With the Nine of Rods Reversed following directly on from the Ten of Rods Reversed we have entered a period when we need to take up the burden of our work, projects and goals. The Nine of Rods has been called the Lord of Great Strength, an arcana of change and hope and associated with the Moon in Sagittarius, suggestive of change and hope, of a buoyant expectancy, strength, perseverance through struggle and the goodwill to stand one’s ground and see things through.
However, the reversed aspect suggests that the energy of this arcana is blocked by fear or hesitancy of some kind. It is telling us that this week we should be willing to look at what is holding us back, especially our mental blocks, our negative self talk or our procrastination, re-evaluate our situation and work to turn the arcana around with a more positive and dynamic application of our energy to the projects that are important to us.
The first two minutes of this video by Ellen Goldberg touches upon the Nine of Rods in its “higher” (upright) and “lower” (reversed) aspects:
Yesterday, the negative aspect of the Ten of Rods Reversed was tempered by positive alignment of the planets so that it was more a case of unburdening ourselves rather than of being borne down by the weight of the burden.
However, today, given over as it is to Mercury, and Mercury being retrograde in Libra, the more positive aspects of the full moon and the Saturn Mars sextile are tempered somewhat with Mercury retrograde throwing some confusion over the areas of communication or the launching or building of a business or business-related project of any kind.
The encouraging news is that this is tempered this week by Mercury having crossed the sun, suggesting a re-evaluation of one’s circumstances. This week Mercury is also in trine with Uranus, the planet of awakening, and in sextile with Saturn and Neptune, which make it friendly to new opportunities, so while the arcana have been reversed over the last two days, take this as an opportunity to look closely at your fears and mental blocks, or negative habits in regard to your situation and draw up a plan of action to get you through to a more positive and dynamic mode of being and turn your situation around.
