The Eight of Cups and Pisces I

Walking Away Under the Moonlight

On February 18, the Sun enters Pisces I, the first decan of Pisces, ruled by Saturn. In tarot, this ten-degree domain belongs to The Eight of Cups, also known as The Lord of Indolence.

This card features one of the most haunting images in tarot: the back of a lone figure walking away from eight stacked cups. Above, a moon hangs, illuminating the path ahead but revealing no clear destination.

The feeling is unmistakable—something is missing. What once felt full now feels empty. The realization that it’s time to leave, even if you don’t yet know what’s next.

This departure is not without its burdens. It carries the weight of melancholy, disappointment, and disillusionment—a knowing that despite considerable effort, something essential has run dry.

And this year, these themes resonate with even deeper significance.

Mercury, Saturn, and the New Moon

We look to these ten days and ponder: what might this quality of time look like?

The Sun will join Mercury, the planet of words, thoughts, and writing already residing in Pisces I, and Saturn, ruler of this decan (transiting through Pisces since March 2023), will transition for the first time from Pisces II to Pisces III. Amplifying this significant shift, Saturn and Mercury will conjoin on February 25.

When we think of Mercury in Pisces, we envision the poet, the mystic, and the artist—creatives who effortlessly tap into the vast streams of the collective unconscious. Their expression flows boundlessly, infused with the ethereal and the sublime. Saturn provides structure and discipline that might seem confining in Pisces but grants these fluid thoughts with form and substance. This cosmic dance between the boundless imagination of Mercury in Pisces and the disciplined rigor of Saturn creates a fertile ground for enduring artistry, where ephemeral ideas gain permanence through words and music, capturing the essence of both the seen and unseen worlds.

Two days later, on February 27, the New Moon in Pisces arrives at 9°40’, falling within this same decan. New Moons are a beginning, but in the domain of the Eight of Cups, a new chapter is a response to an ending.

Look to this lunation to carry the weight of walking away from unfulfilled longings, accepting what no longer works. There may be a quiet melancholy here—a realization that something we once cherished cannot continue—a bittersweet acknowledgment. But the moment the figure in the Eight of Cups turns away from the past, the path ahead opens.

A profoundly creative lunation, this Pisces New Moon invites artists, poets, and dreamers to transmute sorrow into art, to find new language for old griefs, and to allow the gravity of endings to birth something new.

Saturn Returns & The Artist’s Reckoning

Every 29-ish years, as Saturn visits Pisces, we see a flood of profoundly moving music—an artist’s reckoning with form and formlessness, a moment where creative identity must evolve or stagnate.

Here are a few examples:

• 1964-1965: Bob Dylan

• 1993-1994: Eddie Vedder

• 2023-present: Us, Here and Now

Bob Dylan and the Art of Walking Away

When Saturn was in Pisces I in the mid-1960s (March 24, 1964, to September 16, 1964, and December 16, 1964, to March 18, 1965), Bob Dylan found himself at his own Eight of Cups moment.

Some of the most significant Eight of Cups songs from Dylan’s Saturn in Pisces I era include My Back Pages, a rejection of his past self (“I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”), It Ain’t Me, Babe, a farewell to expectations—whether in love or the folk movement itself, and It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, a closing door, a necessary goodbye.

And then, the defining anthem of departure—Like a Rolling Stone ("How does it feel… to be on your own, with no direction home?")

This was the ultimate Eight of Cups song—a melancholic movement, casting out entirely into the unknown. Highway 61 Revisited was released on August 30, 1965, and this song was likely written during Saturn in Pisces I months earlier. Either way, when these songs were penned, Saturn was most certainly in Pisces!

Dylan did not turn back, even when he took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival with an electric guitar. The folk movement had crowned him a prophet—a protest singer, a voice for a generation. But at this festival on the Narragansett Bay waters of Rhode Island in the summer of ’65, Dylan felt boxed in. The expectations placed upon him had become a heavy container by the folksters. He longed to move on creatively. Saturn in Pisces tends to foster isolation.

As the cosmic clock would have it, Timothée Chalamet, who plays Dylan in the recent film A Complete Unknown, has natal Saturn in Pisces—aligning with his Saturn return as he mastered this role.

Eddie Vedder and the Weight of Fame

As Saturn returned to Pisces I (1993-1994), Eddie Vedder found himself in this Eight of Cups energy as well.

Pearl Jam had become one of the biggest bands in the world, but with success came the weight of lead. The industry was controlling, and Vedder felt trapped. He rebelled against Ticketmaster, a Saturnian institution, choosing integrity over profit.

His songs from this era include Rearviewmirror, an escape anthem; Nothingman, a melancholic reflection on what’s lost; and Not for You, a direct rejection of the institution’s demands.

Vedder didn’t just write about escape—he lived it. His burdens with the music industry and his sense of isolation led to one of Pearl Jam’s most emotionally raw and defiant periods.

Like Dylan before him, Vedder had to choose: stay and conform, or walk away and evolve. (Vedder has natal Saturn at Pisces 0°—meaning this was his own Saturn return.)

And Now, Here We Are

A current singer/songwriter and author who conjures Saturn in Pisces depth is Michelle Zauner, of the band Japanese Breakfast and author of Crying in H Mart. Her latest song, Orlando in Love, which I heard on an actual radio show, fits this theme.

Orlando in love
Writes 69 cantos
For melancholy brunettes
And sad women

If that doesn’t sound like Mercury and Saturn in Pisces, I’m not sure what does. Thus, these musicians and countless others shape their experiences into profound artistry, providing us with soul-stirring music that not only accompanies but enriches our journeys away from those eight cups toward new horizons.

Please share and comment with Eight of Cups song lyrics, titles, or experiences.

Lessons of the Eight of Cups

The Eight of Cups teaches us that staying in a situation past its expiration leads to emotional depletion. Recognizing dissatisfaction is not enough—we must be willing to act on it, not be indolent.

Saturn’s presence in Pisces is sobering yet helpful. It reminds us that boundaries must be drawn, illusions must be shed, and we must evolve or risk decay.

Tarot Activity: Reflect and Draw

Take out your Eight of Cups card and sit with its imagery. What stands out to you? What emotions or memories does it stir?

Shuffle your deck and draw three cards to explore these questions:

Write your insights. Let the cards guide you toward clarity, and remember, the Eight of Cups is never just about walking away; it’s about walking toward something greater.

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Heather Marie Morse is an esoteric writer and yoga teacher who blends the wisdom of lunar astrology with the practice of yoga through her Substack newsletter, The Light Today. Her work mainly focuses on the subtle influences of light and the moon's phases on our daily lives, aiming to harmonize our inner rhythms with the universe's natural cycles.