The Quest Tarot - Eight of Cups

The cups are broken and scattered all over the place like the place of big alcoholic like he doesn't care about the glasses after he consumed the drink. There are people who do the same thing with relationships too, be with you till they get what they want and then throw you into the dumps. The place looks like a place where the dead lives, kind of scary card. The bird that is flying down looks like a vulture ready for a kill. The Insect and the Bird look like they are going to feed on you alive. This place gives me creeps. This would be the last place on the universe where I would go.

8 of Cups

A dark card, showing cups floating in the air at different angles. They are all broken and cracked. Below them is a still river which some of the broken cups have dropped into. The banks are green and yellow and in the distance is a deserted dark mountain.

It's a sad card, none of the cups are whole and none stand upright as they are meant to. There is no movement or energy in the water, it could even be stagnated. There is no light in the distance to move towards - no hope on the horizon and its a weary, depressive feeling. The emotions in this card are sadness and melancholy.

Sometime back, I picked this card as my card for the day. The card was looking a little scary.

On the evening of that day, I was on my way to meet a friend and it was raining heavily. I saw an ambulance going on the other side of the road and I just got a strong thought to slow down my car which I did promptly in a second or two. In just a couple of seconds one of the cars that was in front of me just stopped suddenly after looking at the ambulance. There was a car in between that stopped car and mine. By the time, the person in the middle car noticed the car in front of him stopping abruptly there was not much time to respond & he crashed on to the stopped car and I saw windshields & lights breaking and flying all over the place. But I had time to slow down my vehicle without any accident. Then I just remembered about the broken glasses all over the card.

Amazing story prk. As I was reading your post I was picturing the scene and it does resemble the feeling the card gives.

The card is actually an excellent example of how a picture can tell a story.

A different take

prk, I read your amazing story. The fact that this card urged you to be aware of the potential for failure and "breakage" is a blessing. Below are other thoughts I have on this card.

First, I don't completely agree with the keyword on this card. Instead of straight up "Failure," I think that while this card suggests the potential for failure, I think the bigger message of this card is "repair." In other words -- go heal yourself.

I look at the imagery thusly:

- Yes, the insects are scary. They appear to be predatory insects, the kind that feed on decay. They're here to tell you that it's time for the shame spiral you're in to be over -- move on.

- I agree with Moonbow* about the stagnant water. What happens to water that becomes stagnant? The only thing that can grow is disease. Have you let your own festering thoughts poison your ability to hope?

- The cups are all broken, but a few of them appear to have tried to hold themselves together with wire for as long as possible, their strength simply couldn't hold out. Let go -- end the struggle.

- The cups are tumbling off into the distance -- perhaps heading toward that tiny light in the middle of the mountain? Is that where they will find a place to heal and be whole again? Do you need to get away and heal yourself?

- These cups were easily broken. Do you need to steel yourself against hurt? Are you in a pattern of setting yourself up for damage again, and again? (There are 8 broken cups, after all!)

Those are some interesting things about the card. I also want to add that I think it seems like it was a nice place before but then something came and destroyed it. It seems like the cups are old and rusty and decaying. It is now lonely and barren there. Such a sad and gloomy card.