Pathworking the Tarot

by Leeza Robertson

  Eights

  After the lessons of the Sevens, we are finally able to take action here in the Eights. This action is what is required as we come closer to seeing the full manifestation of your dream seed. You could say that the action we take here amongst the four Eights will determine how well we will end the growth cycle of our current dream seed. What experiences we choose to create now, after we have traveled through the last seven cards of the minor arcana, will dictate the terms of engagement we will have in the last phases of our current journey. The Eights will stretch and challenge us in a way that we have not experienced since the Fives. You will have to decide while working with these cards if you have what it takes to see your goals, dreams, and commitments through to the end. Remember, you are not at the end of your journey within the suits, but this is your last push, your last chance to finish strong. In many respects, the Eights ask, “How deep are you willing to dig to see the life of your dreams be manifested?” You are so close, but you do still have a choice of how you will experience this final phase of your journey. You can do it willingly through hard work and surrender, or you can suffer through because of your attachment to the way things used to be. The Eights let you know that the choice is and always has been yours to make, regarding what you want to experience within the material and physical world.

  The Eight of Swords may be trying to tell you that what you took or reclaimed in the Seven of Swords hasn’t exactly worked out the way you thought it was going to. Instead you may now find yourself blindfolded and tied to a stake in the middle of nowhere, with your swords stuck in the ground acting like a barrier—creating a scene that echoes the original Rider-Waite-Smith figure on the Eight of Swords card. Yeah, I bet you didn’t see that coming, did you? The good news is that this may not be as bad as it looks. For one, you are not stuck; there is plenty of evidence to suggest that if and when you decide to remove yourself from your sticking place, you can do so freely and without harm. Second, it looks like you might end up with some new Jedi mind tricks by the time you make it to the Nine of Swords, as this card is all about what’s going on inside your head. Not being able to see suggests increasing one’s intuitive or inner sight to solve a problem or find a solution that could not be found or seen before, and this is a true Jedi mind craft. Third, are all of the swords sticking into the ground keeping you in or keeping others out? Either way, I reckon they are doing a sucky job. Just look at the huge gaps between them. They wouldn’t stop an elephant! However, I am guessing there very well might have been an easier way to level up your awareness and tap into your superhero mind skills without having to be tied to a stake; unless, of course, you are super stubborn or super kinky and enjoy your lessons hard and harsh. I, for, one am over having to learn things the hard way, but to each their own. Let’s hope this time you got the message loud and clear, and you have cleared the path so that what comes next doesn’t have to be quite so abrasive.

  The Eight of Wands makes me want to duck for cover. To be honest, when I first started with tarot, I honestly thought that the Eight of Wands was an attack card. That those eight fiery wands were coming to rain hell and brimstone down on me. I mean, take a look at most representations of this card and tell me that is not an unreasonable assumption to make. It wasn’t until I started serious study with the cards that I learned that this card was actually the opposite of what I thought it was. Perception really is everything. This card is not about blocking or stopping you from moving forward; it is about a burst of energy that has cleared the path for you to move with ease and grace. It is one of the first times we have seen all of the magic wands move willingly in our favor, to be honest. Therefore, it can be both overwhelming and sometimes hard to believe, which might cause you to become momentarily paralyzed. When it has been hard to forge ahead, or you are used to having road blocks and obstacles in your way, it can be slightly unbelievable to see things just fall into place and open up before you. Where there were once walls are now open roads. There is an element of speed associated with this card, meaning that the space that the wands have magically opened up for you won’t last long, and seeing as you have no way of knowing exactly how long this gap will be open to you, you’d better not stand around gaping for too long. Magic, fire, and speed flying through the sky? No wonder one can feel as if they are being attacked.

  The Eight of Cups will test your remaining attachments, hooks, and emotional triggers. Whatever you didn’t deal with or refused to let go of back in the Sevens is now getting all up in your grill. Like it or not, this time you don’t have a choice. You have to let go of old outdated ways of doing and feeling once and for all. But let’s be honest—did you really believe that you would be able to embrace your new life while you were still holding on to your old life with both hands? Walking away from what you have built in the past is not only necessary, but liberating. Just because you invested time, energy, and money into something doesn’t mean it will serve you forever. The Eight of Cups teaches us to move on and admit when something did not work out. This is key in allowing success into your life, for you have to know when to walk away from one thing in order to begin something else. Goals fail, plans fall apart, and people leave. This is a necessary part of your journey here in the temporary world of material things, and the Eight of Cups is here to guide you from what was to what might be. This card might show up to guide you from a course of action that is out of alignment with your heart’s desire. It could also be the warning bell you need that your dream seed needs to be moved in a totally different direction in order to fully bloom. All you have to do is say goodbye and find another path.

