Shuffling with Reversed Cards

[DanielJUK]

Searching through the forum, over the years we have had posts about members reversals techniques, but can't find a thread about shuffling.

 

So if you use reversed cards in your readings.....

 

How do you shuffle them in your practice?

How do you decide how many to have in the deck?

 

This the place for all reversed shuffling methods and techniques 🙂 

 

There is a guide to shuffling techniques generally, here -

https://www.thetarotforum.com/forums/topic/15717-shuffling-techniques/

 

[DanielJUK]

I use reversals for some of my decks, usually RWS decks and I tend to leave non-RWS decks upright. I try to keep those decks with reversals constantly going, each time I shuffle. I never know how many cards are upright or reversed, I want it deliberately randomised.

 

So with those decks, I shuffle them normally, using overhand shuffling. I will then either turn some piles of the cards during the shuffling, or I will make piles from the deck and turn the ones I want and then keep shuffling the full deck again. So I never know which way up the cards are and how many. I like that technique. I tend to find in one reading that some cards are upright for that and then reversed for the next and that is meaningful. I never shuffle them all upright again, just keep going each time I use that deck, perpetually. 

 

One of the digital tarot apps I have, asks you to use a definite percentage of reversals in the shuffle. Like it starts at 10%, I find that really difficult. I don't know what percentage of the cards should be reversed. I find that kind of rule difficult, it has a natural flow to me.

 

 

[Chariot]

I always return my cards to their original order at the end of each reading—as if they just came out of the box!  This clears the energy, and each new reading starts from scratch. 

 I riffle shuffle for the new reading about 6 times, moving a chunk of the cards from the back to the front between each riffle, so the same card isn't always on the bottom.  THEN I simply turn them all face down and smear them around (on a clean cloth, of course) until they are well and truly mixed and some reversed. Then I collect them all again, riffle shuffle three or four more times—then deal into my chosen spread.   I let the face-down smear determine  how many are upright and how many are reversed.

I regard each reversed card as having generally the same interpretive weight as the upright card, with more or less the opposite meaning (OR a lack of the quality expressed in the upright card.) This gives me a random 156 'meanings' to apply to the spread.

Edited May 19 by Chariot

[katrinka]

7 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

One of the digital tarot apps I have, asks you to use a definite percentage of reversals in the shuffle. Like it starts at 10%, I find that really difficult. I don't know what percentage of the cards should be reversed. I find that kind of rule difficult, it has a natural flow to me.

I can't remember the book I saw it in, but it said that if you have a high percentage of reversed cards it's a misdeal. They recommended gathering the cards and doing it over.
I only use reversals with Italian Sibilla and Minetta's method, and I don't see a need to redo the draw if there are a lot of reversals. But those have clearly stated meanings for reversed cards. With Tarot, a reversed card could mean just the opposite of what it normally does, or it could just be impeded. So a reversal-heavy draw can be pretty ambiguous. It would make sense to me to do it over.

But then, I'm not fond of Tarot reversals and I don't use them. I prefer attendance, combined meanings with neighboring cards like you see with old playing card methods, Lenormand, etc. Some methods, like Minetta's and Italian Sibilla, use both. But as mentioned previously, they have clear reversed meanings.  

I don't see a need for Tarot reversals. Crowley didn't use them, and I assume he knew what he was doing. Of course some people get very good results with them. Everybody has to find for themselves what works, I think. That might mean picking up the cards and doing it over. Or not. Just be consistent.

Edited May 19 by katrinka

[FindYourSovereignty]

Thanks to @Chariot, I am starting to read reversals with RWS  based decks. This has required me to create a shuffling plan. I start with all the cards upright. I then riffle-shuffle 3-4 times. Tnen I take approximarely 1/4  of the deck and turn it. I will shuffle another 3-4 times and turn 1/4 again after that. I will shuffle another 3-4 times. After the reading, I will turn all the cards upright to be ready for the next reading. 

[Chariot]

13 hours ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

Thanks to @Chariot, I am starting to read reversals with RWS  based decks. This has required me to create a shuffling plan. I start with all the cards upright. I then riffle-shuffle 3-4 times. Tnen I take approximarely 1/4  of the deck and turn it. I will shuffle another 3-4 times and turn 1/4 again after that. I will shuffle another 3-4 times. After the reading, I will turn all the cards upright to be ready for the next reading. 

That sounds like an excellent routine, and allows for some reversed cards to 'right' themselves during the shuffle.  I might adopt this method myself, or at least give it a try.  The smearing the cards face down isn't always easy to do, if the reading surface is small.

[FindYourSovereignty]

2 hours ago, Chariot said:

That sounds like an excellent routine, and allows for some reversed cards to 'right' themselves during the shuffle.  I might adopt this method myself, or at least give it a try.  The smearing the cards face down isn't always easy to do, if the reading surface is small.

