Nine of Swords Tarot Card

Card Name: Nine of Swords, 9 of Blades

Category: Minor Arcana, Suit of Swords

Position: 9

Keywords: Despair, Cruelty

Active element: Air 💨

The Nine of Swords is probably one of the most painful cards in the entire Tarot deck, along with the Three of Spades. The Minor Arcana symbolizes the negative nature of the mind. The human mind is designed in such a way that it is always preparing for something bad. It is a defense mechanism to deal with loss. Tears give the quality of humanity, sensuality. If people couldn’t cry, they wouldn’t be able to laugh. Therefore, even such a card has a good side – it is an attempt to free oneself from a spiritual burden, accepting one’s pain for the sake of the future. But also, the 9 of the suit of Air can also talk about fixation only on bad things. It all depends on the position of the Arcana and the theme of the spread.

Symbolism and Key Ideas of the Nine of Swords

In the classic Rider-Waite Tarot card, the Nine of Swords shows a sad scene – a girl is crying in her bed. The heroine has dark short hair, and her face is covered with her hands. Therefore, at first glance, it is difficult to disassemble the floor. However, the lilac color of the bed and the blanket with roses hint at gender. The woman is dressed in a white nightgown. A battle scene is shown on the frame of a wooden bed – one person hits the second with a blade. The background is in black. Nine swords hang horizontally on the wall. A similar detail can be found on the Four of Spades. Another important detail is the embroidery in the form of signs of the zodiac and symbols of the planets as decoration on the blanket.

The crying girl on the Nine of Swords symbolizes the experience of loss, sadness and longing. Short hair also hints at this. It is believed that they denote life experience, wisdom. Cutting your hair means losing something. A fight scene on the side of the bed may signify the cause of suffering. Tarologists Goodwin and Katz believed that the battle between Romeo and Tybalt was shown here. The girl in bed is Juliet. She worries about her lover, who is now in mortal danger. The black color of the wall also hints at mourning. The blades are suspended horizontally – the swords on the tombstones of the knights have the same arrangement. Astrological elements symbolize fate, the cosmic scale of experiences.

Meaning of the Upright Nine of Swords Card

• Mourning for the loss, anticipation of the loss of a loved one.
• The need to let go of something dear to the heart, important to the soul.
• A predetermined outcome, parting with someone, breaking ties.
• Devastation and mourning, accepting the inevitability of your life.

In the upright position, the Nine of Swords is a negative card. She absorbed all the pain of the world, the tears of every person. The card is supposedly a shadow of the Major Arcana Death. It is the consequence, the acceptance of the inevitable. The female figure itself on the 9 of Blades personifies hypersensitivity, the transmission of experiences through the heart. With tears comes the accumulated pain. The numerical designation of the card symbolizes higher matters, the heavenly forces of the universe. In the context of earthly life, the nine is read as fateful events, something that has already been decided. The Arcana shows situations that you have to come to terms with and live them to the end.

The Nine of Swords often falls on the physical separation from loved ones, or the loss of all relationships with a person. Also, the card can only talk about the approach of these events. However, a person already feels the future outcome. Indirectly, the 9th Arcana of the suit of Air indicates an exacerbation of intuition, prophetic dreams. No matter how, but the querent knows about the upcoming losses, experiences. This fact is even more depressing. Time becomes an executioner, drop by drop testing patience and fortitude. The Arcana appears in a negative light, but in fact, it only shows the fatality of life, the inevitability of the transition.

Love and Relationships (Upright)

• A partner who plays with the feelings of the questioner, bringing pain.
• Difficult relationships that leave heart wounds, tears.
• Fine mental organization, leading only to loneliness.
• Seriously perceived actions from undeserving people.

In the love spread, the Nine of Swords is played extremely negatively. The card symbolizes strong feelings about relationships with a loved one. At the same time, it doesn’t matter what exactly happened – betrayal, betrayal or illness of a partner. Only the feelings of the querent matter. The Arcana speaks of pain, constant thoughts about the experience. Sometimes he shows the relationship on pause, forced to wait for an answer. In any case, the Nine of Spades does not bode well. The nerves of one of the partners are on edge.