  The Eight of Pentacles is where you get to pound out all of your pent-up frustration. Ha! This is how I often see this card, banging away and working out all of those issues you have had while working your ass off to meet a deadline or achieve a goal. You could say the process of writing this book was me pounding out the Eight of Pentacles on my keyboard. Writing is also a skill, and it is one that takes time to refine. This refinement of one’s craft is also an element of the Eight of Pentacles. Although there is a level of expertise that is hinted at with this card, it is a reminder that we must always keep sharpening our skills, and that our gifts and natural talents will always need to be utilized, expanded, and fostered. The more we work on improving our skill set, the more we honor our talents. Just make sure you don’t fall into the traps the ego has set along the way, like getting a big head or thinking your gift makes you somehow better than others. For at this stage of the game, you have been noticed, or, more to the point, your talents have been noticed. It might be easy to allow the praise of others to make you think you have learned all you need to learn, but this would be a mistake. Stop pushing yourself now and you will never truly unlock the magic that lies in your gift. You might think you are good; you may even have cause to embrace the appreciation and praise of those around you, but you have not finished your journey. You still have much to learn, and only those who stick to their path and honor their skills will get to see the true blessings of who they are.

  Pathwork

  Intentional

  In the Sevens you had to think about direction and its consequences and lessons of movement, but now it’s time to get it together and tap into the energy of the Strength card so you can finally make it into the last stretch of your journey. The Eights deal primarily with the physical world, the world outside of you. Each of these cards illustrates something you have to do and an actual action step that you are required to take. It could be to finally walk away from all things that no longer align to the person and life you are creating (the Eight of Cups). Or you may need to buckle down and work, work, work (the Eight of Pentacles)! Perhaps it is time for you to take massive action without thinking, and to just risk it all and do it (Eight of Wands). Or are you still trying to create a new life with old ways of doing and thinking (Eight of Swords)? Pull the four Eights out of your deck and place them faceup in front of you. Which one of
these images calls to you? You will know which one it is because you won’t be able to stop looking at it. Once you and your card have bonded, put the other three cards away. This card is your action card; it is the step you need to take to move your dream or goal closer to the finish line. You don’t need to sit around and meditate on this; just go do it.

  Intuitive

  For this exercise, go ahead and remove the four Eights from your deck and place them faceup in front of you. Now turn them all upside down and line them up in the following order: swords, wands, cups, pentacles. Grab a notepad and a pen and start taking note of anything in particular that stands out in the cards. Is it a visual line that now appears across the top of the card, which was originally the bottom? What about the people or figures in the cards? Is there anything about them that jumps out at you now that they are upside down? Are there things about the cards that you never noticed before while they were right side up? Oftentimes reversed cards act like a mirror, showing us things that maybe we did not notice before, or showing us things that might feel the same, but are slightly different. As you write down the items that stand out to you, start thinking about how they might have some sort of meaning to your current situation. Perhaps out of your notes you can come up with a mantra or affirmation that you can use when you know you need to act but are struggling with fears and doubts. Take your time with this exercise and really study the line of cards in their upside-down state. You just never know what sort of “aha” moment you might have now that you have shifted your perspective.

  Wandering

  As you move into this final leg of your dream seed’s journey, you will find that you will enter all four of the Eights at some point while you make your way to the Nines. You might lose some friends, or find it’s time to step away from a job, or even a client. Walking away from one thing is always required when you are walking toward another. You might find yourself putting extra hours in on your project now that it has real momentum. Your world has changed as you have journeyed through the cards, which means you have changed too. Keep this in mind as you wander today, as you may find yourself walking with one or more of the Eights. As you navigate the Eights, watch as they present themselves in your day, notice if you had to walk away from something, if something just lined up perfectly, if you found yourself having to use skills or tools you have never used before, or if your day was filled with people wanting your services and throwing money your way. Your success vortex is in full swing, but you must wander with awareness to see the opportunities the Eights have waiting for you along the path.

  Nines

  The Nines in numerology mark the end of a cycle, a point of karmic completion, if you will. It is in the Nines that we are transformed into more mature and knowledgeable spiritual beings, less concerned with material existence and more concerned with what happens once we leave the physical skin behind. In the tarot, however, we still have one more set of cards to go, which is the Tens. The Nines show you the finish line, though you won’t cross it until after you pass through the Tens. This does not mean you have not learned what you set out to learn or achieved what you set out to achieve back in the Aces. There is no doubt that you have grown since you left the Aces, and that you have learned new ways of being, doing, thinking, and feeling. You may have even started to implement these new skills or habits into your daily life. Here in the Nines, you are seeing what the long-term consequences of your actions will look like. There is no going back from this point, just the ending of what you started. How does your ending look? Is it everything you hoped it would be? What do you need to do here in the Nines to refine it even more? The Nines are not the ending of the suits; this is important to remember, since you can still change how this all ends. You still have one last chance to mold your experience into something worth celebrating. Keep your eyes firmly fixed on the finish line and see yourself crossing it with power, strength, and confidence. Know that you have all the skills you need to make the results worthy of the journey that you have undertaken to achieve them. Lastly, enjoy this final stage, because just like beginning, you only finish a journey once. You will never take this particular journey again. It is unique, and so too will its ending be. Therefore, revel in all that you have created, including the good, the bad, and the indifferent. For once you cross the finish line, it all goes back into the realm of memory and ghosts.

