Tarot · Swords
Nine of Swords
- worry
- brooding
- sleepless thoughts
The picture
A figure sits up in bed with their face in their hands; nine swords hang horizontally on the dark wall, and the quilt is embroidered with roses and symbols.
The meaning
The Nine of Swords is the card of thoughts in the night. The tradition reads it as worry and brooding that seem larger than the situation is. The swords hang on the wall; they do not touch the figure. Readers advise looking at the worries by daylight and talking about them.
Reversed
Reversed, it is read as worries easing, or the moment you confide in someone.
In love
In love it is read as worries you ought to voice rather than turn over at night.
At work
At work it stands for pressure in the head and the request to take one step at a time.
As your card of the day
You do not have to carry every worry alone today. Tell someone; in daylight much of it looks smaller.
The Nine of Swords stands for brooding. Write down today what is on your mind, and then it is on the paper.
Swords belong to air. Readers see in them thought, decisions and plain words, the uncomfortable ones included.
Picture: Pamela Colman Smith, Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, 1909, public domain (Wikimedia Commons).