Tag: Eight of Cups

Anchors, Critics + Fear

We all have these walls. Some are tall. Some are thick. I think they are all…

Illuminati_8CupsToday I am reminded that “it is not the critic who counts;” as President Theodore Roosevelt said in his “daring greatly” speech. In this card from the lavishly illustrated Illuminati, we see a man turning away from eight empty cups. He is letting go of emotional anchors so that he can go out and become who he knows he was meant to be.

Letting go of anchors can be very difficult. Journaling helps me. Working through my workbook is helping me [aff]. Letting myself love myself is helping me.

Eventually our Tarot figure will hold his head up. He will realize that where he puts his feet isn’t so important as where he points his heart. The scene is important in this card for me. The imposing rock walls he must pass through. The Moon turning from new to full. He has to squeeze himself through the self-built rock walls. Then he has to let the thin, pale light of a new moon illuminate his way.

[Tweet “What about me? What self-built walls do I have to get past?”] Oh so many indeed, my darlings. So very many indeed.

The wall of self-doubt.
The wall of self-denial.
The wall of Inner Mean Girl.
The wall of SHINY SQUIRREL LOOK.

We all have these walls. Some are tall. Some are thick. I think they are all illusions. They are all paper-thin just waiting for us to burst through them onto a new playing field.

Don’t let fear hold you back. Don’t let emotional anchors weigh you down. Hold your head up. Trust your feet. Trust your journey.

Eight of Cups, Illuminati Tarot [aff], Llewellyn Publishing, 2013

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Stagnation Makes Me Giddy

VisionQuest_8CupsToday’s card made me giggle. Then it made me snort. Then it made me laugh until tears rolled down my cheeks.

And you are looking at me with your head tilted thinking, “Arwen, have you lost your mind? There is nothing funny about stagnation.”

I might agree with you if you didn’t know what I know. The Universe is mocking me again.

You see Monday night I did a reading for a young friend. It was her birthday and she is officially a tween now. Her parental units requested it. I was happy to oblige. While I did that reading, her parents unloaded a closet for me.

Close your eyes. Imagine a typical closet with sliding doors. Now imagine it is packed floor to hanging bar with boxes. Now wedge more in. Now realize that you can’t even slide the doors shut because there’s so much SHIT in that closet.

Then walk away from the closet for two, no…let’s make it two and a half years.

Yeah, talk about stagnation, right?

But here’s the thing. That’s not an imaginary demon of a closet. It was very real. And my friends moved all the boxes out.

Now I have to go through and purge, purge and purge some more.

I live in a cute, little condo. I’ve lived in larger spaces. I still have allllll the chit from those larger spaces. So you see where I’m going?

A lot of what I have hung on to has sentimental value. I have a turban and a pair of glasses. Both were worn by my mama during her battle with, and subsequent loss to, cancer.

I have books that took me places once upon a time.

I have Tarot decks that I wanted SO BADLY once upon a time.

Everything in these boxes has been in these boxes for two and a half years. Thirty months, y’all.

Like the chipped and no longer functional bowls in this card from the Vision Quest Tarot, my stuff is clogging me up. My chi is not flowing.

In fact, I think I heard my chi running for the hills.

Operation: Declutter Arwen is on the table. I don’t know how long it will take, but I’m going to do this thing.

Do you have anything that you hang on to that you need to let go of?

I know my mother will be happy to know her glasses are heading off to the Lions to be put to better use.

Eight of Water, Vision Quest Tarot, 1999

Finding Nemo Finds Arwen

eight-waterToday’s card reminds me of “Finding Nemo.” Well, not Nemo per se but one of the characters in that movie. I know it may not make sense but hang in there. I can explain.

I will refrain from misquoting “Princess Bride” now since mixing movies is only second worst to mixing metaphors.

Still with me? Good! This is the Eight of Water from the soon-to-be-out-of-print Gaian Tarot. It is the Eight of Cups in many decks. Although Powell turns a distinctly non-traditional eye on many cards, here she is true to the meaning.

Leaving things behind.

And, of course, the character I see here is Dory. I see this card and I tell my client that they have started the hard work. Now they must just keep swimming.

Stop for a moment.

What do you identify as “the hard work” in your current energy pattern? What are you actively trying to move away from?

  • Overeating?
  • Smoking?
  • Negative thought patterns?
  • Paisley?

What ever it is, this card is a reminder that you should keep swimming. Don’t look back. The further out you go, the further you are from that shore. The shore represents that “not so good for you” behaviour or, sadly, person or place.

Now that you’ve refocused on that “hard work”, I want you to give yourself a pat on the back.

Now, get wet.

You know why.

You’ve got to keep swimming, swimming. Just keep swimming.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Eight of Water, Gaian Tarot Limited Edition, Joanna Powell Colbert