 

That's a valuable point that some of the cards could 'right' themselves. I like this process even more. I do hope you will try it. I have found it yo be a very rewarding process for both opening and closing a reading. 

 

I started learning tarot from a reader, Jeanne Fiorini, and she would smear the cards over the whole table, and ask a question, pull one card from the pile. Have a conversation with the card and if another question had evolved, pull another card from the pile and so on. This required a lot of space, but certainly is an option that will provide reverse cards.

[psi-search]

These are all really good ideas and I plan to try all of them and see which works best for me. I'm sure the Universe will guide me. 

[Esclarmonde]

An interesting topic...

I shuffle the cards a few times, then lay out seven cards, and then lay a card on each until I have seven piles of cards. Then I pick them up so as to gather the whole deck again, but I always turn two of the piles (not consecutive ones), and then shuffle again. I could calculate how many cards are reversed, but I never did, as I can't see the need. After the reading I turn all the cards upright, though I don't order the deck, i.e. I don't  put the cards in order. 

[FoolsKey]

I often do the pile-shuffle method, with 6-12 piles, and place the cards on piles randomly instead of a regular order. Usually I do this once, then rotate half the deck, then do it again, so not all the cards that got flipped are right next to each other. A few normal riffle-shuffles before and after for good measure too. Whenever I do the smear-the-cards-on-the-table method it feels like a really good shuffle that totally resets the deck, but for some reason I often don't do it. Maybe it's the space it takes up, or somehow feels 'wrong' like it's too casual with the cards, but in reality this is a really good way of shuffling, both in general but also specifically for reversals.

[Chariot]

8 hours ago, FoolsKey said:

Whenever I do the smear-the-cards-on-the-table method it feels like a really good shuffle that totally resets the deck, but for some reason I often don't do it. Maybe it's the space it takes up, or somehow feels 'wrong' like it's too casual with the cards, but in reality this is a really good way of shuffling, both in general but also specifically for reversals.

It is a messy way to shuffle and does take up space ...although if you're careful, it doesn't hurt the cards.  However, I prefer this method because the number of reversed cards ends up being totally random.

If you divide a deck into, say, 6 piles, and turn one pile over, then shuffle again, you're ensuring that only 1/6 of the cards will be reversed. And ditto any proportion, including half.  I'd rather just leave the number of reversals up to chance.  It feels like the result will be more accurate. 

However, @FindYourSovereignty' s method of hand/riffle shuffling, turning some over, shuffling some more, turning some more over, etc, does sound neater and allows for some of the reversed cards to 'right' themselves.  So that would be my second favourite choice.  Again, it's more random and less controlled by the shuffler than just choosing a specific number of cards to reverse.

Edited June 7 by Chariot

[KiMo]

It's funny that this topic was started recently, I've just spotted the thread and it ties in with an experience I had yesterday.

 

To preface, I do read with reversals when using some decks, but not others. That choice is down to logic for some, like the Thoth, and a gut feeling for others. Every now and then I'll have the compulsion to put a deck back into order but this isn't frequent. I usually do a reading, finish up a reading by shuffling the deck a few times more before putting it back, and then use as is for the next reading. My shuffling isn't particularly structured, I'll riffle for a time (when reading with reversals), switch to overhand for a time, riffle again, then overhand to the point where I feel ready to lay out the cards. Sometimes this process is repeated a few more times. If I'm reading without reversals I'll mostly overhand a good deal, I sometimes attempt a vertical riffle but I'm not too great at this yet 🙈

 

Yesterday I did a reading for myself, the first one in many months after a hiatus. Life stuff and a lack of confidence had been holding me back, so this was a big step. I was investigating a dream I'd had (I'm considering writing this up into my journal space) and wanted to get some further insight into it. The deck was in order so I made sure to shuffle very thoroughly, both by riffling and using overhand. What happened? Every single card in the five card draw was reversed. Honestly, my stomach dropped and my confidence took a real knock. I'd done it 'wrong'. I was about pick the cards up and leave the reading for another time, but an inner dialogue started up about how p*ssed off and disappointed and angry I was about the fact that I just couldn't seem to make things work for myself. Out of nowhere another inner voice responded (again, I might write about this in a later post), and to cut a long story short, I let the reading sit and worked through it. It ended up being extremely valuable and I gleaned a lot from it.

 

So regarding reversals and the shuffling process, I fully appreciate the guidance about considering reshuffling and redealing when the number of reversed cards is comparatively high. Was my shuffling process not thorough enough? Quite possibly. I have no real structure to my shuffling and perhaps I should. But I think the point of my example is that sometimes, despite being thorough and careful, the cards will just come out for me the way they do. At the risk of going slightly off topic and talking about reversals in general, did all these reversals denote blocked energy? Absolutely. Did they make me work to get me past the impulse to give up though? Yes. 

