I have an alternative interpretation. (Very alternative!
)
Those of you who have done Silva ultramind courses will know exactly what i am talking about - its an advanced technique called "subjective communication".
It allows one to contact telepathically the person they need to communicate with - given that there is no possibility to address them in a regular way and given that its for good of both - the sender of the info and the recipient.
I did it long time ago and it worked for me, there are many testimonials that it does work; last time i did it some 3 or 4 years ago for someone here at AT, who did need to communicate something to someone... and it worked too.
Now, its done so that you program yourself to wake up in the night, when the recipient's brain is in so-called alpha-state and when s/he is receptive for such messages - if you are in the same time zone, you do wake up somewhere in the middle of the night AND given that you need to be woken up asap, the universe uses anything to awake you, so you might be 'slightly' shocked at first... (i used to "hear" my mother calling me)
Pretty much as the 9 of Swords character is.
Also - if you had out-of -body experiences (i had - not many, but i had); if you look at Bohemian Gothic 9 of Swords, it can be that too.
So, to make the long story short - it could be also some kind of unusual, ESP means of communication - if you (or the sitter) practice such;
otherwise - and i guess in 99% of the readings- i second what Thirteen said.