The Archetype and The Tarot: The Animal and Eight of Cups

Through the Animal and the Eight of Cups, this week we’re being called to reconnect with our primal instincts and inner purity. Can we embrace the simplicity and authenticity of our true nature, shedding the layers of our conditioning?

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The Animal Archetype

This one comes to us from Kim Krans’ deck, which I use from time-to-time to augment the archetype deck I normally use.

This archetype is all about returning to our wild nature. It is a call to become uncivilized, whatever that might mean to us. It could be a call to forego all the washing, tweezing, and decorating that we’re prone to do with our bodies, remembering that we are hot-blooded, strong-smelling, hairy creatures living within—and acting as hosts for—vast ecosystems. This would mean becoming comfortable in our own skin and relishing all the smells, sounds, and sensations that go along with that.

Becoming wild could also be a call to return to a pre-conditioned state—a return to innocence—to erase our jadedness and dissolve our assumptions, arriving at an experience as only our naked selves. It could also be a more literal call to leave our urban environments and spend some time in the great outdoors.

Whatever it might mean to each of us individually, this does feel like a universal call to howl and dance in the moonlight.

In the light, the Animal approaches life with a wild fearlessness; acting from a place before they knew fear. This one is profoundly connected to subtle energies and utilizes all of their senses, maybe especially their sixth sense and intuition. They revel in their own vitality and participate in the aliveness of all that is within and around them. Unashamed of their bodily needs and urges, they engage fully with life, expressing and celebrating all that they are with abandon.

In the shadow, this one is afraid of, or repulsed by, the Animal nature within themselves or others. They might tend towards isolation and hyper-independence like the fearful predator who only leaves their den when it’s time to eat. Out of their fearfulness, the shadow Animal might express extreme defensiveness, lashing out with sharp claws (or words) at every interaction. They could be cold and rigid, wanting a life contained in a sterile environment and thereby distancing themselves from their own humanity. On the other extreme, the Animal in the shadow may have difficulty defining an identity, becoming a constantly shape-shifting entity. Most commonly, however, the shadow side of the Animal shows up in situations when we feel shame about our bodies.

Some questions to consider this week:

• What instincts and primal desires drive you, and how do they influence your decisions and actions?

• In what ways do you feel most connected to nature, and how can you deepen this connection?

• What fears or anxieties arise from your animalistic side, and how can you confront and understand them?

• What natural rhythms and cycles (e.g., sleep, hunger, energy levels) govern your life, and how can you honor them more fully?

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Eight of Cups

Whoa. I’m using the Mary-El tarot deck this week and I have to say: there’s a whole lot of Animal in this version of the Eight of Cups.

In the more traditional tarot decks, the Eight of Cups shows a person turning away from a structure of eight cups. I believe that card is all about turning inward to find the missing cup within oneself.

But in this Mary-El version, we see a child completely draped in a lion skin and it appears that the child is looking out from within the lion’s mouth.

In this particular card, the traditional turning inward of the Eight of Cups has revealed the divine child within—pure, vulnerable, and new. I believe this card is calling us toward a unique sort of strength, one where we embody the unity of the lion and the lamb, where we retain the innocence of the child even while finding comfort in our lion cloak.

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How does this pair work together?

I really was astonished to see the image on this Eight of Cups. When I turned the card over, I felt like I was basically seeing The Animal archetype in image form. Not so much the physical aspect of the Animal, but the aspect that represents a return to innocence and a letting go of that which has “civilized” us.

This week, we're called to reconnect with the aspect of the Animal that represents this return to childlike wonder. The image on the Mary-El Eight of Cups emphasizes that within each of us lies an unspoiled core. The true essence of our animal nature is this innocence—the willingness to be new and embrace the unknown.

Is there a situation in our lives that we’ve become jaded about? Is there something we could try approaching as if for the first time, dropping any preconceived ideas we might have about it (including, maybe especially, ourselves?)

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As I sat with the image of this pairing, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d written these words before. I did some digging and found that on September 17, 2023 our Archetype/Tarot pair of The Virgin and Strength brought us an eerily similar bit of wisdom. (I wonder if you astrologers out there might know if there’s any kind of alignment between that time and now?)

And then I found that, in a follow-up post, I’d shared an incredible poem written by Kohenet Rachel Kann. Once again, I find myself in awe of how perfectly this poem encapsulates the message of the return to our wild innocence. It’s a journey through jungle, waters and flora into the night sky, concluding with a reminder of sovereignty, of the lion cloak that our innocence can call upon at any time.

Instead of creating a mini-ritual this week, I want to include the poem again below and treat the reading of it like a ritual. I like the idea of slowly reading it one line at a time, feeling it really come alive within me.

(I have changed the pronouns from the original ‘she’ to ‘we’.)

Na’arah/Maiden by Rachel Kann

We, who are fearless,
who walk out of the wilderness
feral-shouldered and unbroken,

who are the luscious and undulating ocean
into which all tributaries flow,

who brazen-bloom firm-petaled
like ruby plumeria,

who are immune,
shielded by the perfumed forcefield:
lure of purring jasmine;
tempt of vespertine brugmansia,

who are a downright rhinestone constellation
in a black-velvet-jungle sky,
millefleurs satin-pink-pocketed
concealment,

who have forget-me-nots
darned into
the lining of our garments
by the celestial seamstress
herself,

who are the very mystery
we are discussing,
and the veil,

the leap
and the faith,

who dance
rather than collapse
when words fail us,

who are celebrated
for this decision
by the ancestors,

who are teeming with angels
awaiting our every invocation,
if ever we might make one,

who have a standing
invitation to
climb into
the lap of the infinite,
enumerate our wishes
like grains of sand,
like stars,
like dark matter,
like the embodied
waking-dream-state
of actual creation,

who are the round
and unending melody,
the bottomless font,

who are sovereign,

who are sucessors.

And who—
who, among us—
is unbegotten?
Not one,
not one of us
is not thus loved,
(like a righteous sunrise,)
into existence.