 

Anyway, this was a long and at times OT response to a simple question. TLDR version, when reading with reversals I will do a combo of riffle and overhand shuffling based on gut feeling. As a person who has to work hard on letting go of fears around the binary of getting it wrong or right, however, I *personally* don't let the percentage of reversals be a concern, they tend to happen regardless. 

 

 

[Mehraban]

Has anyone else ever experienced this while shuffling tarot cards—when a single card suddenly jumps out? It’s happened to me, and I believe that card is the true answer. Why am I writing about this here? Because many times, I’ve used only upright cards while shuffling, only for a single card to suddenly fall to the ground reversed. As if, when the answer needed to be reversed, it showed itself to me that way. Do you experience this too?

[gregory]

AS far as I'm concerned, all jumpers are upright - if I use them at all.

[KiMo]

1 hour ago, Mehraban said:

Has anyone else ever experienced this while shuffling tarot cards—when a single card suddenly jumps out? It’s happened to me, and I believe that card is the true answer. Why am I writing about this here? Because many times, I’ve used only upright cards while shuffling, only for a single card to suddenly fall to the ground reversed. As if, when the answer needed to be reversed, it showed itself to me that way. Do you experience this too?

I haven't experienced it myself, I will get jumpers but I don't consider them significant in my own practice, just sloppy shuffling on my part!

 

However I am of course aware that there are others who do pay attention to jumpers, and if you get a reversed card from an otherwise upright deck, if it strikes you as important then that's your call I'd say.

[FoolsKey]

Yes jumpers happen all the time to me, and I even have big hands! It feels very aligned with the spirit of Tarot to try to interpret a jumper as significant, like the card was 'trying' to get out and show itself to you, but I always find myself frustrated and wanting to draw the spread intentionally. Which position in the reading is the jumper supposed to be in? Is it upright or reversed? These questions bother me and make me stuff it back into the deck to do a 'proper draw', but I admire people who can just go with the flow and intuitively incorporate jumpers into their readings.

 

P.s. I had never heard them called 'jumpers' before now but that is the perfect word for it!

[Esclarmonde]

I don't attach any significance to "jumpers"; I often have cards drop when I'm shuffling and I just pick them up and carry on shuffling. Of course, there is nothing stopping anyone from interpreting these cards, but I just concentrate on laying out the cards and interpreting them.

[katrinka]

If they're true jumpers, I'll glance at them, keep them in mind but stick them back in the deck.

True jumpers are accidental. A few years ago people were doing something called a "fallout shuffle" where they let cards fall all over the floor and table on purpose. Not one or two cards like with real jumpers, but LOTS of cards. 

I hope that trend has gone the way of the dodo bird.

[DanielJUK]

19 minutes ago, katrinka said:

If they're true jumpers, I'll glance at them, keep them in mind but stick them back in the deck.

True jumpers are accidental. A few years ago people were doing something called a "fallout shuffle" where they let cards fall all over the floor and table on purpose. Not one or two cards like with real jumpers, but LOTS of cards. 

I hope that trend has gone the way of the dodo bird.

 

I once bought a reading with a reader who used that technique 😱. I wanted to see a (different) tarot technique they did and was surprised by the fallout shuffle. It looks really unprofessional with a professional reading, in front of a customer. Like maybe they cannot shuffle well and the cards just fall out? But no it was on purpose! It was at the height of that craze! They only used cards in my reading that fell out, but I am not sure those cards were meant for me? hmmm. The tarot readers on YouTube and TikTok seem to have moved on from it, so I guess the trend is over.

 

I'm not sure it will help with reversals in a deck 🙂 

 

There is an old thread about this topic for those interested....

 

 

[katrinka]

3 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

The tarot readers on YouTube and TikTok seem to have moved on from it, so I guess the trend is over.

Even though everybody is free to shuffle as they see fit, it's a relief that the trend is over. 
So many people view readers as flakey, just like a lot of people assume we're just lying and conning people out of their money.
We don't need people making us look bad. And while dropping cards all over the place isn't the worst, it does cast us in a pretty unflattering light!

[Chariot]

Personally, I never use jumpers.  Sometimes I accidentally drop a lot of cards, sometimes only one, sometimes none.  I made up my mind a long time ago to pay no attention to these accidents.  If the tarot has something to tell me, it will do so during the reading.

The only problem with a jumper is that you have to put it back in the deck and keep shuffling.  And that might mean you pre-determine whether it's upright or not.  As I use reversals, if I do get a jumper, I usually do a smear shuffle again, to ensure the reversals are all random.

