Oftentimes in spiritual practice we tend to suppress any fear that arises. And, I mean, sometimes that’s what we need to do in order to keep ourselves sane. I understand that wholeheartedly.  When we manage to get out of a state of 24/7 fear and panic, we develop techniques for keeping it under wraps. Once we’re well and stable, however, there are certain dreaded scenarios or specific fears that keep popping up. They don’t fall asleep when we’re trying to. They nag at our consciousness like vampire bats that want to keep sucking the life blood out of us. Certain exhaustion at existence can set in. This is what the 9 of Swords is representing today. However, it is not alone. It is accompanied by The Moon, a card that frequently signifies facing our fears and doing shadow work. She invites us to look at those lasting fears and see what their message is.

Having specific fears about life can spell out for us how it is that we are viewing reality from perspectives that may be limiting, ignorant, untrue, based on trauma, and so on. For example, being afraid of disease or death reveals an awful lot about how we view ourselves within the context of a physical and spiritual universe. This is a more extreme example, but you know what I mean! In this sense, our fears reveal so much about our psyche and about how we understand the world. This 9 of Swords and Moon combination speaks of fears that are being brought to the surface so that the light may be shone upon them, and thus their source within our minds or hearts may be revealed and identified (and dealt with, if applicable).

When you are ready, gently examine your fears. Rather than pushing them down, try to acknowledge them and see what they can reveal about your mind, your modes of thinking and feeling, and about your relationship with reality. Under The Moon, fears aren’t just enemies – they are teachers too.