Daily Card -- Nine/Swords -- Cruelty

Phoenyx*

Nine swords, all orange-red pointing downwards, dripping what I'm guessing is blood. Drops of a clear liquid, perhaps tears, maybe rain, falls downwards between each sword. Disjointed, assymmetrical geometrical figures, non circular or wavy, made of black lines lay on a tan background that shifts from light tan in the top, to dark tan, almost back on the bottom.
Symbol of masculinity above the cards (Aries, I think?), and the symbol of II (Gemini I think, I'm horrid with astrology).

I really didn't know what to think of this card other than it's a really bad card it seems, but this is what my horoscope said this morning:
Your intensity can work for you now in many ways, but you'll need to accept the responsibility of working for the larger good and not just for your own advantage. You have a good sense of the collective mind now and you can easily tell what is best for an entire group or family. But you need to be careful about imposing your will onto others. You might be able to get away with it and get what you want, but unless you have everyone's interest in mind, there will be a price to pay.

Perhaps there is cruelty in imposing my will onto others, in being a "tyrant", as opposed to listening to everyone's opinion and then forming a conclusion?
I'll write more when I get home.
 

bonnycat

This card looks harsh and the word cruelty does not help. However is there is on thing I have learn't though torot is to look behond the surface. ie some times you have to be cruel to be kind and that is a very hard lesson. That is what this card has showen me.

I drew it proir to an important meeting last night and sure enough some very honest and hard words were said but in the end it is what was need to be done in order for us all to move on. It is about faceing your fears and then finding they were not as bad in the end. We need the cruelty in life to move forward not so bad after all.

Hope that helps
 

lionette

9 swords :|

This one always spooks me because of the blood on swords!

Just quickly because I should be getting ready for class ;)

I've had this card come up in relation to internal "cruelty". As in going in the wrong direction, entertaining ideas that don't foster self-growth, spending time thinking about a relationship that isn't in my best interest, or obsessing about something that I should work on letting go of.

More later ...

Triquetra, I'll be very eager/curious to hear how your day went, as a 9Swords day I mean.
 

Phoenyx*

Wooo...what a day...gosh, I feel drained.

Alright, after drawing that card, I wasn't too eager to find out what today held in store for me, but let me do a little explaining about myself first.
I'm a student in the medical laboratory technology field. I just started my clinical rotations about 4 weeks ago, and they'll be lasting another 5 months. One of the things we are required to do during this time is to draw 100 people's blood, called a "stick" because we stick them with a needle. So, we have to get in 100 sticks.
This was the one part of clinicals that I've dreaded the most, honestly. I hate needles, I hate getting stuck, and I hate causing people pain, and knowing that I'm intentionally doing it, is worse, so I try to make it as short a process as possible. If I can't get the blood on the first try, instead of trying again, I'll get someone with more experience to do it. But, being a good little girl, instead of waiting till the last minute, I'm trying to space it out, so I get in 25 sticks in this rotation, 25 in the next, and so on.
When I walk into a room to draw someone's blood, I'm usually in an okay mood, I'm a little tense, but I'm okay. But, damnit, when I get close to them with that needle, my hand starts shaking, I stop breathing, and I get particularly tense. When I'm finished, I feel like I've been through a wringer, literally. I think its worse for me than it is for the patient, lol. :D
But, this is one of those things, that yes, I don't like it, but I've got to force myself to do. With experience comes....less shaking hopefully. >.<

In relation to the card, I think it was pointing specifically to the sticks that I did today (which, just so happened to be 9 of them), since not every day I get in any sticks, sometimes we're too busy for me to go up front to do it.
In a way, it may feel like cruelty to force myself to do something I certainly do not feel comfortable with, but, I know that by forcing myself to do it now, I won't have to try to squeeze them all in later. Also, by doing that one little thing, I'm helping save people's lives and help with their quality of life.

So that's how my 9Swords day went. So, for me, the card today, meant forcing myself to do something uncomfortable now, in order to help the future.
 

Phoenyx*

The excerpt from the Book of Thoth

If anyone wants it, here is what Crowley says about this card:

The number Nine, Yesod, brings back the energy to the central pillar of the tree of life. The previous disorder is now rectified. But the general idea of the suit has been constantly degenerating. The Swords no longer represent pure intellect so much as the automatic stirring of heartless passions. Consciousness has fallen into a relam unenlightened by reason. This is the world of the unconscious primitive instincts, of the psychopath, of the fanatic.

The celestial ruler is Mars in Gemini, crude rage of hunger operating without restraint; although its form is intellectual it is the temper of the inquisitor.

The symbol shows 9 swords of varying lengths, all striking dowards to a point. They are jagged and rusty. Poison and blood drip from their blades. There is, however, a way of dealing with this card; the way of passive resistance, resignation, the acceptance of martyrdom.

Nor is an alien formula that of implacable revenge.
 

lionette

Hi Triquetra,

The minute I read your words, "...One of the things we are required to do during this time is to draw 100 people's blood, called a "stick" because we stick them with a needle. ..." it was quite clear to me right then why that 9Swords appeared today! And the number 9 figured in so perfectly.

(maybe I can learn to become less spooked by this card!)

ps. you are so brave - about the needles and blood! :)
 

firemaiden

That's an amazing coincidence, Triquetra -- nine sticks, nine of swords... I see the nine swords as dripping blood, definitely blood and definitely sticks. This is a wonderful illustration of how freakishly literal the cards can be!
 

Kosmos

9 of swords

This and several other cards in the swords suit look pretty grim and the words on them usually just make the card look even darker. I think it is important to remember what suit this is though, because I never have a problem with one of these cards coming up in a reading.
Swords represent mind and thought, and it's important to distinguish between what we 'think' and what 'is'.
When cruelty (or defeat, or sorrow, etc) come up in a reading I always clarify that this is brought about by the quality with which we look at/think about a situation. To me the cruelty card can mean that the Q. or someone around them is viewing a situation in such a desperate way that causing damage or hurting others seems to be the only way to deal with the situation. Sometimes this is the case, but more often the drawing of these cards can simply point to the need to reconsider/reconceptualize a situation, perspective, or set of priorities.
To me the purpose of these seemingly dark and negative cards is to give us a chance to talk about the damaged perspectives and personality blocks that people are most likely to be in denial about... You can deal with these cards pretty smoothly by asking "is that how you FEEL?" If the person is in denial, they'll likely say "no". then you can ask, "is it how you THINK?" Then they might admit that it is sometimes. Then you can talk about why their thoughts and feelings are in conflict, or if they're real feelings are being denied. Then you can be so kind as to suggest a more pleasant perspective (throwing cards on the table the whole time you talk of course).
While these cards can be a shock to run into in a reading sometimes because of how negative they look, I think they're some of the strongest in the deck.