9 of Swords is a card of anxiety, fear, of lost sleep, and expecting the worst. It can feel really confrontational when it shows up in readings, but it’s important to remember that every card carries both a reflective element and a medicinal element within it. So while the 9 of Swords might show that you’re having the above experiences, it also offers the way through them. I think what all 9s in the Tarot ask of us is to make an inventory. I think of the Major card that’s numbered 9, the Hermit, and this archetype’s relationship to both self-determination, deliberate action, *and* the ability to navigate through darkness. The Hermit’s lantern casts a pool of light on one thing at a time, which is why it speaks so strongly to intentionality and pacing. In the 9 of Swords, we can draw upon these qualities to shine the light of our awareness on each of our fears in turn. Instead of being the figure hiding their eyes from the shadow-monster in the corner, we can aim our light upon it to determine that it’s just a pile of laundry. And we can do this with each of our fears one by one, literally writing them out so that they become pinned down under the light of our awareness rather than growing in our imaginations (and we’re working here well within the realm of swords, which has to do with the written word, our consciousness, and our imagination!). Make a list of “what-ifs” and see if they begin to recede like shadows.