Okay, so, the 9 of Swords. This card, man, it’s a heavy one. It often pops up when you’re going through some serious mental turmoil, you know? Like, when you’re tossing and turning all night, worrying about everything under the sun. So I’ve been trying to get a handle on using it to set intentions, which might seem a bit weird, given its usual meaning.
First off, I pulled out my trusty tarot deck. I took some time to just sit with the 9 of Swords card. I mean really looked at it. The imagery is pretty intense, right? Someone sitting up in bed, hands over their face, nine swords hanging over them. It’s like a visual representation of anxiety and nightmares.
Then, I started to meditate on the card. I wasn’t trying to ignore the obvious scary stuff, but I wanted to see if I could dig deeper. What was under all that fear? What was I really worried about? I closed my eyes, took some deep breaths, and just let the card’s energy wash over me. I try to do this every day.

- Day 1: Felt overwhelmed, honestly. The card just brought up a bunch of stuff I’d been avoiding.
- Day 3: Started to see some patterns. My worries are mostly about control, or lack thereof.
- Day 7: Had a bit of a breakthrough. Realized that the swords are just thoughts, not reality.
After a week, I started to actually do something about what I realized. I found myself journaling like crazy. I wrote down all the anxieties that came up during my meditations. I started brainstorming ways to address them. Small steps, you know? Like, if I was worried about a project at work, I’d break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. I also practiced some basic grounding techniques. You know, like focusing on my breath, feeling my feet on the floor, that kind of thing. It helped to calm the storm in my head a little.
Turning Fear into Focus
The goal was to use the energy of the 9 of Swords to actually understand my fears, not to be swallowed by them. And then I worked to do something about the fear, even small things. I guess you could say I was trying to turn the negative energy into something positive. Like, instead of letting the fear paralyze me, I wanted to use it as a motivator to take action.
It’s still a work in progress, obviously. But I feel like I’m onto something. It’s not about ignoring the darkness, it’s about acknowledging it, understanding it, and then choosing to move forward anyway. It is so hard, I have felt so frustrated, but I am still trying. It is not easy to use this card to set my intentions, but I am making progress. I think that if I keep up this practice, I can change the negative energy into something positive.