Arcana Encyclopaedia

Nine of Swords

Minor Arcana Swords

Correspondences

  • Sephirah: Yesod
  • Element: air
  • Zodiac: Gemini
  • Decan: 2nd decan of Gemini
  • Thoth Title: Cruelty

Meanings

Rider-Waite-Smith

Reversed

Keywords: Cause for anxiety regarding money which it may be proposed to lend. Eight of Pentacles Lord of Prudence—Sun in Virgo—Stage Card Transform the world! Thou inner sense of sight, Transform my soul! Arthur Waite, Collected Poems he Eight of Pentacles is the card of master craftsmanship and productivity. A young fellow with curly hair works on a bench. He holds a mallet in his right hand, a carving implement in his right, and wears an apron. Examples of his handiwork line the wooden wall next to him.

Cause for anxiety regarding money which it may be proposed to lend. Eight of Pentacles Lord of Prudence—Sun in Virgo—Stage Card Transform the world! Thou inner sense of sight, Transform my soul! Arthu

Upright

Keywords: These are exceedingly contradictory; in the main, it is a card of money, business, barter; but one reading gives altercation, quarrels—and another innocence, ingenuity, purgation.

Thoth / Crowley-Harris

Upright

Keywords: Sun and Moon in Gemini; fear of insanity; broken heart; fear of the destructive energy of accumulated anger; negative thinking. Nine of swords direct their superior aggressive force from all directions at once against a tenth, and destroy it completely. This tenth sword bears the symbols of the sund and the heart

The first step is to recognize your fear of insanity and ruin. The second step is to understand the negative energy which lies hidden behind your fear. If you want to, you can vanquish this fear by recognizing it.

Number 9: Foundation

Completion-before-renewal. Bearing the weight of the full cycle just before it transforms. Hard but transformative — the threshold.

Narrative position: threshold