The Sun & 8 of Cups – What is This Tarot Combination Trying to Tell Us? The combination of The Sun and the 8 of Cups is all about victory, personal growth, and knowing when to walk away from situations that no longer serve you. In this blog, we explore how the positivity and success of The Sun pair with the soul-searching energy of the 8 of Cups to create a message of finding your true path. Learn how to embrace new opportunities, release the past, and align your actions with your soul’s purpose. Perfect for those seeking spiritual guidance and emotional clarity.

The Sun & The 8 of Cups – What is this combination trying to tell us?

One of my favorite activities with the Tarot is to make connections on two or more cards.  What I mean by this is not simply to know the meanings of the cards, but to help understand what they’re trying to say.  I’ve made it a daily practice to read and interpret a Tarot combination.  In fact, I have a weekly Tarot spread that I use to do this, and it helps guide my week.  Here’s the way this works, I pull a major arcana card, and that serves as the ruler card for the week, after that has been established, I pull five more cards, each representing Monday through Friday, and these can be any card, major, minor or court.  It’s these combinations that truly serve as my guide to interpreting the cards, learning the intricacies that exist between them. 

How can I help?      

When I set out on my journey to begin blogging about the Tarot, the first question I asked myself was, “What hasn’t been done yet?”.  I thought about this for some time and decided that the most powerful thing I could provide would be deep dives on Tarot combinations.   There has been much written about them, but I haven’t run into a lot of deep dive blogging and that is the subject matter that I’ve decided to go with.  With so many Tarot combinations, it’s truly the heart of effective card reading.  Knowing the meaning of a single card is only a small part of the story, being able to weave meaning and flow between 2 or more cards is where the Tarot gets interesting.

So much positivity!

Major arcana 19, The Sun is known to be one of the most, if not the most positive card in the major arcana.  Anytime this card alone comes up in a reading, I always get positive energy and know that the reading is going to be a good one.  For me, the biggest quality of the Sun card is the energy that it gives off.  I can always feel a nice surge of fantastic energy and white light when I gaze at it.  I can take any negative in a reading and shine some of the positive love of the Sun over it and usually the positivity triumphs over anything negative.  As an example, let’s say I’m reading a Celtic cross spread for a client and in the active conscious is the Tower card, but in the deep subconscious realm is the Sun.  It’s clear to me that the client is sabotaging their efforts with doubt and fear of failure, BUT, their foundation, the heart of their soul and inner being lies the Sun.  We can ascertain from this combination that the client needs to work on flushing out the negative thoughts as soon as possible because our thoughts have a way of poisoning our minds and ultimately, they can hold us back from reaching the destination we want to reach.

 Time to move on?  

The 8 of Cups is a soul-searching card if ever there was one.  How often do we find ourselves in situations that don’t serve us well, or even worse, situations that bring us emotional turbulence? As humans, we are designed to stay the course and often that is a good plan, but remember, not always.  One thing we can all agree on is that life is short, we are only here for a quick visit.  It’s best to do all we can to make the most of our lives and do the things that make us whole.  What’s more, it’s ok to leave behind what is no longer serving us.  It’s difficult to leave things behind because we tend to resist change, even if we know it’s needed.  The heart of the 8 of Cups is to remind us to sail on when it’s time, because closing a non-working chapter only opens a fresh one that is perhaps a better fit for the present time in our lives.  Remember, as you see this card in a reading, it’s a temporary situation in life, it’s a quick life lesson and will be over soon.  If you repeatedly see this card come up in your readings, perhaps take inventory of everything that’s not serving you well and begin to act in the direction of cleaning up these less than desirable aspects of your life.

What do all these numbers mean?

If we look at the number 19, because 19 is the number of the Sun card, we can easily say that it’s a starter and finisher.  When we reduce the multi-digit number 19 by adding 1 + 9 to get 10, then adding 1 + 0 to get 1, it’s easy to see why there is a child pictured on most Tarot decks for the Sun card.  The number 1 is about being self-determined, starting out, enthusiasm and exploring, whereas the 9 is about finishing, idealism and tolerance.  Taking the combined representations of the 1 and the 9 make for a wonderful message of accomplishment and fulfillment.  Think about the heartbeat of the Sun card, it’s one that represents abundance, radiance and victory.  We can surmise that the youthful person on most cards would represent the beginning of a journey, and, it’s evident that the child has finally reached a destination of beauty, vitality and success.  It’s a wonderful feeling to start out on a journey and see it through to fruition and that’s exactly what’s happening here in the Sun.  It’s the journey to get to the goal that makes Sun or the person that the Sun is representing in a Tarot reading so vibrant.  Often, people are drawn to personality types that mirror the Sun card and it’s easy to see why.  People that are accomplished on their own personal mission have a radiance and confidence about them that gives off a magnetism that can’t be denied.  Now that the Sun and its positivity are better understood, how can we relate this highly positive message with the 8 of Cups, which for all intents and purposes doesn’t carry nearly as positive of a message?

