Pisces in the DruidCraft Minor Arcana: The Eight of Cups

In the astrological correspondence system that I follow, Pisces is linked to the Eight, Nine and Ten of Cups. Today I’m going to look at the Eight of Cups, which corresponds to Saturn in Pisces – and to the first third of Pisces (18^th-27^th February).

Pisces is the mutable Water sign, so we’re looking at our emotional resources and how these might need to change.  Saturn sets limits – something that Pisces doesn’t like! – but also helps us to maintain our integrity. Combined with Pisces, it wants to transcend the restrictions that we find ourselves surrounded by so that we can ‘merge’ with others.  It needs to find a way to express its feelings in such a way that it still feels stable – but not stuck.

 

8 of Cups (trimmed)
DruidCraft Tarot

So how might this play out in the Eight of Cups? The DruidCraft Tarot follows the relatively ‘traditional’ (i.e. Rider-Waite-Smith) depiction of the Eight of Cups, with a figure walking away from eight cups, neatly laid out on a flat stone beside the stream.  Despite the care taken to place the cups, the figure is abandoning them because they no longer provide the emotional security needed.  Notice the waning crescent moon in the sky – something is drawing to an end.  There’s no sign of any life in the landscape, so there’s no hint as to what the figure is heading towards. 

The number ‘8’ is the number of death and birth (8^th house themes, in astrology), cycles and recycling – time to let go of what’s no longer working, time to move forward to something new and (as yet) unknown (shades of the Moon card, associated with Pisces).  The cloaked figure is letting go of what’s no longer of use, searching for something deeper within or beyond.

DruidCraft Tarot created by Philip Carr-Gomm and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrated by Will Worthington, published by Connections 2004