The tarot Eight of Cups, Indolence or “Lord of Abandoned Success”, corresponds to Pisces’ first decan. Pisces is ruled by Jupiter, this decan is ruled by Saturn, and Eights have a Mercury influence through Hod, the eighth sephira.

The magical description per 777 is another strange one: “A man with two bodies, but joining their hand“. The image of a dual bodied man is certainly Mercurial, as Mercury is the ruler of Gemini the twins. I suppose the body itself can be considered a Saturn structure, a thing of matter, as well as having a single hand shared between them a form of Saturnine restriction. The hand itself could relate to Jupiter in the sense that the letter Kaph has the meaning of both the open palm and sometimes the closed fist.

The Eight of Cups primarily combines the influence of two majors: The Moon card for Pisces, and The Universe or World card for Saturn ruling the decan. Pisces is associated with dissolution, merging, and dissolving, while Saturn is associated with the structures and matter. These are not compatible archetypes!

The two figures lean indolently against two rock structures reminiscent of The Moon card’s towers, being worn away by water into sand grains of matter (Saturn). Behind them the ocean waves look like the brain waves of sleep. The eight cups are marked with the eight lunar phases, again for the Moon card. The cups all have their eyes closed – except for one, the last phase of waning crescent. Some are turned upside down. They have been used to make the ultimate symbol of “Abandoned Success”, a sandcastle whose grains of matter are destined for dissolution. “And so castles made of sand, fall in the sea, eventually…”

[coming soon]