Card 58 • swords

Nine of Swords

Brief Description

The Nine of Swords symbolizes extreme mental suffering: fear, guilt, depression, insomnia, and nightmares that create a torture chamber of the soul. It advises confronting and cleansing what torments you so despair does not destroy you. It warns to check whether your worries are real or merely imagined anxieties. Reversed, it can signal exaggerated pessimism and unfounded fears or, alternatively, the end of a long depression with alleviated guilt.

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Upright

An extreme level of suffering, miserable psychological state. Fear, depression, guilt, terror, despair. Insomnia, nightmares. An outside enemy, or one that is torturing you from within. Torture chamber of the soul.

Card's advice

Confront what is tormenting you and cleanse your soul. You need to break free or the despair will destroy you.

The warning

Before torturing yourself with worry, make sure your worries are real. Maybe you are anxious for no reason and the danger is only in your mind.

Reverse

Overly pessimistic view of a situation. Getting all worked up; fixating on the negative, with no real reason. Cooked-up fears, doubts and anxiety without any proof, hypochondria. Psychosomatic symptoms diminish or go away. The end of a long depression, understanding the reasons for the suffering. Guilty feelings are alleviated.

Quick Answer

No — first figure out everything you need to know about yourself.

Visual Description

A nude, anguished figure stands at the center with his hands covering his face as if crying. Nine swords are mounted horizontally on the wall behind him, their points aligned toward his head. Thorny rose vines with red blossoms weave among the blades and across the background, and a Roman numeral IX appears near the top. A white banner with Cyrillic lettering runs along the bottom of the card.

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Old Style tarot

✍️ Deck author(s): Alexander Ray

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All card images and descriptions are taken from public sources. They are used for review purposes only. All rights to these images and descriptions belong to their creators. If you believe there is a copyright infringement, please contact us at [email protected].