Learning to read Tarot - Day 5

In this series, I’m following the guidance of many and pulling a single card each day, and writing my thoughts and intuitions about that card. I don’t pull the card for myself or any person, place or event in particular. I pull the card with the intent to learn about it, study it, and then interpret it based on my intuition. Rather than make this a private journal, I’ve decided to share this in the hopes that it might help others. Or that you might be inspired to learn to read tarot as well. It’s not as hard as it seems and so far it’s been a wonderful experience. If you’re enjoying this series, please let me know by leaving a comment.

Today’s card was pulled the same as I have been doing for the past 5 days. Meditate for a short time with the cards in my hands, ask the cards for a card to teach me about the tarot, and shuffle. The card that fell out today was hesitant. Not like the other days when it seemed to jump out of the deck. And once I saw the card I knew why. Today’s card is the nine of swords.

The black background on this card has an oppressive feeling. The image is of a man sitting up in bed holding his head in his hands. The feeling I get is that this pain is mental and not physical or emotional. Like he’s woken up from a bad dream or some kind of mental anguish. The nine swords appear to be hanging on a wall behind the man’s bed, but there is a feeling that they are hanging above him too. And having a bunch of swards hanging over your head can’t be a great feeling.

This card is for someone who may be unhappy or having a rough week, the man in bed may signify bad dreams might be troubling this person. That there are issues coming to the surface that need to be addressed. If not dealt with torment and anguish are sure to continue. However, it’s not all doom and gloom here. And I can say that for two reasons. One, the swords represent the mental and the intellect. Because of that, it’s possible that the torment felt may be self-inflicted and not based on what’s happening in reality. It could be all in your mind. A lot of times we work things over in our heads and build them up so far that it can actually end up doing more damage than what might have actually happened in reality. So perhaps this card is saying nothing more than take care of yourself before it gets too bad. The other reason why it’s not such a dark card after all is because of the number nine. Nine symbolizes compassion and great caring but it’s also the last of the single-digit numbers. And what I see there, is that this card may not be for the tormented, but for someone who has a friend who is suffering. Maybe you know someone who is hurting. Maybe the nine of swords comes up to let us know that someone we love or care for is in crisis and that we can offer our compassion and love to that person. We can be at their side and help them through tough times. And we can give our friend some good news, the nine suggests that this suffering and torment will be ending soon.

Thanks again for reading and for following along with my journey. If you enjoyed reading this or if this reading has helped you in any way, please leave a comment.

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