Nine of Swords

Nine jagged swords of different lengths point downward, dripping blood and poison, against a dark and rusted sky.

Yesod, Foundation, in Yetzirah, the world of formation. Foundation, the sphere of the Moon: the astral, the image, the pattern on which the material world is built, and also stability, because Yesod gathers the forces above it into one channel. The Nines are Yesod in the four worlds and are the element at full strength before its final crystallisation.

Yesod in the world of Air: mind gathered into one full channel, and what fills it is agony. Mars in the second decan of Gemini brings force to the sign of the divided mind.

Mars in the second decan of Gemini (10°–20°, about Jun 1–10). Mars is force, war, energy, the breaking of forms so that they can move. On the Tree it is Geburah; among the trumps it is the Tower. Mars also opens the sequence of the decans at the first degree of Aries.

Gemini is mutable Air: the twins, the mind that sees two of everything, speech and exchange. Mercury rules it. Its trump is the Lovers. The trump of Gemini is The Lovers.

This decan is ruled by the Knight of Swords, whose arc runs from 21° Taurus to 20° Gemini. The two Shem angels of the decan are Hariel and Hekamiah.

Stability: the forces above gathered into one channel, the foundation, the image. Yesod. The Nines are the element at full strength; the Hermit is trump IX.

Thinking become torture; the mind's clarity applied to its own wounds. The Swords are usually read as the thinking function in Jung's typology, an interpretive convention rather than a text of Jung's.

Rider-Waite calls the suit Swords. Its small cards carry scenes; the Thoth small cards carry the suit emblems arranged geometrically, with the keyword printed at the bottom and the colours of their Sephirah and decan. The Golden Dawn title (Lord of Despair and Cruelty) is shared by both traditions.

Mars at its best gives courage, decisiveness, protective strength, passion, independence. At its worst: violence, impulsiveness, cruelty, rage, or, when repressed, passive aggression and burnt-out apathy.

Gemini (“I think”) brings curiosity, wit, communication, versatility, youthfulness. Its shadow is superficiality, inconsistency, gossip, nervous scatter, two-facedness.

Together: Mars has no essential dignity or debility in Gemini. Dignity explains part of the title and the Sephirah explains the rest: a planet at home in its sign can still sit in a hard sphere, and a weak planet can be carried by a strong one.

The Sun crosses this decan around Jun 1–10, so it is the decan card of anyone born then; their court card is the Knight of Swords. Find a birthday.