By Sarah Taylor
Having the Nine of Swords and the Ace of Cups side-by-side is to see what happens when one state of mind meets its polar opposite. I can’t think of two other tarot cards that are as perfect a counterpoint to each other as these.
Nine of Swords, Ace of Cups, The Sun from The Röhrig Tarot deck, created by Carl-W. Röhrig. Click on the image for a larger version.
You’re definitely no stranger to the Nine of Swords. It has come up several times recently — most recently of all on Oct. 25.
It might be useful to look back and see what was going on then and whether there is a connection to what’s happening now. With one significant difference: here, the Nine of Swords is in the near-past position, and it is the Ace of Cups that’s taking centre stage.
You, too, can choose whether to have the Ace take centre stage, or whether you want to continue in some same-old, same-old battle you have with yourself — those nicks, scratches, cuts that you inflict through self-judgment and self-talk. Some, you’ll know well; they tend to be the larger ones, part of a pattern of recriminations that often take on the voices of earlier authority figures. They’re the big-hitters. They pick up where your family of origin left off; they keep the story going.
Others are smaller. Maybe you don’t think they matter. Maybe you think they matter so little that you don’t notice them. They are the thieves in the night that steal into your psyche and exact their wounding — the death by a thousand cuts. Frequently they pass off as self-deprecating humour, when in reality they’re really not that funny at all. “I’m such a clutz!” “Oh, don’t mind me!” “C’mon, [insert your name here]! Get a fucking grip!”
The Nine of Swords is dis-ease — some experiences of it more concrete than others. When it appears, it speaks of the kind of unforgiving nature that we assume with ourselves rather than anyone else. The illusory bonds that are shaken off with a change of perspective in the Eight have become the sharpened barbs that wrap themselves around us so we feel their points digging into our skin.
Haven’t you suffered enough that you no longer need to pick up where others left off? You are entirely empowered to put those swords down. You don’t need them any more.
You never needed them.
Look to the centre card. The Ace of Cups is what is available to you when you stop pointing the finger of blame at yourself, and start to accept yourself wholly for who you are. In that moment that you begin to practise self-acceptance, something happens: you let go. You let go of those swords and instead you radiate. Ease, acceptance, forgiveness. Love.
This happens first through what you don’t do rather than what you do do. You can’t love yourself into the Ace if you’re not first able to unravel the patterns that underlie the Nine of Swords. What you stop doing is the negative self-talk. You catch yourself — not like a thief in the night, but like a child who deserves all the love in the world. The love you can now give yourself.
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If you need to off-load those swords, sometimes it’s best to do that in a setting that’s designed for just that purpose, whether therapy or some kind of practice that disarms you. You do not need to do this alone. Maybe feeling alone was what got you into this pickle in the first place.
Entrust yourself not only to your own acceptance, but to someone else’s too: someone who has earned your trust, or someone who you feel is up to earning it. It may feel like a risk, but it will be a risk that feels worth it — your body will exhale into it.
What you then meet is The Sun. Look at the figure of the woman in the Ace, and then look at her in miniature in The Sun, standing on top of that hill, in the same position, the same halo of light around her head. Except now you see that your halo, and the Sun’s halo, are one. It’s not that the pain disappears either. It is that the Sun encompasses everything — all experiences — and sees them in the light of awareness.
The embrace of who you are as the Ace becomes the embrace of who you are under the canopy of an intelligence that reflects your own acceptance back to you. And in that moment, you realise: you, and it, are one.
And you are enough.
Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Nine of Swords (Mars in Gemini), Ace of Cups (the pure, limitless potential of water), The Sun (Sun)
If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.
Beautiful Sarah, and now for a tune from the Beatles: Here comes the Sun-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6GNEEi7x4c
🙂
I find myself breaking into this song every time I pull The Sun, Pisces Sun! Every time 🙂 Thank you!
So beautiful! How simple! How powerful! How hard! How easy it can be!
Thanks you!
And how about the way the cards have been sliding through time, linking the steps of our journey into a trail, a map even. Going with the flow!
