Strength and Eight of Cups

Endurance and departure, which sound opposed and are read together. The Eight of Cups leaves eight stacked cups under a moon; Strength is the capacity to keep going. The tradition reads the pair as somebody who could have carried on and chose not to, which it treats as the harder of the two options.

Associated with leaving something you were perfectly able to endure. Read as self-knowledge rather than as weakness.

Walking away from a role you were good at. Frequently read where everybody else is confused by the decision.

Strength is not the card of gritting your teeth, it is the card of not needing to. This pair is unusually clear that staying would have been the lesser act.