The Nine of Swords represents one of those long nights when our thoughts won’t give us comfort, maybe quite the opposite. This is anguish, it is the combination of cruelty and despair. This is a very difficult night, the kind you dread before it even begins.
In this card, the nine Swords are still hanging on the wall above the figure. The Swords have yet to fall and pierce the figure in the manner that we see in the Ten of Swords. Here the sharpest of the pain is yet to come whereas in the Ten of Swords the figure has already been through the hardest part. In the Ten of Swords we stay down until we are rested and ready to move forward. In the Ten of Swords we see day breaking whereas the Nine of Swords is a portrait of the darkest part of the night.
In vampire fiction the night is always a waiting game for those who will survive. You might need to fight all night or maybe you need to hide and keep quiet until sunrise neutralizes the threat. Vampires can be an apt metaphor for thoughts and feelings that drain the life out of us and keep us up at night.
The Nine of Swords is a hard night, alone with a lot of feelings. When it passes, it leaves its mark. Every life includes this kind of experience, some more, some less, but it is a moment we all come to know.
May our resources carry us.
Author of Daydream Tarot: A Basic Guide for Visionaries
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