"Bad" cards as good advice

Hi, distinctive people on this forum, I have a question on, how to interpret a very negative "Good Advice Card". What I do sometimes is pull a card, asking, what would be the best thing to do here? When I pull a card like the Nine Swords, I am really puzzled. Shall I throw myself into despair and have it run itself out, or is this a warning of, that I shall -not- succumb to despair? In this particular situation I have pulled an extra card, asking: "How do I best achieve that which the cards counsel me to do?" It came out The Lovers Reversed. At least I am so far that I know, not to take a decision now, that is how I interpret this card. But the general meaning of all this eludes me. And this sort of thing happens everytime I have a "negative" card as the good advice. Any input, thoughts, advice on how to read negative cards as good advice?

In the case you mentioned, as good advice, the 9 Swords would suggest to me not to over think the situation or not to fret about it. Depending on the imagery of the specific deck, there might be other interpretations that I'd come up with.

Something like the Tower would suggest don't fight it, this needs to happen, something that's been hidden is about to be revealed, etc.

Generally, "good" cards can have "bad" meanings and vice-versa.

Rodney

(Disclaimer: I’m a beginner)

This is interesting, because I was recently struggling, agonizing, losing sleep over a situation, and drew this exact card in a position that I called “Action / Advice”, i.e.,what action do I take. It really puzzled me until this just popped into my head:

Maybe an advice card doesn't necessarily mean you should do what the card portrays. It could be saying "Think about this."

The nine of swords often represents the fears, anguish, etc that come from within you rather than from something or someone outside causing you pain.

When I drew this card, I thought about it for a while and realized that I needed to look more clearly at the actual situation instead of my endless back and forth worrying about it; to figure out my choices, analyze each one and make a decision. Brooding, worrying, losing sleep, telling myself how much I hated what was going on didn’t move me along, didn’t help me resolve the situation. I think the reading was telling me, look, this is a 9 of swords situation. Do something about it.

I don’t know if this was the “right” way to interpret this card, but the fact is that it did represent my situation and it did get me to step back and look at things more clearly, and to take steps to move forward.

Mary V


Edit: LOL, I was posting this as Rodney was posting something similar (and he said it more clearly than I did )

If you don't use reversals, then sometimes you have to read the card as though it were reversed. In this case that Mary mentions, it would be read as "Don't stew and fret and lose sleep over this. Just make your decision and move on."

Hi again,

thank you for your comments. I have come to the conclusion, that the particular read means to me that I shall stop fretting and spend less mental energy on this issue, and also that it is not the time of a decision right now, which will lead to not using a lot of mental energy. This way this reading makes very much sense. I will keep this experience in mind next time I meet a similar reading situation.

Again, thank you all for your insights and comments

Yes, I agree with the others and the Lovers reversed could just clarify the 9 swords in you shouldn't worry about making the wrong/right choice.