For loners, the Nine of Swords predicts only grief and tears. The questioner may come across difficult personalities that are not focused on deep feelings. However, the querent himself is too emotionally thin person. He takes everything to heart – whether it’s another rejection or unjustified expectations. The element Air gives the card’s energies a coldness. This is an indication that potential gentlemen or ladies will not reckon with the feelings of the questioner. The period of loneliness will continue. At the same time, the heart will not be able to calm down and reconcile.

Career and Finance (Upright)

• Work in a hospice, medical institution or orphanage, prison.
• Emotionally hard work and worries about other people.
• Unexpected problems with money, large losses of funds.
• Complete collapse, the need for financial support from loved ones.

In terms of work, the Nine of Swords denotes activities that are inextricably linked with the losses of other people. It can be the funeral business, psychotherapy, medicine. The querent faces the tears of his clients or patients every day. Such work is emotionally exhausting, makes you empathize with others and at the same time continue to fulfill the instructions. In the upright position, the Arcana symbolizes empathy, the sympathy of the fortuneteller. As a significator of the situation, the Nine of Swords speaks of the loss of a job, or the breaking of an important contract.

The financial situation is extremely unfavorable. The Nine of Swords falls out when a person is in dire need of the most necessary. He is completely bewildered, unable to come to his senses in connection with recent events. Perhaps money was urgently needed to help a sick relative or to organize a funeral. In addition to big expenses, there is a feeling of poor health, worries about someone. The problems that have piled up are difficult to solve because of the depressed state, depression.

Health and Spirit (Upright)

• Sudden onset of pain, sudden illness, inflammation.
• Surgery to remove an organ or tumor and rehabilitation.
• Depression, depression, internal complexes.
• Inability to pull myself together, weakness, broken soul.

The Nine of Swords in terms of health shows relapses, exacerbation of diseases. A person experiences severe physical pain, is forced to endure such a state for a long time. Perhaps a complex operation has recently taken place and now the querent is undergoing a rehabilitation stage. The Arcana sometimes denotes the loss of an organ – tonsils, appendix. But also the card can talk about miscarriage, stillbirth. This is the pain that is closely intertwined with emotional experiences. The Arcana shows the suffering of the querent before the most operable intervention, or after it.

The mental state is very depressed. The Nine of Swords symbolizes inner fears, anxiety. The questioner may be tormented by nightmares, mental anguish about what has been done or not done. Most often, the card lays down as a consequence after an injury – a break with a loved one, loss of respect or material wealth. At worst, hints at past physical abuse.

Situations and Questions (Upright)

• Spiritual hardening, struggle with idealism, pink dreams.
• Acceptance of the negative manifestations of the world and the dark sides of the mind.
• Humility, living your own mental pain, loss.
• Observation of the eternal flow of life, the transition to a higher stage.

From a spiritual standpoint, the Nine of Swords is responsible for accepting the inevitable. If we consider Tarot cards from Ten to Ace, then in the Air group, the story begins with the death of a male hero. The 9 of Swords next to the Arcana symbolizes the fatality of being, abandonment and the need to reconcile. This is a mourner who helps to endure grief. In this case, the scene takes place at night, which speaks of the unconscious part of the mind. The querent must pull the pain out of himself, try to go through a difficult period of life. The losses themselves can be anything.

The Nine of Swords asks questions: “What will I have to put up with?” and "How to survive the pain?". The main message of the card is fatality, the fate of fate. No matter how much you run away from death, sooner or later it will surely overtake you. The finiteness of being is sometimes disguised as dismissal from a prestigious position, the loss of a large sum. Everywhere, a person experiences the pain of loss. However, to move on, you must accept the rules of the game. Nothing is permanent – everything changes, flows from one state to another.

