Illustration by Pamela Colman Smith, 1910. Public domain in the US since 1966 and in the UK since 2021. Vector digitisation of the Rider–Waite–Smith deck by OpenClipart contributor "klaatu-tarot", released public domain.
Eight of Cups
The Spiritual Departure
In 1911 Waite explicitly recorded contradictory readings for this card, including joy and honour; reversed, he gave great joy, happiness and feasting.
A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911 edition), part III, section 2, Eight of Cups, divinatory meanings.
A cloaked figure with a staff walks away from eight cups towards rocky heights beneath a moon.
More context
Waite describes a dejected man deserting the cups of his happiness, enterprise or previous concern. The image shows eight cups in the foreground and a departing figure carrying a staff. Waite acknowledges contradictory divinatory readings, including joy, mildness, honour and modesty. His usual practical meaning is the decline of a matter, or the discovery that something considered important has little consequence. The reversed card signifies great joy, happiness and feasting. Neither the missing-space argument nor the claim that nothing has failed is Waite's stated explanation of this card.
Light
Waite's reversed meanings are great joy, happiness and feasting.
Shadow
Waite's usual practical reading is the decline of a matter or the dwindling of its importance.