicion stings you or a troubled conscience keeps you awake, it is no accident: there is too much energy and it is going the wrong way. It is not a sentence, it is a warning. Be careful not to hurl words you cannot take back. The practical advice: before accusing, check; before answering in kind, go out for a walk.

Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage
«Arrows of jealousy, internal dispute, stingings of conscience, quarrels; and domestic disputes for persons who are married.»

Source

Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) Part III, § 2, The Lesser Arcana, Eight of Wands https://archive.org/details/a.-e.-waite-the-pictorial-key-to-the-tarot