Today we move on to the Nine of Swords, which
- in the system I use - is linked to Mars in Gemini, and the middle ten days of
this sign (31st May to 10th June, approximately).
Just to recap: Gemini is the mutable Air
sign, so we’re concerned with the exchange of knowledge and information through
networks, through language and ideas.
It’s about communication, as well as the market place. Mars brings
determination, drive, assertiveness, perhaps even some aggression into the
mix. Fire and Air – that suggests
passionate conversations, curiosity around new ideas, perhaps a suggestion of
open-mindedness. Not the things we
usually associate with the Nine of Swords, though, so what are we missing?
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| Druidcraft: Nine of Swords (detail) |
The Nine of Swords is often called the card
of nightmares. It’s about unfounded fears – not unlike the Eight of Swords, in
a way; fears that aren’t based in reality.
Here though, we have the conflict (Mars) between what we think
(Gemini/Air) and what we feel (the passion of Mars, perhaps). Notice how the swords don’t touch the girl –
just like the Eight of Swords; the situation may not always be as bad as we
think or fear it is. There could also be an element of being uncertain of what
it is we want, and the doubt that comes with that being blown out of proportion
by Martian energy – harsh or cruel words that create a deep wound, for instance,
making us feel ashamed or oppressed for no good reason.
The number ‘9’ is thought by some to be
magical – it certainly appears often in many mythologies: the Nine Muses, the
Celtic nine-fold sisterhood, the nine sisters’ rulership of the Fortunate
Isles, and so on). These tie into the concept of choosing to start a new cycle,
something we often consider in tarot – the nine being the penultimate card
before the end of one cycle or phase, and preparation for a new one. In the
Swords, this can represent the sorrow and the mental anguish that comes at the
end of something, be it a separation or bereavement – but it also carries the
knowledgeg that ‘this too shall pass’.
I often think of the phrase’ light at the
end of the tunnel’ when I look at this card. It seems to me that the head of
the bed is bathed in light, and the swords glint as if there’s light coming in
from the left side of the card. The sunrise? Dawn? The Swords are associated
with that time of day in the Druidcraft (and in other decks)....
Druidcraft Tarot created by Philip Carr-Gomm and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrated by
Will Worthington, published by Connections
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