I do believe that if you shuffle with intention and make your query clear, the layout will answer your questions.  I pay close attention to stalker cards—cards that appear frequently in consecutive readings. But not jumpers.

[FoolsKey]

On 6/8/2025 at 3:39 AM, Chariot said:

 I made up my mind a long time ago to pay no attention to these accidents.  If the tarot has something to tell me, it will do so during the reading.

 

Thank you, I could never quite articulate why I didn't like them but this is the perfect way to say it.

[TarotCeline]

Here is how I mix, for the individual cards to show up either in the upright or reversed position:

 

To mix the cards and have them come up in the upright or reversed position, you do not shuffle.

To get rid of any influence from the previous reading, you can put all the cards back in their proper order, or at the very least, put them all upright.

You then lay all the cards face down on the table, and using both of your hands, mix the cards in circles in every possible direction, while they are still lying flat on the table.

You do that while focusing on your question or concern, and until you feel the cards are completely mixed. 

You then look at the mixed cards, which are all laid out face down on the table after mixing with both hands. 

 

You then choose and pick one card at a time, until you have picked the right number of cards for the spread you have decided to do.

The first card you pick is placed face down at the bottom of your hand and becomes position number one in the spread that you chose.

And the second card you pick is also placed face down on top of the first one, and becomes position number two in the spread that you chose.

And the third card you pick is also placed face down on top of the second one, and becomes position number three in the spread that you chose.

And so on, until you have the amount of cards you need, again, picking the cards one at a time, and putting them on top of each other.

 

When you finally lay out the chosen cards in the spread, you start with the card at the bottom of your hand, at the bottom of the "chosen cards" pack, as it is card number one.

Once card number one has been laid out, you then pick the card that is now at the bottom of your hand, at the bottom of the "chosen cards" pack, as it is card number two.

Once you have laid out card number two in the spread, you then pick the card that is now at the bottom of your hand, at the bottom of the "chosen cards" pack, as it is card number three.

And so on.

 

It is important not to change the direction of the card when you take it out from the bottom of your hand, at the bottom of the "chosen cards" pack.

The idea is to turn each card on itself from the initial face-down position, and keep this position, upright or reversed, when laying it out in the spread.

If this is not obvious at first, you can look at the bottom card to see what position it is in, upright or reversed, and lay it the same way in the spread.

You have the chosen cards in one hand and lay the cards in the spread with your other hand.

 

Please note that I use "upright and reversed" with the major arcana only.

 

And please let me know if my explanation was clear or not, if you decided to try it, thanks.

 

 

[TarotCeline]

Reversal "shuffle" with clients:

 

With in-person clients, I sit directly in front of the querent, lay out the cards face down on the table, and show them how I use both hands to mix the cards while they are laid out face down on the table.

 

I only do a couple of turns with my hands to show them, and then ask them to do the same.

 

I ask them to mix the cards at length themselves, while making circles in every possible direction and thinking about their questions/concerns.

 

I then open my hand and put it sideways in front of me.

 

I then ask the client to choose one card at a time, and place it face down (as is, on the table), and perpendicular to my sideways open hand.

 

I then lay out the cards in front of me as I would if I were reading for myself, and in front of me, just the same, with an online client I have mixed the cards for.

 

Since the cards are destined for the reader, they always show up as they should, upright or reversed, whether the client is handing them to you in person, or you drew the cards for them, while online.

 

That is the magic of the cards!

 

[Chariot]

@TarotCeline At some point, after riffle shuffling, I, too, put the deck face down and smear the cards around till it feels 'done.'  I riffle shuffle because I always re-order the cards in their original default position after every reading, and I found that the riffle PLUS the smear (to achieve reversals) seems to result in a better-shuffled reading.  

I have tried to do the random pick-a-card method you use, but it has never really worked for  me.  I find myself 'thinking' about which card I'm picking ...as in 'oh, I should probably pick one from the middle and one from each side,' or 'there's a bunch of them over there, I should probably break up that bunch,' etc.  In other words, I'm controlling the pick for the wrong reasons. And interestingly, the readings I get using this method are usually all over the place and not relevant.  I still occasionally try doing this, but overall it doesn't work for me.  Instead, I gather up the smeared cards face down, probably riffle shuffle a couple more times, then deal from the topmost card on down.

I have also never mastered the hand to hand shuffle.  The cards never end up being all that well mixed, for some reason. I'm probably doing it wrong!

I'm not sure what you meant by, "Please note that I use "upright and reversed" with the major arcana only."  Do you mean you use both major and minor arcana in a reading, but only reverse the majors?     

Edited June 18 by Chariot