Rising from the depths: Margarete Petersen’s Eight of Cups

Today I’m playing with numbers. The number 8 is the result of 2 x 4. If I go with the idea of balance (2) and stability (4), that brings me to 8 being a safe haven after the ‘pull up your socks’ 7.  So for the Eight of Cups I tend towards the idea of needing to move away from the fantasies or day-dreams of the Seven into a more secure emotional state, leaving behind what no longer serves (which could be an unrealistic dream, for instance). 

Eight of Cups (trimmed): © Margarete Petersen Tarot

Margarete Petersen’s image bears little resemblance to any other version of this card that I’ve seen so far. It took some time, even with my magnifying glass, to work out that the ‘blob’ submerged in the deep blue sea is in fact an upside-down head. The stream of lighter blue emanating from it to the surface was a clue – air rising to the surface and on up into the atmosphere (as I see it!). I can’t make out what else might be down in the depths – perhaps it’s the rest of the figure’s body… Again, the idea of being trapped in the depths of something that feels out of our control, yet we find a way to breathe and draw in air from beyond the barrier that holds us in this ‘hemmed-in’ state/place. And if we don’t? Indolence, or a sense of stagnation, could set in.

Plunging into depth

Feelings rise to the surface; 
Boundaries will shift.


Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA, 2004.