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How To Read a Horizontal Card


Tarotnewbie

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Tarotnewbie

Hi everyone,

 

My question my sound stupid, please forgive me. I am very new into tarot, so please help me out. When i was shuffling the cards, the magician card popped out and fell horizontally on the ground. I dont know if I have to take it upright or in reversed . I have watched a few youtube videos where readers lay a card horizontally and read it. How to interpret a horizontal card? Thanks for all your time and help, Much appreciate it.

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fire cat pickles

I don't think this is a stupid question at all. I think it's interesting, and I don't think I've ever heard this question asked before!

 

If it fell facing upward I would read it upright. If it falls face down, I would read it reversed. (Disclaimer, I don't read reversals.)

Edited by fire cat pickles
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I struggled with that in years.. finally in my celetic crosses I lay the card over the previous one upright so I know if it is reversed or  not. it still crosses it energy wise. eheh. 

or you could say this covers it,, instead of crossing it. 

as for your problem of it falling on the ground,, I just put it back and shuffle. , I know others give it value,, mean I just figured because my hands are weak. 

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DanielJUK

This is tricky but you cannot be wrong @Tarotnewbie, just decide one way and take as that, it's not so important really. Disregard the card if you do not know for sure.

 

I have had this problem a lot in Celtic Crosses like Holmes. Now I am really observant of it. I deal with my right hand and I put the upright card so the bottom of the card is to the left, top to the right, if it is reversed, the top of the card will be to the left. There are many times I have forgotten which way I dealt it so try to have a system now. But your card is not dealt, it's random! Maybe see which side would work best in the reading. But this is really not the most important thing, perhaps it was always going to be a unclear message deliberately to you 🙂

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This is actually a great question.

But myself, I put it back in the deck and addictively shuffle more and be careful not to drop any more. 

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Tarotnewbie

Thanks you Firecat pickles, Joe, Holmes and DanielJUK... thank you all very much for your response. I learned a lot. I will got by what my intuition says at that point then, hope it is a right way to do it.

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Interesting ... Like Holmes and Flaxen I struggled with how to read it in a Celtic Cross, but finally came to the conclusion of looking at the totality of the meaning of the card, both as upright and a reversal as it is the influence that "crosses" the issue.  Based on the issue and surrounding cards I see which way the influence is affecting the issue.  If it is negatively affecting it then I know what to work on, influencing the influence or cross card.  I have since found spreads that uses horizontal cards and I read them in that manner too.  I see those cards as ones I can take actions to influence what aspects of it I want to manifest to help with my issue.

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Tarotnewbie
On 5/15/2019 at 9:39 AM, Jewel said:

Interesting ... Like Holmes and Flaxen I struggled with how to read it in a Celtic Cross, but finally came to the conclusion of looking at the totality of the meaning of the card, both as upright and a reversal as it is the influence that "crosses" the issue.  Based on the issue and surrounding cards I see which way the influence is affecting the issue.  If it is negatively affecting it then I know what to work on, influencing the influence or cross card.  I have since found spreads that uses horizontal cards and I read them in that manner too.  I see those cards as ones I can take actions to influence what aspects of it I want to manifest to help with my issue.

Thanks Jewel, your explanation makes a lot of sense. I will try and adapt your method and see how it goes for me. 

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There is a round deck where you adapt the meaning based on how far from upright or reversed the card is, which is quite an interesting idea. I suppose horizontal could be balanced between the upright and reversed meanings. (Disclaimer: I don't use reversed cards. I will occasionally use 'jumpers' if I feel it was significant rather than just clumsiness, but always upright.)

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Tarotnewbie
10 hours ago, ilweran said:

There is a round deck where you adapt the meaning based on how far from upright or reversed the card is, which is quite an interesting idea. I suppose horizontal could be balanced between the upright and reversed meanings. (Disclaimer: I don't use reversed cards. I will occasionally use 'jumpers' if I feel it was significant rather than just clumsiness, but always upright.)

round deck huh! interesting. yeah, what you said also makes sense, being in between positive and negative.

