“To anyone trapped in a cage. Break free, spread your wings. May your flight be long.”
– Braidee Otto
Anxiety, guilt, intrusive thoughts, sleeplessness, mental distress.
Overview
The ceiling looks great from here; as the insomnia creeps across the walls like poltergeist. Anxiety, racing thoughts keep you up at night. Rampant thoughts rush your head, there is so much to resolve. It almost seems like too much. The issues in your life seem staggering, they’re shadowing over your happiness and life effortlessly. At war with your thoughts, they’re picking you apart like vultures, reminders of your failures echoing in your head. No matter how much you kick yourself, there’s nothing you can do about it at midnight.
Symbolism
The Nine of Swords depicts a distraught figure sitting upright in bed during the dead of night, burying their face in their hands in a gesture of overwhelming grief or despair. Nine swords are mounted horizontally on a dark wall behind them, looming like oppressive thoughts, while the bed’s quilt features a pattern of roses and astrological symbols, and the base shows a carved scene of conflict or defeat. The overall atmosphere is one of isolation and torment under dim lighting, symbolizing themes of anxiety, nightmares, self-doubt, and the mental anguish of fears that may be more imagined than real, urging release through confronting inner demons.
Meaning
Anxiety
If there is any card that can turn you to stone; it’s this one. This is the continuance of anxieties and negativity. The difference is that this monster isn’t oppressed on you by someone else; this is something of your own creation.
Guilt
Guilt weighs down your soul to the bottom of the ocean saturated with regret. The nightmare you’ve so frequently avoided in your dreams is starting to manifest in this reality. It’s causing you to isolate, lose sleep and act unhinged.
Intrusive Thoughts
No matter how hard you try to distract yourself, you find yourself falling back into a hidden door in the floor leading you back into a negative thought loop. Every time you close your eyes, you are plagued by negative thought that can be thrown at you. It’s like a you’re stuck in a medieval stock, but instead of rotten produce and stones, the crowd is throwing every twisted thought you’ve ever had into your head.
Insomnia
Tremendously unhappy and afflicted, your mind is reeling. Robbing you of precious sleep, the victim of the movies of horror reeling in your head constantly. This is the kind of trauma you can’t stop talking about or start dealing with because it’s rooted in your childhood insecurities or deep wounds over years and years of ripping your own stitches out.
Mental Distress
While, this demon seems staggering it’s not as great as it seems. This monster you’ve created is all of your woes compiled into one beast. When taken apart to their smallest parts, prioritize them and you may find none of the tasks are hard at all. You may find your monster was just three kids in a trench coat all along.
Advice
Start pulling yourself together. The only one who holds the key to the cell you’re trapped in is you. Imagine this like an escape room of epic proportions and get out
Obscurely, this can symbolize hormones and miscarriages.
Nine of Swords Reversed
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Mental healing, Confronting fears, Anxiety dissipating
Overview
The reversed meaning of this card is pretty straight forward: instead of feeling dread about something your situation is coming full circle. You don’t feel as much restlessness surrounding a situation, and things are overall improving with the way you deal with yourself.
Meaning
Mental Healing
Learning to talk to yourself kindly is way harder than anyone could imagine after a life time of talking down to yourself. Day by day you’re figuring it out, learning to forgive yourself, and letting go. The ultimate reward is befriending yourself completely.
Confronting Fears
What ever is concerning you is coming to a head. If you have stage fright, this would be time closing in on the moment you have to stand in the limelight. Soon enough, it will seem silly to have lost so much sleep over something so insignificant
Dissipating Anxiety
The negative thought loop is starting to lose its steam. The situation hasn’t necessarily improved, but you’re starting to find your grounding in the situation. The same narrative running over and over is finally exhausting itself.
Excited insomnia
Imagine you’re about to do something really fun tomorrow, and you can’t sleep because you can’t wait. Whether you are doing backflips because of a trip you’ve been wanting to take or a date you’ve been looking forward to; you can’t sleep because you’re so excited you can’t stop moving.
