Unfortunately, the Eights in this deck, like many other numbers of the minor arcana, do not seem to share a set of traits or ideas.  Each has its own individual meaning and concepts.

Eight of Pentacles – The Learner.  An elder native American woman sits weaving a traditional design on an outdoor loom, somewhere in the Southwest.  With her sits a younger woman, being trained in the art of weaving.  In more traditional decks, the Eight of Pentacles is sometimes seen as the master, and sometimes the apprentice.  Here, we have a lovely depiction of both the elder and the apprentice teaching and learning, a very nice addition to the usual, rather solitary workaholic nature of this card.  There is a sense of traditions and culture being passed down through working with the hands, and creation of something both useful and beautiful.

Eight of Flames – Burnout.  This card depicts a blackened landscape of smoldering brush and trees.  In the foreground, the flames continue to burn, while in the background is a grey mountain and fields of ash.  In the far distance, a line of trees can be seen.  It appears that the Eight flaming wands have landed, and caused a conflagration.  Too much happening too fast causes burnout –internal resources are being used up faster than they can be replaced.  And yet the fires are still burning – more needs to be done to bring this situation to closure so that the body and energy resources can be renewed.  It is possible this has been going on for a very long time, given the barrenness of the landscape.  Yet, the line of trees suggests that there is still hope for renewal once the fires are put out.

Eight of Cups – Withdrawal.  A woman steps off of a boat onto an island with a cave.  She carries a torch under a crescent moon.  Eight cups are arrayed before her, seemingly leading her into the cave.  Two of them are overturned, spilling water onto the ground.  The woman appears to be smiling slightly as she prepares to enter the cave.  This card is less of the beginning of a journey than the traditional Eight of Cups, and more of a retreat.  She withdraws to a safe and quiet place, where she can contemplate her feelings, relationships, and emotions – both those that have spilled, and the gifts she still has.  I can almost see this as the goal of the journey depicted in the Six of Swords – especially versions where ahead of the boat there is a light in a cave.  There is a quay in front of the cave, suggesting that this is a known location and not an isolated wilderness.  Her boat is carefully moored behind her, she plans to return to civilization at some point, but will enjoy the respite offered her now.  Perhaps the cave provides a return to the womb of Mother Earth, or spiritual visions (it’s very dark and mysterious).

Eight of Blades – Hokhma/Decisions.  A woman in blue and purple robes and sandals stands on a sand dune in a desert, with sickles in both hands.  Around her are six more sickles – the eight sickles form a circle around her.  Her stance is wide and she is open-armed, as if in mastery of the blades and her position on the dune.  The name Hokhma (or chokhma) means wisdom, and this card expresses the concept of wise and penetrating decisions.  Unlike the Eight of Swords in traditional decks, her eyes are wide open and her sickles are balanced and under control.  Even though she is not touching many of them, you get the sense that she could choose any of them and control their movements.  In some ways, this card better expresses my concept of what Eights are about, in the context of the suit of Swords – mastery of thought processes and the intellect.

Thrysse