“How hard! How easy it can be!”
How true! 🙂
Sarah you really nailed it on the head. The polar opposite emotional states of being are so close together lately. It seems like when making the effort to notice where my mind is I have the ability to shift perspectives completely and from there the shifting back and forth is concretely obvious. The question seems to me to be one of which state of mind do I choose. It shows the processes I normally don’t notice in my shifting reality’s. I realize the call of awakening and it compiles me.
I’m having this experience too, Cowboyiam: of noticing my thought processes and attached emotions far more quickly. Which can be incredibly uncomfortable when the solution has not yet presented itself.
Maybe the solution lies in simply that noticing? Maybe paradox is where we’re at?
Eric offered this Faithless video today. It shows our reality dilemma today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Ps_MBXEdA
Amazing Sarah. Not a joke, the very same card that came to me this week, quite intuitively on Thursday was the Ace of Cups and I have been holding it in thought all week.. The Raider Waite-Smith interpretation I looked up is still web-paged on my phone.
With the energies of the 11:11, the following day in relaxation I flashed to a visualization of a Chalis, arms open, me being filled and overflowing with the waters of source. Recieving, is what I felt was the overall message to recieve. Then I realized it was the archtype, same image of the Ace of Cups. The rest of this week has been about further clearing, standing firmly in myself, knowing I am not only guided, but also accepted and loved ..by myself. Much of what you say here regarding the Nine of swords has been true for me in the past, so this week has been not only been another soft voice, a call to furthermore let go off of this heavy antiquated, Karmic past, but I feel an open gateway towards stepping up and into (what you have just given me here, the last link, in full circle)…the Sun. Thank you!! I’d like to share a poem (I quickly wrote) on the morning of 11:11. I wrote it to another, as I felt we had literally stepped into this incredible gift of light we recieved, with such blessing and gratitude I wrote:
I recognized it again, in the Sun’s light
as i stepped outside to praise the New Moon, and this day.
I noticed it in the birds flight overhead, heard it in their hearlding calls over the last few days.
The Light and warmth, I felt it as the fresh breeze, swept across my face.
Felt it deeplly in my 15 year old Son’s hug as if he was once again, forever, my sweet, sweet baby ..
Holding on, not pulling away too quick.
In innocence it IS seen.
Found in my dogs loving devotion, and cat’s purring eyes.
I feel it’s light in, and though me.
Connecting me to the Earth that so stronly supports below.
We are loved and rising together, always.
Recognize and recieve it now.. all we have known IS
In our hearts made manifest now.
Wow that is beautiful P. Sophia, thank you for sharing! You are in a beautiful space right now transforming with light energy–it is emanating from you. As I read your posting I could feel the light source and see it in abundance. Flowing in its love and healing energy is perfect!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful poem, P. Sophia <3
Thank you for this wonderful reading, dear Sarah.
P. Sophia, I join Pisces Sun in her thanks and delight – such a beautiful poem. I feel this light coming through strongly, as well – though it’s also lighting up a lot of darkness for me , so needs a lot of patience!
You’re welcome, Lizzy. Ah, patience! One day I’ll get some. Wish it would happen sooner 😉
Thank you Pisces Sun. I am moved deeply by what you say and also feel. Lizzy and Sarah thank you for sharing your beautiful hearts and kindness always. Patience yes, i have had such extreme heart palpitations over the last week. Whenever there is so much light coming through, I believe it also engages it’s opposite, the illusion of darkness at the same time to be brought up for clarity and release. It is not my place to speak or even comment about the horrible experience in Paris that manifested and feels so senseless has affected all our consciousness’ this week. But from a personal level of experience, I have seen in my life the manifestation of change, or the unknown reaching towards greater light will also bring up such a feeling of darkness as well. It does not always feel comfortable in understanding, emotionally, mentally, or even physically, but it is in and through this process that eventually burns away the illusion, in the process of clarity and the light.
Those are exactly my thoughts, too, dear P. Sophia. Thank you.