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TheFeeLion

@Tarotnewbie I'm a little late to the party here but I thought I'd add my 2 cents.

I almost exclusively use 'jumper' cards in readings. Usually I'll find that the horizontal card in question is angled slightly one way or another, so when it comes to deciding if it is upright or reversed I'll figure out which corner is highest. That corner then becomes one of the two top corners and I just move the card accordingly. 

Hope that makes sense! 

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Nordica De Spell
On 5/21/2019 at 11:00 PM, Tarotnewbie said:

round deck huh! interesting. yeah, what you said also makes sense, being in between positive and negative.

The round ones I’ve got are The Circle of Life tarot, and The Daughters of The Moon tarot. And there are others! 🙂

 

Edited by Nordica De Spell
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Nordica De Spell

I really hope that many people respond here! Especially our experienced readers! 

 

Personally, I have no idea on how to read horizontal cards, and hearing everyone’s suggestions and opinions on it is great!! 💚 😀

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Moonshadow

I'm a bit of a romantic when it comes to cards falling out, I think it's meant to be.  My cards travel anti clockwise and that's how I tell if it was heading up or down 😁 mostly, I see a horizontal card as a little ambivalent, sort of a gentle whisper instead of a stern voice. If that makes sense

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This question is very much why I am participating in this months ISG circle. Using my intuition only, I will interpret the cards horizontally using the image as it appears and the feeling I get from it. I'm looking forward to it as I'm sure cards will look totally different horizontally than either upright or reversed.

 

In Celtic Cross spreads, I read just like HOLMES described, more that it covers the situation than crosses (to me that means blocks) it. 

 

Cards with more in the imagery than my RWS will mean I get more from it intuitively as shapes and colours make more of an impact when you first look at them. I can find myself being a bit blasé when a card turns and I go "oh yeah, 9 of cups reversed, that guys gonna get his cups tipped all over him" 

 

I'll let you know how the ISG goes 😉 

Arabella 

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Saturn Celeste

In a Celtic Cross for the horizontal cross, if the top of the card faces to the past (left) the card is upright.  If the top of the card faces to the future (right) it is reversed.  But I don't lay my cross horizontally anymore, I just kick the crossed card so the corner goes over the top of the situation card a little bit.

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I should say also, if someone is left handed, they will probably deal and have the cards in their dominant hand. I know that I would put the top of the card to the left as a right hander but left handed people may reverse this, upright to the right, just something to watch out for 🙂 My dominant hand actually changes with different things I am doing but I know I can only write well with my right and deal with the cards in my right.

Edited by DanielJUK
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7 hours ago, Saturn Celeste said:

In a Celtic Cross for the horizontal cross, if the top of the card faces to the past (left) the card is upright.  If the top of the card faces to the future (right) it is reversed. 

This is exactly how I learned to read them too. And it definitely worked. These days I sometimes place cards horizontally as “bridges” between two areas/energies and then I will only use upright cards and instead get the nuances from my intuition as well as from elemental

dignites. 

7 hours ago, Saturn Celeste said:

But I don't lay my cross horizontally anymore, I just kick the crossed card so the corner goes over the top of the situation card a little bit.

That’s how I do it now too. I rarely use the Celtic cross anymore but I often place two cards close and slightly overlapping each other in a spread, to explore dynamics and potential conflicts. 

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Barleywine

I don't pay attention to "jumpers," so the orientation of anything that falls out is moot to me. But with the Celtic Cross, I place the crossing card (which I've come to see as both a challenge and an opportunity) at a 45-degree angle across the covering card (which doesn't really "cover" anything now since I've mostly stopped using significators) so I can see what's underneath as I read, and also to retain its upright-or-reversed orientation as drawn.

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Personally, if the top of the card is facing to the left, I read that as a right side up card. If the top of the card is facing to the right, I read that as reversed.

The 45-degree angle Barleywine mentioned is also a good idea when laying cards for a spread.

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