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The Nine of Swords is the card of the awake nights, showing serious troubles and lethargy. This may indicate a poor conscience, threatening our existence, illnesses or painful loss of our dream. It shows the fears of long nights when we wake up from trouble and are eager to see the sun rise. Meanwhile, the question is whether shame and guilt, or our own fear of difficult tasks, deprive us of our nightly dream, or something that threatens our lives. The card shows only depressing feelings, deep concern, the scare of sudden awakening, the nightmare.

NINE OF SWORDS : CRUELTY

These cards are attributed to Yesod. After the double excursion into misfortune, the current returns to the middle pillar. This Sephira is the seat of the great crystallization of Energy. But it takes place very far down the Tree, at the apex of the third descending triangle, and a flat triangle at that. There is little help from low, unbalanced spheres like Netzach and Hod. What saves Yesod is the direct ray from Tiphareth; this Sephira is in the direct line of succession. Each of these cards gives the full impact of the elemental force, but in its most material sense; that is, of the idea of the force, for Yesod is still in Yetzirah, the formative world. Zoroaster says:

“The number Nine is sacred, and attains the summit of perfection.”

Egypt and Rome, also, had Nine Major Deities.

The Nine of Swords is called Cruelty. Here the original disruption inherent in Swords is raised to its highest power. The card is ruled by Mars in Gemini; it is agony of mind. The Ruach consumes itself in this card; thought has gone through every possible stage, and the conclusion is despair. This card has been very adequately drawn by Thomson in “The City of Dreadful Night”. It is always a cathedral — a cathedral of the damned. There is the acrimonious taint of analysis; activity is inherent in the mind, yet there is always the instinctive consciousness that nothing can lead anywhere.

The number Nine, Yesod, brings back the Energy to the central pillar of the Tree of Life. The previous disorder is now rectified.

But the general idea of the suit has been constantly degenerating. The Swords no longer represent pure intellect so much as the automatic stirring of heartless passions. Consciousness has fallen into a realm unenlightened by reason. This is the world of the unconscious primitive instincts, of the psychopath, of the fanatic.

The celestial ruler is Mars in Gemini, crude rage of hunger operating without restraint; although its form is intellectual, it is the temper of the inquisitor.

The symbol shows nine swords of varying lengths, all striking downwards to a point.

They are jagged and rusty. Poison and blood drip from their blades.

There is, however, a way of dealing with this card: the way of passive resistance, resignation, the acceptance of martyrdom.

Nor is an alien formula that of implacable revenge.

THE NINE OF SWORDS - CRUELTY

Astrology: Mars in the 2. decan of Gemini Tree of Life: Yesod through Air

The Nine of Swords are entering Yesod, the fields of reflection and imagination, and while all other Suits made themself comfortable in blessing happiness, the Swords seem to be the outcast, called 'Cruelty'. 

With the airy nature of the mind, the Swords cannot rest, they cannot stop thinking and analyzing - and in the end, cannot ignore the fact that nothing really leads anywhere, that in the end there is nothing. 
(Take the technology of our century as one little example: the Wands praise the spirit of mankind, the Cups dream of all the goods that could be done, the Disks enjoy the riches it produces - the Swords analyse the effects and come to the conclusion that our planet gets destroyed.) 

Therefore, it is a bit unfair to call the Nine of Swords a bad card, or criticise it for cruelty or 'over-analysing'. After all, we cannot expect the suit of the mind to tell us that we're better off with our heads in the sand, just to not see the cruel truth that is out there.

Drive: Going into the depths of a subject, with all consequences 

Light: Facing up facts, realising truth 

Shadow: Cruelty, pain, despair, lack of pity

THE NINE OF SWORDS - Cruelty - Saturn - Moon - Concern

Keywords: Mars in Gemini, cruelty towards yourself and others, self-accusation, self-punishment, self-torture, heartless passion, bigotry, revenge, martyrdom

Advice: This page indicates your tendency to cruelly trample yourself. You need to recognize and fully see this pattern of behavior before you can get rid of it.

Questions: Who has judged you before? How do you judge yourself now? Are you ready to forgive your parents, others and yourself?

Suggestion: Pull another tab to see what your life will be like when you accept yourself as you are!

Revelation: People love me, I'm just a martyr.

Analogies:

Ji-Ching: None (?)

Mythology: For Erin and the Weird (Allekto, Teiziphone, Magaire)

Keywords: anxiety, distressing feelings, remorse

Offended innocence is the worst execution.

NINE OF SWORDS

General Meaning

The Nine of this suit has a special resonance with the Middle Ages, because it figures the plight of a woman who is alone in the world, during the centuries when women had no personal rights, no ability to inherit property or use the law in their own defense. We generally see her sitting up in bed weeping, grieving and in fear of abandonment because of her vulnerability, wondering what will happen to her now that her protector (father, brother, husband, or son) is gone.

The swords above her head may indicate that the loss has come through some cruel conflict, the outcome of which has left her behind as chattel, the spoils of war. Really what we are looking at is the price of pride, which creates losers as a side effect of glorifying winners. The woman in the picture represents the concerns of the heart, the damage to the soul and to vulnerable ones, when the ego-mind becomes so invested in control and domination that it does not count the human costs. A sensitive, subtle, heartfelt approach to nature (the "feminine") is trampled and thrown aside in service to a "winner takes all" mentality.

In the Reversed Position

When the Nine of Swords is reversed, it generally indicates an opportunity to wake up from a long dark period of depression and negativity. Some long dark period is becoming illuminated by optimism.

You are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. This is a tremendous breakthrough, and it's a blessing when you turn negative thinking around — with the power of renewed hope and optimism.

In the Advice Positon

The Nine of Swords in this position advises you to confront your fear of being alone and acknowledge the different limits you may have put on yourself because of that fear. In the name of being safe, you may have adhered to lower standards than you are capable of achieving. If so, then you may have resisted striking out on your own. Perhaps you have bargained away creativity and joy in order to avoid being challenged. These kinds of tradeoffs never work.

This could be a time to cut your losses. If so, recognize how much time and energy you have sacrificed to a way of being that's not right for you. If you can do this you will look back at this time in your life as a turning point. This may be an opportunity to heal as you shed a heavy burden that weighs you down.

Read more:

• » The Book of Thoth - A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians by Aleister Crowley.
• » Liber LXXVIII - On the Tarot - A complete treatise on the Tarot giving the correct designs of the cards with their attributions and symbolic meanings on all planes. - A description of the Cards of the Tarot, with their attributions, including a method of divination by their use.
• » Manuscript N - The Tarot - A Golden Dawn Manuscript - A Theoricus Adeptus Minor Paper.