Meaning of the Reversed Nine of Swords Tarot

• Hopelessness and destructive thoughts, rejection of the situation.
• Complete immersion in negativity and limited thinking.
• A feeling of eternal unhappiness and a chronic state of pain.
• Constant suffering or inability to take things for granted.

If you turn the card over, then the meaning of the Nine of Swords changes. The position of the Arcana symbolizes the suffering of others, which the querent himself provoked. Also, sometimes these are events of the past that still affect the current situation. Otherwise, the reversed Nine of Swords Tarot card gives the spread the quality of slowing down. This means that the pain lasts a very long time and the fortuneteller is unable to cope with emotions. The environment is unfavorable, the questioner can get into bad conditions. Indirectly, the card speaks of a conclusion, a forced stay in some place. A person was driven into a corner, forced to act in one way or another.

Also, the Nine of Swords in the opposite sense shows atonement for one’s own sins. The mistakes of the past will remind you of themselves day after day. The questioning person will pay in full for everything done or for indifference. This is late repentance, the realization of wrong behavior. Memories of someone who has been hurt by the querent may come. The person will finally realize that he acted badly. The reversed position of the Arcana speaks of empathy, hypersensitive perception. However, sometimes such a condition is suppressed by the person himself, which makes it chronic.

Love and Relationships (Reversed)

• Deliberately causing pain to your other half; slavery.
• An attempt to break a partner because of their own selfishness and revenge.
• The complete absence of love interest in the personality of the fortuneteller.
• Suffering because of his loneliness and the impossibility of happiness.

In terms of love, the Nine of Swords reversed shows a cruel attitude towards the second half. If in a direct form the card did not directly speak about this, now the partner is acting deliberately. He introduces his passion into the state of the victim of the situation, finishes it to the end. Such behavior is dictated by the desire to break the will of a person, to make him a toy without the right to vote. If the partner silently agrees to such an attitude, he will endure forever. Treason, assault, moral pressure – all this will become an ordinary family life.

For lonely people, the reversed Nine of Swords promises only emptiness. The querent is now not in a state of resource, therefore he cannot give anything to the opposite sex. On the contrary, at the moment he himself needs support, care and affection. But the problem is that few people want to take on the role of a tear vest. Therefore, the questioner must pull himself together and independently cope with spiritual wounds. Any changes in personal life will occur only after complete healing.

Career and Finance (Reversed)

• Lack of demand as an employee, colleague or partner.
• Stress at work, leading to forced dismissal, leaving.
• Financial crisis, complete ruin, poverty and bad situation.
• Lack of prospects for growth and strength to resolve the case.

In the context of the work, the Nine of Swords in the opposite form shows an even more unpleasant situation. The position of the card indicates the collapse of a career, illiquidity in the labor market. The time of great success has passed and now only memories remain. Perhaps a person cannot find a job due to the presence of a disease, disability. One way or another, this fact brings pain, makes you feel your own inferiority against the background of more successful acquaintances. The reversed Arcana sometimes speaks of detention due to financial fraud, fraud.

In terms of finances, the Nine of Swords in the opposite sense symbolizes a certain crisis, the destruction of the usual system. At the same time, events could have happened a long time ago, but the querent still could not cope with the consequences. Losses are quite large – be it an apartment, a car or a thriving business. This is where the fortuneteller put his whole self. Now, the former values have become the cause of headaches and nightmares at night.

Health and Spirit (Reversed)

• Operations to remove important organs, amputation, sepsis.
• Phantom pains in the place where the limbs are missing.
• Self-winding, negative thinking, fears and phobias.
• Constant tantrums, nervous breakdowns, sleep problems.

Health on the reversed Nine of Swords is in a deplorable state. The disease is running, the body does not have enough strength, the immune system can not cope. The position of the card can show bedridden patients. Also, sometimes it undergoes operations to amputate limbs, remove genital organs. These are things that are very hard to come to terms with. In this context, physical pain cannot be compared with mental anguish. Now a person seems to be eating himself from the inside, unable to cope with feelings.

