The Hermit and Nine of Swords

Solitude and the small hours. The Nine of Swords is sitting up in the dark with the head in the hands. Beside the Hermit the tradition reads isolation that has stopped being restorative, and this is one of the pairings the deck is least inclined to romanticise.

Associated with suffering something alone that would be lighter shared. Read as distress rather than as a stage.

Carrying a worry about work with nobody to check it against. Frequently read where the fear has grown in the absence of other opinions.

The Hermit chose the mountain and the Nine of Swords did not choose the night. If a reading has arrived here, the honest next step is another person rather than another card.