If you don't 'do' reversals, how do you approach analysis of the cards?

[littleredcourgette]

Doesn't it mean more work for you to work out whether the card is positive or negative or to figure out a narrative? Or do you just accept that the card's meaning is probably a combination of both negative and positive aspects? I'm new to tarot and I presently don't read reversals but that's more because I have a semi-heart attack whenever I see them (like when I see 'the tower' upright). Now i'm wondering whether it'd make my life a tad more easier to do so.

[Page of Ghosts]

I haven't quite figured out how to approach reversals so I don't do them these days. There are lots of ways to read them other than "bad"/opposite : the energy of the card is blocked, there's too much/too little of it, the shadow qualities of the card is at work, the card wants your attention and so much more.

 

Usually I try to do more than one card so I have a position to give me some guidance. That, knowing about the situation (I usually read for myself) and looking at surrounding cards is usually helpful in understanding what message from that card is at work. I once had The Tower as advice and I took it as it's good for me to shake things up myself, haha. I thought "embrace the burning hell" maybe wasn't such solid advice, but I guess it could be depending on the situation  :P

[Onaorkal]

I prefer to use spreads with pre-defined positions, so it helps a lot. For example if a card falls on the ''blocked energy'' or ''what you shouldn't do'' position, I interpret it that way.

[Trogon]

I do use reversals myself. However, I now have one deck (the A'HA Oracle) which doesn't like reversals. For that, as Page of Ghosts and Onaorkal have mentioned, a lot will depend on the position in the reading. I do use positional meanings for almost all of my readings and that will give you an idea of how to interpret a given card.

 

For example, let's say that you're doing a reading with a position of "Blockage" (something holding you back) and you get The Sun. "How can such a happy card be a blockage?" you ask yourself as you do the reading. Well, for one thing, it is possible for a person to be feigning "happiness" to please others and this is what is holding them back. Or the situation may be something they're forcibly ignoring because they're afraid to face it. And both of these meanings are something that might be seen with a reversed Sun.

 

The thing is that, even though I use reversals, I always have to be open that an upright card might have a reversed meaning (or a reversal might have an upright meaning) depending on where it falls in the reading. So, overall, you have to look at the card itself, the position meaning in the reading, as well as the other cards in the reading, as you determine how to interpret the card.

[saintsandliars]

I don't do reversals, and I concur with what others have said here. I take a card in its entire spectrum of meanings, from positive to negative, and see how they fit in their placement in a spread and with the cards surrounding them. For me, each reading is a small narrative, and it's the reader's job to interpret the cards to create that narrative. Placement and surrounding cards ought to do that regardless of which direction the card is facing.

[Ephemeridae]

I don't do reversals because I feel like there's enough information within the cards to begin with without adding the extra dimension of reversals. But I am a beginner, so I imagine with time I might feel the need to incorporate them into my practice eventually.

 

I see positives and negatives happening simultaneously in cards without reversing them, though. The tower, for example, is a pretty triumphant card when you look at it from the lightning's point of view. Not to mention all the negative things the tower could represent, thereby making it a positive thing that it's been destroyed. So whether or not I focus on the negative or positive implications of a card depend on where they show up in the reading and what the question was.

[Petalene]

You can view it as "pay extra attention to me" when the card is reversed.

 

If you want some insight into reading reversals, have you seen The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals by Mary Greer? I'm new to tarot, but that is the book for me when it comes to interpreting reversals. There are several different ways to read them and she's got interpretations of each cards that aren't just the opposite of the upright card.

 

It can depend on the question, card, and position for which method I use. I did a 4 reading today with 3 reversals and I ended up using a different method for each one, but the conclusions I came to felt right. 

[Little Fang]

Nowadays I use either spread positions, or just intuitive feelings on whether a card should have a reversed meaning.  Sometimes the surrounding cards give context clues.

[chongjasmine]

I don't do reversals, I read the cards as it is, when it comes out.

[katrinka]

I don't do reversals with Tarot. There's precedent for not using them - Crowley, for example.

