Pamela Colman Smith · RWS deck
The Minor Arcana
Nine of Swords
Yesod in Yetzirah
- Suit
- swords
- Rank
- Nine
- World
- Yetzirah
- Station
- Yesod
- Verb
- I connect
Yesod, the instinctive foundation
Yesod is foundation: the instinctive, habitual ground beneath what will be made manifest.
Upright
Flowing. The habitual mind running alone in the night: worry grown automatic, what is imagined weighing as much as what is real. In the world of mental formation, the foundation is a loop that has become a habit, and the card says it is a habit and not a verdict.
Misdirected. Treating the loop as information, or never saying it aloud.
Reversed
Blocked. The loop is suppressed, the worry unsaid and unseen.
Flooded. The loop runs all night, worry in flood.
The image
A figure sits up in bed in the dark with their face in their hands. Nine swords hang on the wall behind. The quilt is stitched with roses and zodiac signs, and the carved bedhead shows a scene of struggle.
Learn how to read Nine of Swords in a spread
This page shows you what Nine of Swords means. Knowing how to read it — how it shifts next to the other cards, what the reversal is really telling you, and how to turn a spread into a clear answer — is what the RWS Decoded course and book teach, card by card.
