The Nines in the Tarot: Meaning of the Number Nine and the Four Nines

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The Nines of the tarot speak of a near completion, vigilance, satisfaction and solitude. Here is the traditional meaning of each Nine and the mistakes to avoid.

Key points

Number	9
Keywords	Near completion, stock-taking
Cards	Nine of Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles
Sephirah (Golden Dawn)	Yesod, "foundation" in the Kabbalah
Nearby major arcana	The Hermit, number 9
In the Marseille deck	Repeated emblems, no figures
In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck	One scene per card

The number in tarot tradition

Nine is the last of the single digits before ten starts again at one. In traditional numerology it is the number of an achievement almost reached, of the threshold. It is the square of three (3 × 3), which gives it a strong symbolic charge: fullness, ripeness, just before the end of the cycle. Many traditions also see in it a number of wisdom, solitude and stock-taking.

The Golden Dawn (an English occult society of the late nineteenth century) matches it with Yesod, the "foundation" of the Tree of Life in the Kabbalah, just before Malkhut, the tenth. In tarot, a Nine often says that one is almost at the end, with whatever that brings of fatigue, satisfaction or worry. The tarot does not say whether one will arrive: it describes the state of mind of the moment.

The four cards at a glance

Suit	Image (Rider-Waite-Smith)	Traditional meaning	Question to reflect on
Wands	A bandaged man leans on a staff, before eight others planted in a row	Perseverance, vigilance, the final straight	What is left for me to hold on to?
Cups	A stout man, arms folded, in front of nine cups in a row	Satisfaction, pleasure, a wish fulfilled	What am I truly content with?
Swords	A person sits up in bed, face in their hands, nine swords on the wall	Anguish, night thoughts, guilt	Is this worry a fact or a thought?
Pentacles	A woman in a vineyard garden, a falcon on her glove	Self-sufficiency, comfort, the fruit of effort	What have I built by my own efforts?

The scenes described are those of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck (1909). Other decks offer other images, but the number keeps the same tone.

Marseille or Rider-Waite-Smith?

In the Tarot de Marseille, the Nines are pip cards: nine emblems in rows or in interlaced patterns, with an impression of fullness. No figures. In the Rider-Waite-Smith, the scenes are very distinct: the wounded sentinel, the satisfied glutton, the insomniac, the lady in the garden. The Nine of Swords is a strong image in the Rider-Waite-Smith: the night, the bed, the swords on the wall. It is often read as night-time anguish or rumination. It does not speak of a real catastrophe: it shows what the mind produces at three in the morning. The Nine of Cups is sometimes nicknamed "the wish card" in certain reading traditions, because the man seems pleased with his display. That is a habit of readers, not a rule.

The number and the major arcana

Nine is the number of The Hermit, major arcanum number 9: retreat, wisdom, the lamp that lights one step at a time. The minor Nines share this taste for stock-taking and withdrawal, even if they express it in very different ways. For the major arcana in general: the guide to the major arcana.

Reading this number in a spread

A Nine in a spread invites you to see where you are on the path. What is almost finished? What weighs on the final stretch? What do I feel like celebrating? Several Nines in the same spread often suggest a moment of the end of a cycle, which the context colours in different ways. It is neither good nor bad news.

If you read reversed cards, a reversed Nine is sometimes seen as greater fatigue, an incomplete satisfaction or an anguish that is fading. These are conventions. To practise: the three-card spread.

Beginner's mistakes

Taking the Nine of Swords for a bad omen: it is an image of anguish, which can be named and looked at.
Believing the Nine of Cups "guarantees" the wish: it is a moment of contentment.
Reading the Nine of Wands as a defeat: the figure is still standing.
Reducing the Nine of Pentacles to "money": it also means independence and the pleasure of what one has cultivated.
Forgetting that the Nine comes before the Ten: an almost-achieved goal is not yet achieved.

Practice

Lay out the four Nines and ask yourself, for each: what does the figure have behind them, and what is left for them? Think of a project in your life that is nearing its end, and choose the Nine that resembles it. Write one sentence of stock-taking: "What I have done, what remains for me." This exercise is for reflection, not prediction. The last number is read in the Tens.