Please note that this series of interpretations is intended to assist specifically in personal healing and shadow work. There are many incredible websites that offer traditional meanings and correspondences. I am not a mental health professional; these are my personal reflections and experiences that I hope you will find helpful.
The Nine of Wands comes along just when you thought the coast was clear. In the Eight of Wands, you let your guard down for a moment to enjoy the ride and along comes the Nine to interrupt you. This card is here to test your courage and resilience and take a final swing at you. The card is often depicted as a battle-weary individual with an expression of doubt and resignation. In The Wild Unknown (pictured above) we see a staircase littered with wands reminding us how steep stairs can feel when you are exhausted. This is the final challenge before the culmination of your creative efforts and the passion you have invested in this area of your life.
This card asks you to dig deep and find that last reserve of energy and stamina in order to make it to the finish line. Tap into your primal side and let loose with one last battle cry! If you can find your way over this last seemingly staggering hurdle, your endurance and persistence will pay off. This is a great time to make your boundaries clear to those who test them.
What does the word “courage” represent to you? Do you recall a time when you were about to give up but were able to find hidden strength you didn’t know you had? I invite you to do a free-write about how it felt to discover that you had more fight in you than you realized. Often this is where deep and lasting growth occurs.
“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.”
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“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
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Until our paths cross again…
ApotheCarrie Tarot 