  The Nine of Swords isn’t exactly the most pleasant of cards to be receiving at this point in your journey, but it does make sense. When things are winding down and coming to an end, it can be stressful, even if the ending is positive. There are always loose ends to tie up and massive amounts of work involved in completing a project. Sometimes even when you think something is close to being finished, you find something more to do. This is a headache and can quite honestly keep you up at night. I know what it is like to have endless to-do lists playing through my head at 2 a.m. Every time this card comes up I find that something literally comes up to interfere with my ability to sleep or relax. It’s like a chattering mind, constantly reminding you of all the things you still have to do. This card can be both empowering and debilitating, and it depends on whether you resist it or work with it. I have found the energy of the Nine of Swords can be very productive if you lean into it and just go with the flow. Leaning into this card could mean getting up at 2 a.m. to do tasks that your mind won’t shut up about, even small, quiet tasks that just need to be emptied from your head, then going back to bed and starting all over again when the mind next wakes you up. The Nine of Swords only gets worse the more you resist it, so make a choice. Either harness this energy and use it to make you more productive, or fight it and let it derail you from all the hard work you have done up until this point. It is your choice, after all.

  The Nine of Wands could be called the last stand, for it often shows a figure who is somewhat beaten up, yet still on their feet. This again only adds to my initial reaction to the Eight of Wands as fire and brimstone raining down on those below. I mean take a look at the original Rider-Waite-Smith version of this card, or any deck inspired by the original. Doesn’t this figure look like he or she may have only just survived eight flaming wands falling from the sky? If you were raised Catholic like I was, you may have very different views of the suit of wands than other people. I am here to tell you that it is perfectly fine and I am right there with you. However, even though the figure in this card does look a little worse for wear, there is an energy about them, a vibe of not being easily defeated, and that despite it all, they are still standing, albeit with the help of that ninth wand, but they are upright all the same. This card could very well be the triumph of the human spirit, meaning that no matter how many times it gets knocked down, pushed around, or kicked about, it still keeps getting back up for more. This is the card that says there is no such thing as failure, and that no matter what tests, lessons, or challenges come our way, we will get through them one way or the other. Standing there with your wall of Eight of Wands behind you, you know what it means to be tested. You have the battle scars to prove how strong you are, and you are not letting anyone or anything stop you from making it across the finish line. If you ever want to dig deep for that last push, then the Nine of Wands is the rallying card you need in your life, because no matter what your outside world looks like, if you have the ability to get back up and keep going, you can achieve anything and everything your heart desires.

  The Nine of Cups can be seen as a card of celebration, like someone is about to throw a celebratory party before they have even finished what they started. It might be easy to think that you can take your foot off the accelerator for a while, and that all you have to do from this point on is coast over the finish line, but I urge you to reconsider. No matter how tempting it might be to let your hair down and allow yourself a moment of relaxation, just know it might be the worst thing you could do. It could cause you to lose momentum and make the final lap of your journey that much harder. There is nothing wrong
with acknowledging how well you have done thus far, and even sharing some extra time with friends, but don’t overindulge and lose your focus; there is still much to be done before you can put this all behind you once and for all. There is another element of this card that needs to be considered as well, and that is this: What if the figure in the card is not actually offering you a drink but instead is asking you what you wish to happen from this point on? There is an element of genie magic around this card, which is just another reason to be slightly cautious, as everyone knows that wishes come with unforeseen consequences. It might be tempting to wish the last piece of your journey away and just find yourself at the end result, but then again, you won’t have much of a say in how that end result looks and you will be at the mercy of your wish. Wishes are tricky, slippery things that never quite end up the way we think they will. I guess that is why I tend to see this card as a card of temptation, or as the last stand of the ego to entice you back into the fold. I see it as the card that dares you to stop where you are and forget finishing what you started. I suggest you just say “Thanks but no thanks” and keep moving.

  The Nine of Pentacles makes it look like you have reached the manifestation garden of your dreams. Pentacles are aplenty and they glitter and sparkle as the sun dances across their reflective surfaces. It seems like you have stumbled into paradise, but might I suggest you proceed with caution? Remember the Nines are not the finish line, even though they feel like they should be. All of that karmic completion energy just oozes off of them, and it can be very alluring to think that you have made it to your final destination. By the looks of the Nine of Pentacles, it seems like a fine place to stop. However, just like all of the Nine cards, things may not be what they seem here. There is even a possibility that you aren’t even in the garden of luxury yet but merely standing at the edges of the outer entrance. The figure you see before you could be nothing more than a gatekeeper wanting to know what price you will pay to enter this unknown garden. And let’s face it, if this is only the entrance, how do you know what it looks like inside? It can be easy to get caught up by all the bling this card brings. In many respects, it shows the traps we fall into within the material world. We often mistake a beautiful experience with something that is just visually stunning. We confuse the art of looking with the art of being. We allow ourselves to get caught up in shiny status symbols that are void of any true joy. Suffering may be the only thing we will find when we allow ourselves to be swept up in the illusion of the material world. All that glitters is not gold, and this scene is no different. By all means, take in the sights and soak up the beauty that surrounds you, but stay separate from it and keep on moving to your true joy, your divine abundance, and your eternal health and well-being.