Phantasmagoric - 9 of Swords

Little Baron

A man or woman stands beneath an opening in a wall. Through the opening, they are looking at a distant castle in silhouette. There is a smaller opening beside it. In the room are 9 swords lent against the wall. What looks like a book or papers is on the floor.

Graham Cameron says of this card -
"A Princess stands alone, gazing at a castle through a hole in the wall. The castle and its freedom have become unattainable. The Princess is trapped, and a sense of loneliness and issolation fills her soul. To reach the castle she must talk about what it is that holds her prisoner.
Tghe Nine of Swords represents an issolation that we can overcome with better communication.
R: Living with guilt; mistrust of others".

Another lighter Swords card than I am used to in my Universal Waite and other decks. Come to think of it, none of these cards a particularly dark on the surface. That makes it quite a nice deck to read with when I am not up to the harsh and problematic messages that some decks deal.

Yaboot
 

darwinia

Those That Worship Their Pain

The large window in this looks like a double-pointed dagger, rather menacing in some way, hovering. The other window is spade-shaped like the card suit. That big window seems low enough at the bottom that the person could escape, but instead they are quietly gazing out at the castle far away, seemingly incapable of taking action to get away, in fact calmly accepting their restricted view.

Is that a pillow on the floor? Was the person recently kneeling on the pillow and worshiping the nine swords? Completely focused on the swords--reminds me of masochistic tendencies and focusing on a perceived threat, indeed, even worshiping the feeling of being under threat. I also see the black and white of the floor as the "all or nothing" syndrome of seeing things as black and white. All good or all bad.

The person might feel it their duty to stay in this room, perhaps they feel they are enlightened in their guardianship of those nine swords? Perhaps the pillow is their bed and they sleep here and worship here thinking it preferable to living outside, unafraid?

Fear can be compelling for some in their martyrdom.
 

galadrial

There is more to the Fra Giovanni quote than I put in my signature, and I think it applies to this card: "There is nothing I can give you which you have not, but there is much, that while I cannot give, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today- take heaven."
I wonder why the person is investing so much energy in wishing to be in that castle. If they were in that castle, they would probably go up to some dank tower and look down at the townspeople. In the movie "Camelot", Guenivere and Arthur wonder "what do the simple folk do?" when they are having their marital problems. In the final verse they conclude "they sit around and wonder, what royal people do."
Where is this person's personality? She should find some colored pencils and start doodling on pieces of paper. Even if it's just a scrawl of rage, it will be her scrawl of rage, and will be more liberating than the Monet in that castle. She can hang them on that blank wall with those swords. She should also go down to the shelter and liberate a cat. That dress would be vastly improved with some cat hairs, and the floor with some toys. The cat (she will focus on her own creativity and come up with a cool name for it) will curl up on the pillow and purr, and she will not be able to resist petting it's tummy. Those "x" eyes make me think of how cartoonists depict someone as dead. This sterile enviornment and being green with envy is killing this person. Time to focus on ways to make her own house, if not a castle, at least a home.
 

Maan

I like your view of her being the martyr Freesaskye. The more i look at this cards the more i see some christian martyr qualities there. Dwelling on how good it is to be sufforing is never productive and thats a for me a part of the meaning of this card.

This person always reminded me of those medievel maidens locked in a castle waiting for there prince in shinning armor to arrive. I always wondered why these maidens/princesses did not try to escape by themselfes. i guess that is not a very "feminine" thing to do ;)

Love
Maan