"Aha moment" concerning 9 of Swords as what someone truly WANTS

Tiggy-cat

I've been thinking of this card in this position quite a lot since I got this a few weeks ago and found it so puzzling, and just wanted to share the idea that popped into my head since I think it really makes sense of a "wtf?!" problem.

Since Nine of Swords seems to be much about guilt, self-blame, self-punishment, self-chastisement, and maybe even self-loathing, in a position of what someone truly WANTS, I suddenly saw it as someone who feels they need to "redeem" themselves to be forgiven for some past misdeed, or someone who wants to do "penance" to be absolved of sin or become "worthy", as it pertains to any relationship issue between 2 people. Think...the monks in Monty Python and the Holy Grail here, bonking themselves on the heads as they shuffle along and chant. :)

Just a thought in case anyone has encountered such a situation before, and I love when a new interpretation suddenly pops in and makes sense of a big puzzle!
 

laurence

It already came up to me as somebody who wants to be forgiven or understood.

Thinking about It and without having any exemple in my experience, I think It could also mean someone who wants to be left alone but I dont know if It fits in you situation.
 

Tiggy-cat

Ah, very interesting. Wanting to be understood. Thank you Laurence! Would you see that because the thoughts of the person on the card are so introverted?

The wanting to be left alone interpretation could also make a lot of sense and I thought about that as well, but later pulled it out again and drew a clarifier, which was King of Cups, so I think the wanting to be forgiven aspect seems more likely here, with that being considered.
 

laurence

King of cups as a clarifier does not give the same interpretation now: 9 of swords needs help, they cannot sleep because they have so much going on in their mind, so would the king of cups suggests that they want emotinal comfortment ( = to be forgiven or not to be judged).
What a person truly wants: 9 of Swords . Do they want sleepless nights? No I think they want some pity from others or something like this.
Clarifies by king of cups: a shrink????? Or something like this.
 

Thirteen

Despair rather than self-loathing

Since Nine of Swords seems to be much about guilt, self-blame, self-punishment, self-chastisement, and maybe even self-loathing
I've never quite seen it that way. Waite defined the card as "lamentation" and sorrow of an all consuming sort. That doesn't have to be about guilt or self-punishment. I wailed a lot when my beloved cat died, but I didn't blame myself a jot for her passing. Crowley goes even farther. Nine swords to him is nihilism. The person's thinking has brought them to the conclusion we're all "dust in the wind" ;) What's the point?

Often I see this card as anxiety, worry, dismay. The world is falling apart--or it sure feels that way. It's chaos, and we're powerless to change it. Sometimes self-blame and the desire for punishment are part of this. But usually not. I see a lot of people on this forum who are in 9/Swords states. They say, "There no escaping destiny...and I'm doomed." That's not guilt or a wish for self-punishment. That's depression and feelings of helplessness.

And if you know anything about depression, it's usually related to anger rather than guilt. The mother who got laid off because the billionaire owners sold the company overseas, that woman now sitting sleepless with bills across the kitchen table...she's not wishing for punishment. She's furious and wishing for the power to change her family's life. To get out from under all those swords. It doesn't matter whether they're there because of her mistakes or because someone else messed things up for her. What matters is that she's at the bottom there and it's hard to see anyway out of the nightmare.

What does the person want? Well, ultimately, they want to wake up from the nightmare. They want it to be over. They want it to be not as bad as it seems. And the card sometimes indicates that as well. Because the bleakness of the world is in their mind. And while it's not all imagination, a lot of it has to do with how they're viewing the world and themselves in it. If they can alter that view, they might find a way out. At least, that's what I always find the card to mean in my readings. I don't think I'd see guilt or a desire for punishment in it unless there were other cards to it. But in that case you're talking about a masochist or someone with a martyr complex...and that to me would require the Hanged Man at least to seal the deal.
 

Thirteen

A kingly responsiblity

Clarifies by king of cups: a shrink????? Or something like this.
Best way out of depression is your interpretation. Go to a doctor who can manage your emotions and give you antidepressants.

But we have to remember that a clarifier is saying the same thing as the first card only different. King/Cups is a man of great responsibility who feels that responsibility. He doesn't relish it like the King/Wands, but empathetically experiences everyone's pain and wants to fix everyone's problems.

I'd read the "want" in the care of both these cards as the weight of responsibility, the desire to fix everyone's trouble and save them. But in the 9/Swords the implication is that doing so seems insurmountable--nightmarish to think about. In King/Cups it's doable because the person isn't thinking, they're using their intuition. But it's still a kingly responsibility.
 

Tiggy-cat

Hmm, I see. Maybe not so aha after all...

Depression for sure. An aspect I had considered here is the person just feels that whatever they want is utterly futile and irrelevant as it could never happen anyway, it's all just ~doomed~, (dust in the wind as you say) and they could never make it succeed, so that would be the powerlessness and despair. With King of Cups clarifying what they really want, I saw it as wanting a level of emotional support (getting or giving) that either they felt could never be achieved, or that they didn't "deserve".
 

Thirteen

With King of Cups clarifying what they really want, I saw it as wanting a level of emotional support (getting or giving) that either they felt could never be achieved, or that they didn't "deserve".
I think the fact that it's the King of Cups, rather than the Queen, says they want more than emotional support. As you said, if they're feeling doomed and powerless, if all that's on their mind is that their woes are insurmountable, then they'd certainly want a "King." Someone with the ultimate power to help them out.

This is not "I want a shoulder to cry on." This is "I want someone who can give the command and my woes go away." Or, "I want to be able to give the command and troubles go away." I was once in a terrible state. And if there'd been a Queen/Cups saying, "Oh, honey, I'm sorry," giving me hugs, I'd have cried worse. But, lucky for me, there was a King/Cups who said, "I'm on it. Leave it to me." That made me feel a whole lot better and my tears went to sniffles and even to a smile :)
 

Tiggy-cat

" Or, "I want to be able to give the command and troubles go away."

In this situation, I think the guy wants to be that one who could make the troubles vanish, IF it's this scenario and NOT the scenario of wanting to be forgiven or redeemed.
 

danieljuk

A lot of mental health issues make you feel like you are in a dream, I can see the whole waking up out of it. When I was at my mental health worst I felt so dissociated and in a surreal dream, it didn't feel like reality at all. A bubble of weirdness. This card is also swords not cups and so there is a thinking about things over and over. So there is a sort of end of the torment as what someone wants.

The reading seems to be about what they truly want in regards to someone else, they want to not worry about the relationship and have sleepless nights over it or them.

The clarifier being the King of Cups, well emotions / thoughts have a huge cycling effect, emotions can trigger problems or sometimes worsen the thinking. They are very linked. This is in control of the emotions.

I can't help thinking with this reading though this is not about the querent but about their partner, they want not to worry about them and perhaps think about them being more accountable and in control of their emotional state. Sounds like the querent really cares and worries about the other person.