 

I approach the cards cartomantically, i.e., I'm heavily influenced by Lenormand, Sibilla, etc. And playing cards - Tarot is not only based on playing cards, it STARTED as a gaming deck.

 

So what this means is that I rely on proximity. A card is modified by the following card. So with two positive cards, you'd go with the more positive interpretation. A positive followed by a negative is being described negatively.

 

This makes it possible to use all the facets and nuances of meaning. Using reversals would only muddy the water, in my case.

[sandrang123]

I use reversals if intuitively they fit within the overall context of the reading, though sometimes instead of seeing a reverse meaning, I see reversals as signifying delays and holding patterns.

[jema]

who is to say we even "should" use reversal or negative meanings.

Sing I worked a lot of TdM decks it is often not even possible to see what way some of the minors are.

A card is a card and i prefer to read it as i see them, what is on the crads, not which way it is turned. However it can be interesting with some majors and counrt when you can follow people gaze.

[EmpyreanKnight]

I almost always use reversals because the great variety of meanings they entail provide a lot of nuance to my readings. I usually get what the reversal means, altho if I'm having a hard time, I would just analyze how the matrix of cards work with each other to see what reversal type (opposite, blocked, decreased energy, etc) to apply.

 

I don't use them when other techniques are recommended (such as dignities in the Thoth) or if a deck I'm using does not initially have recommended reversed meanings, like the Wild Unknown or the Barbara Walker. For the latter tho, once I become familiar with it, I would begin to apply reversal meanings that I find apt.

[phthalogreen]

For the longest time, I never knew that reversals were even a thing. I'm not so great at the riffle shuffle and generally stick to overhand shuffling, so my cards are pretty much always facing the same way. I only learned about reversals maybe three years ago and tried to incorporate them into my readings, figuring that I had to. Since I'm still very much an amateur I found it to further complicate things for me. Also, as Ephemeridae mentions, most cards contain both positive and negative aspects to them even when upright.

 

I have always wondered if reversals were truly necessary to successful tarot work so it's nice to know that others don't use them. Katrinka, I really like your way of explaining your reasoning for not using reversals.

[gregory]

I don't do reversals, and I concur with what others have said here. I take a card in its entire spectrum of meanings, from positive to negative, and see how they fit in their placement in a spread and with the cards surrounding them. For me, each reading is a small narrative, and it's the reader's job to interpret the cards to create that narrative. Placement and surrounding cards ought to do that regardless of which direction the card is facing.

I'm with the saint here. Context is all.

[Saturn Celeste]

I use reversals with an intuitive 3 tarot - 1 oracle card reading and a 3 card yes/no reading.  If I do a Celtic Cross reading I don’t use reversals.  I also do writer and pet readings and use reversals for them as well.

[Bodhiseed]

I also don't use reversals. I think every card represents both a gift and a challenge; context will tell me which way to view it.

[Rose Lalonde]

If someone's talking to me, they don't say "I mean this next phrase in a negative way," or "Pay extra attention to my next word," but I usually understand them (if I've had my tea).  In the same way, reading tarot without reversals, I just keep the question in mind and, as posters above said, look at context.

[katrinka]

I don't use them with Tarot. I used to, but I stopped years ago.

A card is modified by near lying cards, like with Lenormand (at least the way I read). A good card is tainted by ugly ones, and vice versa.

The Crowley Thoth doesn't call for reversals, either.

I'm kind of curious about when reversals started, and who started them, and with what system.

 

[Trogon]

I don't use them with Tarot. I used to, but I stopped years ago.

A card is modified by near lying cards, like with Lenormand (at least the way I read). A good card is tainted by ugly ones, and vice versa.

The Crowley Thoth doesn't call for reversals, either.

I'm kind of curious about when reversals started, and who started them, and with what system.

 

That's a very good question!

 

I know that Eden Gray has reversed meanings in her book "A Complete Guide to the Tarot" which, as far as I can find, was published in 1970. And I'm fairly certain that she worked from A. E. Waite's "Pictorial Key ..." - I believe she quoted his book a few times in her own.

