Nine of Swords

DeathFailureMiscarriageDelay

Upright

Death, failure, miscarriage, delay, deception, disappointment, despair.

Reversed

Imprisonment, suspicion, doubt, reasonable fear, shame.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

The picture

One seated on her couch in lamentation, with the swords over her. She is as one who knows no sorrow which is like unto hers. It is a card of utter desolation.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

Older readings

An ecclesiastic, a priest; generally, a card of bad omen. Reversed: Good ground for suspicion against a doubtful person.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §4. Waite collected these and says they often disagree with the main meanings.

Waite wrote in 1911 and some of his meanings show it. Tarot is a tradition of reflection, not a prediction, and no card decides anything for you.