The Minor Eight

Everyday themes in the Minor 8

The Minor 8 gives to any Major that same sense of separation from the world and from their community that an innocent or a child may have: within the world but not yet fully of it. They want clear spaces in which to live and play, and doors shut to the outside and against intruders.

Minor Eights are uneasy with the ties, duties and obligations of social reality and prefer to manage and confront natural necessities. This gives them the aura of innocence or naivety that helps them win protectors and defenders. When young, Minor Eights can observe with a certain amount of wonder?if not fear?the activities of adult life and hope they will never have to do the same. They regard most advice as being biased towards getting them to accept 'grown-up' responsibilities, and they are wary of that bias. They may seem unrealistic about their life decisions, but in fact, they always look for the logical imperative for doing something rather than the emotional one.

They are aware of all kinds of boundaries, both physical and mental, and are anxious about leaving something of themselves behind when they cross them, and they are very self-conscious. Their innocent manner makes a no-man's land between their needs and the desires of others. The Minor Eights are concerned with structure and coherence in their mental life, and seek out companionship from those who are well-controlled and have destiny well in hand. They avoid sophistication, depending on no one for their attitudes, and this may make them stubborn, but also sensible, and even charismatic. They are not very responsive to other people's games, and do not require rehearsals for the game of life, and this leads them to prefer unattached friends and unique lifestyles, appreciating best those who are comfortable with themselves.

Because they resist the responsibilities imposed by others, Minor Eights can move through daily life at their own leisurely pace without being touched or corrupted by expectations. They want to be allowed to continue being themselves and won't be forced into any change before they are ready. They experiment with life and enjoy what they can when they can. They have little interest in any one future, and they don't make many plans for it.

Even though Minor Eights look for purity in their fun, they are generally serious and dignified. They enjoy laughter and joking as long as there is no risk of losing dignity or face in any encounter or action. They understand people's motivations well in the everyday, but have more immediate sympathy with animal and plant life than with people, and may develop sentimental attachments to plants and animals struggling for life, while reserving their human affections for those who seem to be similarly isolated.

Minor Eights fear unknown and hidden complications in their everyday labours, so may accept conventional career paths or learning a practical skill in spite of the Landscape contradictions inherent in them. Because of their awareness of boundaries and initial conditions, they are likely to be good in the sharp tactical end of business. Their sense of a personal purity keeps them (in their eyes) incorruptible, and they are individuals one cannot really force into any viewpoint other their own. They are quick to see what menaces them, especially from emotional manipulation, and they don't want to give out too much about themselves in case they reveal a weakness that others can exploit. Minor Eights are not much to delving into their unconscious.

They dislike feeling constrained by what others think, and they may enjoy ruffling the feathers of disapproving people. They are impatient with other people's problems while at the same time worry about remote pain and suffering. Minor Eights work to keep themselves unassailable, while conditions may came and go around them, Even in their relationships, they need those who want to be their friends to climb barriers to get to a zone of friendship. Minor Eights hold onto their first impressions of people and do not give them the benefit of the doubt. It is up to others to prove themselves.

Once made, Minor Eights will support their partnerships fully, unless they become trapped into repetition and boredom. Any feeling of personal encroachment or of opportunities being closed off by a relationship will make Minor Eights think of quitting them. Their pride is easily wounded, and they can take offence quickly. Their ability to deduce, along with their practised guilelessness, makes them good for analytical tasks that require probity and virtue, although they subscribe to no fixed morality but their own.