The mental state of the Nine of Swords reversed is very unstable. A person can constantly cry, experience pangs of conscience. The flow of thoughts is difficult to control. The imagination paints the world in dark colors, provoking a new bout of hysteria. The position of the card shows obsessive thoughts, sick fantasies. At the same time, the person himself suffers from this. The reason for the experience may relate to the querent, or his environment. The reversed view of the Arcana also indicates the possible absence of real problems. Sometimes the root of trouble lies in the negative attitudes of the subconscious.

Situations and Questions (Reversed)

• Love for suffering, getting pleasure from pain.
• Mental anguish that becomes a drug for an egoist.
• Demonstration of one’s own weakness or meanness of spirit.
• Fear of losing the reason for tears or getting out of the negative.

From the side of spirituality, the Nine of Swords reversed appears as a mourning vestment for the neophyte. The past brought a lot of sorrows, but relief never came. On the contrary, the querent may like the current position. Suffering is the consequence of not accepting pain. The upright position showed the emotional peak, the very point of no return. Now everything is behind, but the situation is still not lived through to the end. The questioner relishes painful sensations, becomes a kind of masochist.

The Nine of Swords reversed asks questions: "Why do I continue to suffer?" and “What are the benefits of my current state?”. People around see the plight of the fortuneteller and therefore are often happy to help. But after several attempts to reach out, they understand that the person himself does not want it. The state of the victim gives a secondary benefit – it seems to allow you to do nothing, only mourn and feel sorry for yourself. But it’s hard to understand and even harder to accept. The easiest way is to continue to reopen wounds, slowly destroying yourself.

Nine of Swords: Combination with other Tarot Cards

Advice and Warning of the Nine of Swords Card

If the Nine of Swords is drawn straight, then the card advises accepting the situation. No matter how hard it is, there is no other way out now. Everything has already been done, the questioner can only submit to fate. You should give free rein to feelings alone with yourself – it’s good to cry, throw out grief. Negative emotions must be lived to the end. The Nine of Swords also warns of imminent bad weather, an accident. This may be the loss of relationships, material values. You should listen to the signs from above, act carefully. At the same time, it will not be possible to radically change the situation – the prescribed will still happen. You just have to be ready for it.

In the opposite form, the Nine of Swords advises to completely fall out of reality for a while. The grief is so great that it will take a lot of strength to restore peace of mind. Now the querent does not need to put on a mask, try to control himself. As a warning, the position of the Nine of Swords speaks of the danger of hushing up problems. Sooner or later, the negative will spill out, so there is no need to suppress feelings. If you close your eyes to your own emotional background, you can finally burn out. Then the querent will take more time to heal wounds, to heal itself.

Nine of Swords: Daily Card Meaning

The Nine of Swords predicts a difficult day. Today, the questioner will feel a breakdown, will face some problems. At the moment, they are difficult to solve, but the very presence of negative aspects will be depressing. Perhaps bad news will come from loved ones. If a person is sick, the condition will worsen. Psychological trauma will also make itself felt. You may have nightmares. Experiences will make you give up for a while, surrender to chance. The day is not suitable for meeting with loved ones, so it is better to spend it alone. It is necessary to throw out emotions, otherwise the pain will only increase.

If the card lay upside down, then the Nine of Swords predicts a cruel day. Someone hurts the soul of the questioner very much, does not reckon with his interests. This person does not care about the condition of his victim. He lacks the very concept of empathy. The fortuneteller will be completely defeated, his consciousness will not even be able to fully accept the situation. But the reversed Arcana also speaks of the pointlessness of suffering for a long time, torturing oneself. It’s not worth it, so you don’t need to elevate what you experienced to the rank of fatality. It is better to let go of the one who leaves, not to hold on to anything. And only then, in splendid isolation, give yourself some time to mourn the loss and recover.

Suit of Swords