1. Tarot
2. Card meanings
3. Nine of Swords

Minor Arcana · Swords

Nine of Swords

• disappointment
• delay

Upright meaning

Sleepless worry. A card for naming what is weighing on you and seeking support. It describes a feeling, not a fact about the future.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, Waite gives doubt and reasonable fear: worry that may be easing once examined.

• doubt
• suspicion
• reasonable fear

Symbolism

A woman sits up on her couch in lament, nine swords above her.

Group

Minor Arcana · Swords

Element, astrology

Not given by Waite, so we give none

Source

Our own plain-English summary of A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1911), Part III §2 (The Lesser Arcana). The keywords are Waite’s own words. Waite’s fortune-telling lists also contain harsher terms; we keep to the reflective readings he gives and never state an event as certain.

Tarot is a tool for reflection, not a prediction of fixed outcomes. This is not medical, legal or financial advice.