Minor — Swords

Nine of Swords

The lowest point of the night: collapsed, the young man is holding nothing now. The Book lies beside him — it waits. The magpie has settled on his head, as close as it can be. The Nine of Swords is anguish — and what remains when everything has given way.

Symbolic reading

Tradition makes this the card of nightmare, of waking in a sweat. The DAL keeps its naked truth and adds two presences: the Book, within reach, asking nothing — knowledge knows how to wait; and the magpie, resting on his head as in the time of the great rest, but now without whispering — at the bottom of the night, guidance no longer speaks, it rests gently, it keeps him warm. Nothing in the image rescues; everything in the image remains. This is the card on which one discovers that letting go of everything is not being abandoned by everyone.

Reversed reading

The night feeds on itself: anguish about anguish, shame over the fall — or the first morning: the hand finally reaching towards the Book that stayed there.

• anguish
• collapse
• night
• waiting
• fidelity
• dawn