Eight of Pentacles

What the card means

Upright

The patient repetition that makes skill. A craftsman strikes an eighth coin; seven already hang in an even column, the town far behind. The card is about skill not being talent but a number of identical movements made attentively.

Reversed

Going through the motions of something once loved. Doing the same and no longer looking at it. Sometimes work below standard that nobody has noticed yet.

Love and relationships

Upright

A relationship put into daily without any display. That is exactly what works.

Reversed

Doing what is expected and no longer being present for it.

Work and business

Upright

Study, practice, building the hours. The best time there is for getting better - and it calls for tedium rather than inspiration.

Reversed

Working on autopilot. Or the quality has slipped and you know it.

Money

Upright

Money follows output: more made, more paid. Simple and honest.

Reversed

Paid by quantity, and quality has stopped mattering.

The card's advice

Make one more, attentively. Skill is only accumulated this way, and the difference between the eighth coin and the seventh is the only thing you have today.

As the card of the day

An uneventful working day. Good for practice and for finishing something properly. Poor for novelty.

What is depicted

A craftsman sits at a bench striking a coin; seven finished ones hang on a post in an even row, an eighth at his feet. The town is distant - he went off to work apart from everyone.

Zodiac sign and correspondences

Sun in Virgo - attention to the exact and the repeatable.

With other cards

• Eight of Pentacles + The Hermit — learning alone and in earnest.
• Eight of Pentacles + Seven of Pentacles — looked, took stock, and went back to work.
• Eight of Pentacles + Three of Pentacles — the skill was worked up and is now recognised.