The Eight of Pentacles as Intentions: To Keep Working at It, One Coin at a Time

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Eight of Pentacles as intentions is a plan carried out at a bench. Here is what I would read in it, upright and reversed, and why the work is the declaration.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Eight of Pentacles as intentions that are devoted and practical. In an intentions position the card suggests the person means to work at what is between you: to learn you, to improve, to do the small things well and repeatedly. The intention is steady and modest and it compounds. Craftsmen do not announce their plans. They finish the coins.

This is the craftsman chiselling at the bench with six finished coins on the post. They intend the seventh. They intend to keep going until the post is full.

The Eight of Pentacles upright as intentions

Tina Gong's the Eight of Pentacles guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with apprenticeship, skill development, diligence and craftsmanship. When the card lands in a position that asks what someone intends toward you, I read those meanings as the shape of their plan rather than as a promise about what they will do. Feelings and intentions are different questions; the Eight of Pentacles as feelings covers the first, and this page covers the second. The general card meanings at Biddy Tarot are a useful second reference.

Upright, I read the Eight of Pentacles as a person who intends to earn their place with you: by attention, by effort, by getting it right one piece at a time. It may not look like much on any single day. Over a season it looks like devotion, which is what it is.

What I would not read into it is flair. The Eight of Pentacles will not surprise you with a grand gesture. It will remember how you take your tea and fix the thing you mentioned, and if you need grand gestures, this is not that person.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm the person's effort is romantic rather than dutiful, that they feel joy in it as well as commitment, or that they will ever put the chisel down and simply be with you. No card lets a reader see another person's plans. What a card can do is describe the kind of intention that fits the person's behaviour, and give you something to check against what they actually do.

The Eight of Pentacles reversed as intentions

Reversed, the Eight of Pentacles as intentions describes effort gone mechanical or corners cut: a person going through the motions toward you with no care in them, or one so anxious to get the relationship right that they intend perfection and never relax into it. It can also describe someone who intends the result without the practice.

In your own question, ask whether the person does the right things with no warmth in them, or whether they are so focused on doing well by you that they have forgotten to enjoy you. A reversed card as intentions is a prompt to compare what is said with what is done, not a diagnosis of bad faith.

The Eight of Pentacles as an ex's intentions

Asked about an ex, the Eight of Pentacles as intentions can suggest they are working on themselves, learning from what went wrong, perhaps with you in mind. That is admirable and it is not the same as intending to return. Sometimes the work is for the next relationship. Sometimes it is for this one. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Eight of Pentacles as a new person's intentions

For someone new, this card describes someone already putting in effort to know and please you. Notice it; it is easy to miss because it is not loud. Appreciate the small finished coins and the person will keep making them.

What their intentions look like in action

Look for steady, careful effort: they remember, they follow through, they improve at the things that matter to you. An Eight of Pentacles intention is visible in the quality of the small things.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, the small careful things the person has done, and whether you have noticed them out loud. The third note keeps the craftsman at the bench.

For comparison, the Three of Pentacles as intentions and the King of Pentacles as intentions describe different intentions. The the Eight of Pentacles card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Eight of Pentacles as timing and the Eight of Pentacles as a yes or no cover the other questions people most often ask of it. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.