Feeling Uninspired? 

Anytime I gaze into the Rider-Waite version of the 8 of Cups, I feel a very personal connection.  Perhaps it’s my personality type, I’m very much a fight or flight kind of person and that’s what I see happening in this card.  How many times in life do we put in the effort needed but end up feeling less than fulfilled?  Perhaps we are chasing something that really sounds great, but isn’t nourishing our souls?  The universe won’t allow us to do things that don’t serve us for long, instead she will continue to tap us on the shoulder and remind us to get moving.  I once talked to a numerologist and he told me that folks with strong 8’s in their charts are the types of people that invest easily in “pie in the sky” or long shot investments, and these investor will likely lose their investments from time to time.  What’s important to note about these people is that they move on easily, they don’t look back, they don’t get sad about something that didn’t work out.  The thing about the number 8 is that it’s very focused on goals and if something isn’t driving them towards their goal, they switch their path and try something else.  The 8 of Cups is doing just that, moving on from road blocks on the way to victory.  The eight Cups in the foreground are representing accomplishment on the path to victory, but something has changed and it’s time to take another road.  It’s important to note the moon in the background of the Rider-Waite representation of the 8 of Cups, again, a sign that everything is not as it seems.  Perhaps it’s time to finally take the detour you’ve been thinking about.

A working example of this card could be a stock investor.  Let’s say this investor has constantly been buying Acme stock for years and it’s served them well.  As luck would have it, the stock is stable, but not seeing the massive growth of the past, in fact, it's lost some value over the past year.  Think of the Cups in the card, those are the stocks, there is not any reason to sell them all, they’re stable, but there are many reasons to focus on new Cups that will be more prosperous, and as such, we turn around and find another portfolio to investigate.  Additionally, think about any human being on their path of life, let’s say this person attends church regularly, the type of church really doesn’t matter.  At some point in their life, they have zoned out completely at church, and what’s more, the church they attend doesn’t hold the same belief system that they do.  The issue here is that the family lineage of a few centuries has went to this same sector of the church and it’s hard to be the one to break that chain.  However, we have one life to live and hard as it may be, it’s tough for us to leave what we know.  The 8 of Cups represents the struggle to change, to shed our previous skin and it’s never easy to leave our comfort zone.

Bringing The Sun and The 8 of Cups Together

What is the combination of the Sun and the 8 of Cups trying to tell us?  We know that the Sun is a huge beam of positivity!  However, the Sun is embracing victory and the 8 of Cups is telling us to run to the hills.  The combination seems to be a dichotomy, but is it?  Often, we are fixated on a goal, let’s say we want to get a new job, and we keep striking out.  The Sun is the ideal situation we want to get to, we want to celebrate this accomplishment, we want this stability in our life and being that the Sun is a major arcana card, we know that we will be in this heavenly bliss for quite some time.  The 8 of Cups serves to remind us of those life lessons on the road to achieving our goals.  The 8 of Cups is appearing to tell us that we may need to explore many different avenues before we achieve the victory state we are after.  In the new job example from earlier, perhaps we need to shake things up and apply and look for jobs in a completely reimagined method.  Perhaps we shoot off resumes online over and over and are getting nowhere, it’s safe to assume this method isn’t serving us.  We are getting advice all around that is reminding us that we live in a digital world and the only way to apply for jobs is online.  Remember friends, life isn’t a one size fits all situation and what works for some, or even most for that matter, may not work well for us.  Perhaps we should start doing live networking events in our chosen field to gain valuable employment, and by valuable, the type of employment that will lead us to that victory state of the Sun.  In a nutshell, this awesome combination tells us to have diversity of thought and use that diversity to steer our lives to victory.  What works today very well may not work tomorrow, and that’s ok, we must process the grief of leaving our comfort zone behind and head straight towards a situation that will bring us to that victory bell.

 

A Little More About Raven's Cauldron

I’m Brian, a thirty-year Tarot card reader. I own a company called Raven's Cauldron, and we specialize in providing a one stop metaphysical shop experience.  After frequenting metaphysical and spiritual shops for decades, I wanted to provide a place in my hometown that provides a wide array of new age, metaphysical and spiritual items.  I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog, there will be many more to come. 

About The Author

Brian J. Campbell is the owner of Raven’s Cauldron, established in 2019, and a seasoned Tarot reader with over 40 years of professional experience. Passionate about the metaphysical arts, Brian has dedicated his life to studying spirituality, divination, and the mystical realms, making him a trusted resource for those seeking deeper insight and guidance. His expertise extends far beyond Tarot, incorporating a wealth of knowledge on crystals, astrology, and other esoteric practices. Through Raven’s Cauldron, Brian strives to create a space where seekers of all kinds can explore, learn, and connect with their spiritual path.

www.ravenscauldron.com

Card images are © Copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Everyday Witch Tarot – Art by Elisabeth Alba https://www.albaillastration.com

Thoth Tarot Deck  - Art by  Lady Frieda Harris

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