I’ve always found reversed cards interesting because they can completely change the tone of a reading.

Sometimes I see them as blocked or delayed energy, while other times I feel the upright meaning is still present but expressed differently.

How do you personally work with reversed cards? Do you always use them, or do you prefer reading only upright cards?

I use reversals probably about 95% of the time, although it does depend a bit on the deck I'm using. (Some decks just don't seem to lend themselves to reversals, for some reason.)

However, I usually read reversals as either 'the quality of the upright card is reversed' or 'the quality of the upright card is missing—but the missing is an important factor in the reading.'

I never read reversals as an intensification or diminishment of the original meaning. That really muddies the water for me.

I think some people are reluctant to try using reversals because they believe that means they must learn another 78 meanings! However, once you learn the original 78 meanings, all you need to do is decide what the opposite of those meanings are, when reversals come up. Or how the reading is affected if the quality of the upright card is missing.

Simple example:
3 of cups upright: I'm going to enjoy it (have fun) when I meet up with friends this week
3 of cups reversed: I am not going to enjoy it (no fun at all) when I meet up with friends this week. (reversed)
or

3 of cups reversed: I was expecting to meet up with friends, but it's not going to happen this week (missing)

Cards usually contain more than one potential upright meaning, and the above is just a very simple example. But the principle behind the reversals is the same, whatever meaning seems to matter.

Reversals mean you don't have to guess whether a card's main meaning or its shadow meaning is in play. I feel it's a much more straightforward way to read cards, as it eliminates some of the guesswork—especially if you are reading for somebody you don't know. If you're psychic, you probably don't need reversals ...but I certainly am not! Mind you, if you're psychic you probably don't need cards at all. 😀

Edited September 20Sep 20 by Chariot

I don't read reversals. Not because I think they are difficult or make the reading confusing, but because I don't think reading reversals is necessary if I am careful about what each position in a spread stands for.

We've had lots of discussions about this topic here. Have you done a search? Here are two threads with a variety of responses that you might find interesting:

Do you read with reversals? - Poll

If You Don't Use Actual Card Reversals, How do You Know When To Read Them As Reversed?

Edited September 20Sep 20 by geoxena

I read with reversals when I feel like it 🙃.

...now - presently I haven't access to my Tarot files & neither can I access my memory because I'm on holiday & everything is a bit fluffy 🫠

- so hopefully someone will chime in here & be clearer...

There is a contraction of some of the ways that you can read reversals.... is it W.I.N.D...?

I is Inverted (the upside-down or opposite meaning),

N is Negated (i.e. No it's not happening or present)

D is Delayed...(the meaning is delayed in real time)...

I can't remember the rest 🤣 & I'm going back to my holiday brain now.

Edited September 20Sep 20 by Tanga

On 9/20/2026 at 4:31 PM, Tanga said:

I read with reversals when I feel like it 🙃.

...now - presently I haven't access to my Tarot files & neither can I access my memory because I'm on holiday & everything is a bit fluffy 🫠

- so hopefully someone will chime in here & be clearer...

There is a contraction of some of the ways that you can read reversals.... is it W.I.N.D...?

I is Inverted (the upside-down or opposite meaning),

N is Negated (i.e. No it's not happening or present)

D is Delayed...(the meaning is delayed in real time)...

I can't remember the rest 🤣 & I'm going back to my holiday brain now.

On 9/20/2026 at 4:31 PM, Tanga said:

I read with reversals when I feel like it 🙃.

...now - presently I haven't access to my Tarot files & neither can I access my memory because I'm on holiday & everything is a bit fluffy 🫠

- so hopefully someone will chime in here & be clearer...

There is a contraction of some of the ways that you can read reversals.... is it W.I.N.D...?

I is Inverted (the upside-down or opposite meaning),

N is Negated (i.e. No it's not happening or present)

D is Delayed...(the meaning is delayed in real time)...

I can't remember the rest 🤣 & I'm going back to my holiday brain now.

There - found my notes:

Can't remember who this is by - Benebell Wen I think...

10 hours ago, Tanga said:

Can't remember who this is by - Benebell Wen I think...

The W I N D system is Benebel Wen's. Page 429 of her Holistic Tarot doorstop....

Edited September 23Sep 23 by Chariot

I don't read with reversals, I like to see my cards upright and I think that there are enough cards to give good, well rounded readings without them.

Like @Emily my decision to not use reversals is mostly aesthetic. When I see upside down artwork it looks messy and my Virgo Moon wants to clean up the spread by turning them upright. That being said, I like @Chariot approach to how she reads them. If I used them more I would probably take a similar approach.

I occasionally use them in small, targeted spreads [comparing one option to another] and see reversed cards as weaker if the lines are otherwise similar in strength.

Edited September 24Sep 24 by Misterei

I don't use reversals, either. I have at least one deck with the reversals built in (Revelations by Zach Wong) so of course I could flip the deck around and shuffle and pull reversals that way but otherwise, a hard no. I want all those images in their upright positions.

I use reversals - with the exception of - I believe 1 deck - it is set upright only.

I think that we need to hear all the info, and often the reversed meanings are not as harsh as many believe. I look at the decks in a way as friends & don't we expect our good friends to be honest, the good and the bad?

I often find different decks have different voices as well.

Like a few others here, I prefer to read cards upright. I’m still fairly new to Tarot, so keeping it helps me avoid confusion for now.

That said, I’d definitely like to try reading reversals in the future, especially with the Grand Etteilla Tarot, where reversed cards are an essential part of the system. I’m actually waiting for the Lo Scarabeo Etteilla III to arrive, so I’ll save studying reversals for later! 😊