Eight of Cups
The eight of cups in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a dejected man walking away from eight cups. A. E. Waite read it as the decline of a matter, or else joy and modesty.
Meaning
Waite's Key to the Tarot describes the design: "A man of dejected aspect is deserting the cups of his felicity, enterprise, undertaking or previous concern."
What does the Eight of Cups mean?
Waite's meanings are "the card speaks for itself on the surface, but other readings are entirely antithetical—giving joy, mildness, timidity, honour, modesty. In practice, it is usually found that the card shews the decline of a matter, or that a matter which has been thought to be important is really of slight consequence—either for good or evil"; reversed, "great joy, happiness, feasting". His list of additional meanings adds "marriage with a fair woman", and reversed, "perfect satisfaction".
In older decks
The Italian suit is coppe, cups, among the marks of the earliest cards in the British Museum's catalogue of 1876. Papus reads it as "Partial failure of love."
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsNine of CupsThe nine of cups in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a well-fed man seated before nine cups on an arched counter. A. E. Waite read it as contentment, victory and success.
- The same shape in Andean and Inca symbolsTumi (ceremonial knife)A ceremonial knife with a half-moon blade from the north coast of ancient Peru. The gold tumis of the Sicán (Lambayeque) culture carry a god on the handle, often identified as Naylamp, the dynasty’s mythical founder. The Tumi de Oro was declared a pre-Columbian symbol of Peru in 1981.
See also
The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant.
Sources
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by A. E. Waite, William Rider & Son, London, 1910 (the sacred-texts.com transcription, on the Internet Archive), The Lesser Arcana; Some Additional Meanings of the Lesser Arcana
- The Tarot of the Bohemians, by Papus, Chapman & Hall, London, 1896, translated by A. P. Morton (scan on the Internet Archive), The Divining Tarot, second lesson: the minor arcana
- A Descriptive Catalogue of Playing and Other Cards in the British Museum, by W. H. Willshire, Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1876 (scan on the Internet Archive), General history: the marks of the suits
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from curves and waves, letters and numbers or squares and rectangles.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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