I’ll throw in my two cents, even if it doesn’t line up with what a lot of books or websites say. Maybe it helps.
What I’ve noticed is that sources don’t always disagree as much as they look at first. They just use different words or hang on to certain keywords. The core ideas tend to be pretty similar if you stop at the surface.
With the Rider-Waite-Smith deck (and decks that follow its imagery), Swords are very dramatic. Look only at the art and you’d think every Sword card is a disaster waiting to happen. But no suit is “bad” or “good.” Every card has light and shadow. RWS just shows Swords from their darker side more often.
Take the Nine of Swords. People call it the nightmare card, and yeah, it can mean fear, anxiety, sleepless nights. Same deal with the Three of Swords as heartbreak. Those are valid meanings, but they’re only part of the story. The positive side of a “bad” card or the shadow side of a “good” card is still there if you pay attention.
Nines in general are about being close to completion, almost at the finish line. Upright that’s often a good thing, near-attainment. Reversed, it’s like something’s stuck—an obstacle, a mental block, stagnation. For the Nine of Swords reversed I read it as inner stuff holding you back: self-doubt, despair, lack of faith, maybe depression. That matches the RWS image of someone awake and overwhelmed by worry.
For me it’s a nudge to figure out what’s actually keeping you stuck. Once you name the fear or the thought pattern, you can start rejecting it and moving forward. Kind of like the Devil card, breaking the chains is possible, but it takes willpower.
Just my take. Hope it gives you another angle to look from.
