Looking at the 9 of swords in any deck is hard when it does not depict the usual mental anguish and destruction that the 9 of swords can be seen in the RWS. So, seeing a 9 of swords that is so different is a challenge.
However - if we think of ideas like the Law of Attraction, the Secret... any of that stuff, we learn and realise that our thoughts, our beliefs actually make up the world around us. If we have mental anxiety and pain, then we create our own suffering.
Here in the 9 of swords we have the Hermit's seeking of truth in the dark recesses of the mind, the logical, rational and the perfectly irrational and torturous mind. Through the power of our minds we can either have a world of chaos, of the churning tidal waves of the sea, the emotional and somewhat irrational, anxious, worry driven thoughts and beliefs that can manifest our future.... or we can have the House of Gold above, we can have positivity, order, something you can build foundations on, self belief that is unshakable.
Hathor can be a goddess that reflects that - she can be the lion-goddess Sekmet full of anger, worry, fear and so is bloodthirsty and never satisfied (like our anxieties, worry, paranoia) OR she is Hathor the Cow goddess and we can decide to focus on the joys and pleasures of life and change our whole outlook and our reality and future.
The key as always is with ourselves.