Element: Air
Imagery: A figure sits upright in bed, distressed, with nine swords hanging above.
General Themes: Anxiety, worry, mental anguish, overthinking.
Nine of Swords Upright
The Nine of Swords is one of those cards people dread getting. But this card isn’t the doom and gloom people think it is. It’s about facing your fears. The figure in the card sits upright in bed, as if awakening from a nightmare with a start. This is not a time to ignore the monster under the bed or the thing keeping you up at night.
In our effort to silence our fears, we only make them louder. Self-doubt works the same way. The more you feed it, even by suppressing it, the more you risk creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, wrap that rose-patterned blanket around you, take a breath, and face the scary thing you’ve been trying to ignore.
Here’s the thing…that nightmare? It’s a message, not a prophecy. If you shift your perspective from defending yourself against it and instead asking it what it wants you to hear, then the medicine will follow. So go on then. Make friends with the monster under the bed.
Nine of Swords Reversed
The Nine of Swords reversed ushers in good news. You’re coming out of a nightmare situation. Often, you’re leaving behind a toxic spiral that keeps you stuck in your head, manifesting your worst fears. This is the moment you choose not to feed those thoughts.
It’s not that you suppress them anymore, either. No, you brought them into the light, looked at them for what they were, and made the conscious choice to move on from the self-doubt and negativity that kept you stuck in the past. That’s no small thing.
Now, you are integrating this shadow medicine. Let sacred, simple pleasures heal your soul and show you the way forward.
The Bruja’s Guide to Tarot is the divination sister to the scholarly The Bruja Professor, a witchy take on literature, the occult & pop culture, and Enchantment Learning & Living, an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you.
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