Tarot Pairings: 8 of Cups + 6 of Cups

I am fascinated by tarot card combinations. There are a few sites I could find online that teach us what to look for in a pairing, but few that tell us what paired cards might say together–accounting for both reversals and the order in which they appear. Some sites have them, maybe, but are behind paywalls. Some are just key words. I wanted to do my own study. If these help you, I’m thrilled. Below you will see that I do 8 positions out of the 2 cards–so that we cover all the reverses and the order in which the cards came out. Seek out the order and reversal status that you need below. Every day, I will post a new one…. so you can use these as cards of the day if you like.

Tarot Pairs: 8 of Cups + 6 of Cups

The cards:

8 of Cups typically refers to someone leaving something that isn’t fulfilling and going on a journey to find their passion, that Wish of the 9 of Cups.

6 of Cups: the past, nostalgia, Innocence, romance, friendship, people feel secure and safe here.

Together upright (8 + 6)one could be leaving what isn’t satisfying and returning home, or returning to a place where they used to live, a more simpler time or place. It could be the set up to the classic “you can’t go home again” but oh they are. One could be doing this in their mind too. Not attentive to the present so much that their mind is focused on the past. On something they lost that they want to find again.

(6 + 8) your hometown was not really what you wanted so you left. Your romance wasn’t enough so you leave to find something more substantial. Perhaps someone is too immature and you are leaving them to find something more mature. You may realize that something in the past wasn’t worth it (an argument, a relationship, your naivete about your life or town) and you are letting it go.

Reversals: (r8 + 6) you are stuck in a small town, stuck in a sweet romance (not what you want), or you go back to someone you left because you realize how amazing and loving they were. You go back to a town or a job because you realize that you were wrong to leave it, or that it has meaning for you, or that it has a charm. With the 6 as the second card, the end result is usually sweet. You have unfinished business with a childhood friend. You are seeking something from your past to understand it or make amends or forgive it or someone.

(8 + r6) you left someplace or someone but you can’t stop thinking about them or about what they did or you can’t really move forward. The past still has a hold on you. You left for something better but you are fooled into thinking the past was better than now. You left someone and you are not interested in forgiving them. You moved and don’t feel safe in the new place. The new place isn’t friendly.

(r8 + r6) you can’t leave the past behind. You can’t escape an immature relationship. You choose to stay someplace because it is familiar you won’t leave because you can’t see that things have changed. You see someone as they were and not how they are. You physically can’t leave a place because of an outside circumstance and you are forced to remain in old family drama. You purposely return to a place to find closure in the past. You have time traveled to the past to repair something that went wrong.

(r6 + r8) some similarities to the double reverses above. You are trapped in past thinking and won’t move forward. Things have gotten worse according to you in the world and you are trapped in a Cracker Barrell gift shop of past memorabilia. Sudden moment of realization snaps you out of past thinking and into the present moment where you must finish a task before you can leave. Overwhelming nostalgia keeps you rooted in place.

(r6 + 8) your cloying home town makes you escape. You finally leave after being trapped in a bad romance (cue Lady Gaga). Realizing you can do better, you move.

(6 + r8) you are so damn happy in this blissful romantic place that you never want to leave. You feel secure and safe here and don’t want to travel or move. The friends you have now you will never abandon. “I’m staying where I’m at, fellas. Dolly, I’ll never go away again.” You are confined in a place you already like (Capt Pike in “The Cage”, eventually).