Name: Desperation and Jealousy
Italian Name: Disperato per Gelosia*
Playing Card: 8♠
Polarity when Upright: Negative
Core Meanings: Desperation, Crisis, Hopes falling through | Jealousy, Envy, Possessiveness | Loss | Ill-will, Toxicity
Polarity when Reversed: Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Egotism | Pride | Imbalanced Character | Disruption, Accident | Imbalanced behavior

Card Description: a man leans against a rock as he is about do something from which there is no return. He seems to have r eached a point of no return.

Suit and Number: all eights have to do with balance. In the Suit of Spades, which is negative, this translates as a crisis of a state of affairs, loss of balance, scraping the bottom, etc. All other eights show the realization of hopes, the creation (or re-creation) of a balanced state of affairs and good perspectives. Here we have the opposite: life stands still on the brink of destruction, all balance lost (notice how the man leans on a rock for support).

UPRIGHT 8♠

General: one of the most NSFW cards in the deck, especially in our world pampered by trigger warnings. It is also one of the most mysterious and ominous-looking. It signifies what it says on the tin: hopelessness, desperation, a crisis, loss and jealousy. It shows all those situations where you find yourself face to face with the ugly truth that sometimes life is shit even if we call it fertilizer.

Love and Relationships: often this card represents jealousy. If it comes up alone, it is lousy, normal jealousy, nothing to get too worked up about. However the Eight of Spades also covers morbid jealousy, envy and all toxic environments where ill will prevails. Thus it is also a significator for gossip and slander. Relationships will devolve into a situation of crisis and hang on the brink of dissolution.

Work and Money: debts, loss and money troubles all around all form the core meaning of this card. Investments are likely to prove disastrous and if the querent is hoping to receive money for whatever reason, he won’t. Anything that is hoped for falls through as a rule, unless cards such as Fortune and the Peacock follow, in which case the hope will be realized when the person had given up on it.

Other: psychologically it represents a very dark period of dejection and loss of hope. It shows the inability to envision a bright future, and living in a state of inner crisis. Spiritually it shows loss of faith and esoterically it points to oppression by evil energies. It goes without saying that the Eight of Spades is connected to self-harm and its extreme forms, if with the appropriate cards.

Important Combinations:
6♥U/R + 8♠ = financial crisis
A♣ + 8♠ = a marriage in a critical moment
8♠ + Q♠ and/or J♠ + 9♦ = ill will from a group of people, mobbing if at work
4♥ + 8♠ = Jealousy
6♦U/R + 8♠ + A♠ + 9♦ = very dark thoughts toward oneself

REVERSED 8♠R

General: Also negative. It can have a similar meaning to the upright counterpart. It also shows accidents, disruptive events (think of the man actually firing the gun) and serious character flaws. Only when the reversed Eight of Spades is followed by positive cards it can signify the end of a crisis.

Love and Relationships: it is one of the cards that can show a breakup. It also represents people you’d be advised to stay away from, because they know no limit in their actions and will go to any length to get what they want, selfish and possibly unhinged, depending on the gravity of the other cards. Groups of people are also likely to harbor ill will toward the querent.

Work and Money: It still brings trouble, crisis and disruption. It can also signifiy that the person cannot be trusted to manage their own money or to make good on their promises.

Other: The reversed Jealousy card is connected with accidents. It is also a card of deep immaturity on a psychological level, showing someone who is proud, selfish and arrogant and thinks only about themselves. It signifies a loose cannon. Because it shows lack of restraint, it is associated eith excesses of all kind and it can point to an unbalanced aura due to a hex.

Important Combinations:
8♠R + 4♦ = traditionally, an accident that leaves you paralyzed in a chair, but two cards are not enough | being completely out of your mind
8♠R + 3♣ + 7♠ = an accident
8♠R + 2♣R = serious character flaws
8♠R + 4♦ + 3♠R + Q♠ = a hex sent by a woman (if J♠ a man)
8♠R + 5♦ = being whiny and capricious

Other combinations: Vera Sibilla | Examples of Combinations – The Eights

* literally “Desperate due to Jealousy”, it has been shortened to just “Jealousy” in some modern decks, but clearly the image represents more than just jealousy. I believe the inventor of the deck was trying to fit two different strands of meanings into one card, that connected to jealousy and that connected to desperation and crisis which is typical of the Eight of Spades in various traditions of divination.