Renaissance Tarot (Jones / Lyle) - 9 of Swords

Sulis

This card is one of those cards that has a specific, personal meaning to me.
In every deck I own the 9 of Swords comes up for me when I have got or am about to get a migraine and looking at the image on a lot of 9 of Swords cards, I can see why.
There is usually a person, awake in bed at night, holding his or her head in worry, anguish and pain. For me, this card often signifies physical pain.

The Renaissance 9 of Swords says 'headache' to me but it also says 'worry' very clearly.
The person sits in a very closed off position, hugging his knees towards him. He isn't open to anything at the moment because he's being attacked by those swords pointing at his head.
This card says to me that this person has so many thoughts and worries in his head that it's stopping him from doing anything. He's withdrawn.

The 9 of Swords often says things aren't as bad as we think. The nines relate to the Hermit and so are quite lonely cards and when we feel alone, things often seem worse than they are.
If the swords were pointing the other way, with the tips pointing outwards then this card's meaning would be completely different.
Then we would see all those ideas, worries and words being sent out and away and hopefully into something useful.

I think it's interesting to see the same card from the Sheridan Douglas deck which I think could possibly have been the inspiration for this one.
 

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Papageno

for me, this excerpt will always define the 9 of swords

from the play
Angels in America by Tony Kushner

Harper: In your experience of the world. How do people change?

Mormon Mother: Well it has something to do with God so it's not very nice. God splits the skin with a jagged thumbnail from throat to belly and then plunges a huge filthy hand in, he grabs hold of your bloody tubes and they slip to evade his grasp but he squeezes hard, he insists, he pulls and pulls till all your innards are yanked out and the pain! We can't even talk about that. And then he stuffs them back, dirty, tangled and torn. It's up to you to do the stitching.

Harper: And then get up. And walk around.

Mormon Mother: Just mangled guts pretending.
 

Little Baron

I am a terrible worrier. I worry all the time. But sometimes, worse than others. Like in this card. Infact, I talked to my councellor about this today. And she asked me what I do when I get stressed. She asked 'do you shake?'. I was like 'no ... I just withdraw'.

When panic sets in, I respond, physically, by shutting down. Because often, I don't know what to do. And when my mind is racing with stray thoughts [like those swords], I cannot think of anything passed them. They dominate everything. In the past, I might take myself off to bed and hibernate when I am in deep worry.

And the thing about all of this, is that the swords are attacking, but they never quite touch the figure. They are milimetres away from his or her head. So why the panic? It is almost like the fear of something happening is actually worse than it actually happening. In the '10 of Swords', it has happened [in traditional RWS, anyway]. In that card, you have to just get on with it. But here, it is the waiting and uncertainty that sends us into such a state. It is like having a child missing and not having the clarification if they are alive or dead. It is like obsessively worrying that you are seriously ill, but never going as far as taking the test [it could be the worrying we do when we are in a period of waiting for the results, I suppose].

For me, it is a temporary loss of control, in the mind. As a child, I believed in the Devil. I slept with a crucifix. I was petrified. I believed that the crucifix would keep me safe, even while those swords were heading right at me. But the Devil wasn't sending them. It was just my own fear.

So, through all this rambling, I have quite a fersonal feel for this card. And in this deck, it makes a lot of sense. I understand the pain of those tips without their even needing to touch me.

LB
 

Papageno

Little Baron said:
And the thing about all of this, is that the swords are attacking,

very often the suffering soul in this card uses the swords to attack others.
he attacks himself and unleashes the swords on everybody around him/her.
it's a very dangerous card because unlike the 4/swords which is respite and building something positive on a strong foundation, the 9 can be a self-made tomb.

hate yourself, hate the world and never let in the light of day.
stay in the dark long enough and you go blind.
there is no progression to the 10 that signals the transition, the turning point.

this is a very ugly card, the worst in the deck IMHO.

years ago I had a friend who had come to a very bad place in his life, I've told this story before, but it's worth repeating.
he was, and as far as I know, still is the destructive, unhappy person I just described.
ha asked me to do a reading for him which turned into pleas for more and more readings, about 6 or 7 all in one sitting, which in hindsight was a terrible and amateur mistake on my part.

each and every time, the first card he drew was the 9/swords
 

Enchanted

The 9 of swords in general, is a personal card for me also. Like Little Baron, I am a worrier and owing to that I withdraw as a coping mechanism.