 

I just got "The Pictorial Key to the Tarot" by A. E. Waite for my Kindle app ($0.99 seems like a good price). That was published in 1911 and it has reversed meanings for the cards. However, you're right about the Thoth ... in that Crowley did not give reversed divinitory meanings for the cards in that section of his book. The only other "book" I have from the Golden Dawn is the LWB for the Hermetic Tarot by Godfrey Dowson, which is a reprint of a Tarot by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, a member of the Golden Dawn ... and if I remember correctly, that LWB does have reversed meanings (though I could be mistaken - I don't have the deck with me at the moment).

 

So, it appears to me, in my in-depth research over the past :30 minutes or so, ::), that the idea of using reversed cards seems to have originated with The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. That would put their use coming up around the end of the 19th Century. I have not worked much with TdM or other decks which predate the Golden Dawn, but I do not believe that divination systems with those decks used reversals.

[katrinka]

So, it appears to me, in my in-depth research over the past :30 minutes or so, ::), that the idea of using reversed cards seems to have originated with The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. That would put their use coming up around the end of the 19th Century. I have not worked much with TdM or other decks which predate the Golden Dawn, but I do not believe that divination systems with those decks used reversals.

 

Yes, but there's Etteilla to consider...?

Your 30 minute in-depth research is more strenuous than mine, though. I'm going off memory here.

[sandrang123]

I don't put the cards--reversed or not--before my own intuitive understanding of them. I've studied cards for years. There have been times I saw absolute reversals, no real reversals based on other nearby cards, and then just...delays.

 

Also, I never do one card or three card readings for people sitting with me. I do a full spread. So there is that, too.

[High Priestess]

I use reversals now, but didn’t when I first started reading. Now that I use them, I don’t assume that a card in reverse has a negative meaning for the querent. I rely on an intuitive sense for how to interpret a card still but like reversals as a clue into what the energy wants me to take away from each card since they all have numerous interpretations.

 

In the book The Holistic Tarot there is a nice section on reversals. The acronym WIND is used as a way of remembering what the author believes a revered card can mean (I’ve found her definitions satisfactory in my practice).

 

W-withering

I-inverted meaning

N-negative

D- delayed

 

From this take on reversed cards, a card in reverse can indicate a positive outcome that will be delayed as opposed to a warning or some other negative interpretation.

 

[Trogon]

So, it appears to me, in my in-depth research over the past :30 minutes or so, ::), that the idea of using reversed cards seems to have originated with The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. That would put their use coming up around the end of the 19th Century. I have not worked much with TdM or other decks which predate the Golden Dawn, but I do not believe that divination systems with those decks used reversals.

 

Yes, but there's Etteilla to consider...?

Your 30 minute in-depth research is more strenuous than mine, though. I'm going off memory here.

 

I had not thought to look to Etteilla's work. So, I checked the sum of all human knowledge (Wikipedia) and found this entry; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etteilla, which reads, in part;

 

Etteilla, ou manière de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes was a discourse on the usage of regular playing cards (the piquet deck, a shortened deck of 32 cards used in gaming, with the addition of an "Etteilla" card). Features included the "spread", or disposition on the table, and strictly assigned meanings to each card both in regular and in reversed positions, characteristics that are still central to tarot divination today. [Emphasis added]

 

"Etteilla, ou manière de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes" ("or way to recreate with a deck of cards") was published in 1770. So, use of reversals with Tarot cards has been around for at least 240 years, possibly more.

[EmpyreanKnight]

Etteilla's 1770 book was for playing card divination. In 1781, de Gebelin wrote a section on the Tarot in his encyclopedia that was the very first text to link it to the occult, ascribing its creation to the ancient Egyptians (a theory that is now debunked) and connecting the 22 trumps to the Hebrew letters of the Kabbalah. A mere 2 years later, in 1783, Etteilla published the very first book on Tarot divination, entitled Manière de se récréer avec le jeu de cartes nommées Tarots or How to Entertain Yourself With the Deck of Cards Called Tarot.

 

So the very first book ever published on how to read the Tarot already had reversed meanings in it.