To me this card is a card of mental torture, the kind that you do to yourself. I remember reading somewhere that the things that you say to yourself, your own internal dialogue, you would NEVER say to another person. For me that is very true. That is why the swords point inward, all thoughts are directed inward.

For me it wasn't directed outward, I guess the only way I had hurt people around me was by withdrawing into myself, cutting myself off from people.

There was a period where I would get this card regularly, and I remember suffering from insomnia at that time as well. One night, distressed over my inability to shut my mind down and get some sleep, I caught my shadow on the wall. I looked exactly like the nine of swords card in RWS. I don't know what happened really but that broke the cycle for me and I just had to laugh at myself.

I see at as being like the Boggart in the Harry Potter books. Your worst fears in ghost like form, to get rid of them you have to find them ridiculous and be able to laugh at yourself.

I rarely get the 9 of swords now, but if I do, I'll have to give myself a stern talking to and just say STOP, oh and remember to laugh. It's great medicine!
 

Papageno

I was thinking about this card last night and wondering where the good is to be found in the 9/swords.
allegedly, there is a dual nature in very card but I can't see it in this one, it's like a card of perdition.........
unless, one takes the view that it's a kind of purgatory you have to endure at least once in your life.
 

Enchanted

It really doesn't seem to have a sunny side. In this card there doesn't appear to be any silver lining.

I suppose if you take the idea that it is self created, then there is one person who made it, only that person can fix it. A trial indeed!

I see it as kind of the bad side of the Hermit, you haven't turned within to find enlightenment, you turned within to find endarkenment. (Is that a word? :confused: Hopefully you'll get what I mean.) But even in the darkness, if you kind find a small glimmer of light, that could be your way out.

This card isn't completely black in colour, it is the same lilac as the others, so possibly there is light. Even in other cards, they aren't completely black, it is night but there is usually light coming through a window or from a candle.

Edited to add: I've just looked at the card again and the swords do seem to have a reflective quality, perhaps there is light available.
 

Papageno

Enchanted said:
I see it as kind of the bad side of the Hermit, you haven't turned within to find enlightenment, you turned within to find endarkenment. (Is that a word? :confused: Hopefully you'll get what I mean.) But even in the darkness, if you kind find a small glimmer of light, that could be your way out.

I think you're definitely onto something, except that I see it as the dark side of the Hanged Man because the 9/swords usually (in my experience) indicates a negative circumstance not entirely of your own making.
you've been forced into this state of suspension and imprisonment, whereas the Hermit chooses to withdraw which is more akin to the 4/swords.

The Hanged Man is in a state of perdition. the 9/swords is the road of purgatory that (hopefully) leads to enlightenment. only then can he advance to the 10/swords and make the final transition. he has to accept the wisdom of self-sacrifice and therein lies the silver lining of the 9/swords.
 

Papageno

Enchanted said:
I suppose if you take the idea that it is self created, then there is one person who made it, only that person can fix it. A trial indeed!

ah.....you see that's the where the difference lies in our discussion.

I don't see the 9/swords as a situation that's entirley self-created........although it I DO agree that only one person can fix it.
 

Enchanted

Papageno said:
ah.....you see that's the where the difference lies in our discussion.

I don't see the 9/swords as a situation that's entirley self-created........although it I DO agree that only one person can fix it.
I wouldn't say that the situation is always self created, more the person continues to perpetuate these fears.

These fears could be anything from a childhood experience with school yard bullies, to a parents criticism or unkindness, or worse. It is a sad fact that people are capable of cruelty, malice and spite. Then a situation or person awakens these dormant fears in adulthood. So ingrained are they that you aren't even aware that they are consciously having an effect on you.

Or again sadly, there are people who play on other people's fears, as some kind of wicked game, as a method of control. Of keeping the person alone, afraid and cut off from the world around them. Lowering that persons self worth so far, that it becomes guilt and self loathing.

The nine of swords is a card of cruelty, perhaps initiated by another person or situation, but still based on a root fear within oneself. That's what allows it to grow so well, that is why other people can take advantage of it, feed it. But in continuing to dwell on it, worry about it, you are also feeding it.

So you have to stop feeding your fears, opening up, perhaps even asking for help. Stop associating with people that don't support you and the way you would like to feel about yourself. Which is all a hell of a lot easier said than done! Unfortunatly with this card, the only way out is through, and that's gonna take some time.