Reversed cards?

Do you take into consideration a reversed card?

Do you ignore reversed cards?

Do you only and always take the meaning of a card, whether reversed or upright, as upright?


I am asking because some reversed card readings I have done did not work out correctly, the answer came back as if they had been read upright.

Seeking your ideas and how you found reversed cards to work out in practice.

Hi willowfox! I never read cards reversed. It might be a bit OCD of me, but I prefer the cards to look neat and orderly. This makes it easier for me to read. I also find that the surrounding cards are able to show the negative or positive aspects of the cards. I am not sure that makes sense.

What I mean is that the reading as a whole and the cards individually show me the proper aspects. Does that make more sense? Maybe someone else can say it better.

I really think it is up to the individual if they read reversed or not. I never have and I know plenty of readers both ways. I actually had a guy last weekend poking fun at me because I don't read reversed. Like I was in some way less of a tarot reader or something.

Hello willowfox.

1. Yes, I always take reversed cards into consideration.
2. I do not ignore ANY cards --reversed, upright, flying out of the deck, recurring, etc.
3. If a card is reversed, I read it as reversed --I believe all things happen for a reason.

This may sound a little OC, but when I am out walking around and see a card on the ground, I always pick it up and consider its meaning and why I found that particular card, its location and position when I found it. Sheesh...

Sinduction said:

I never read cards reversed. It might be a bit OCD of me, but I prefer the cards to look neat and orderly. This makes it easier for me to read. I also find that the surrounding cards are able to show the negative or positive aspects of the cards. I am not sure that makes sense.

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That rings so true with me also. I never use reversed cards, I just prefer to see the images as they were intended to be. I find taht the messages will come through one way or the other, but I just don't like the idea of having reversed cards. But like others said, it is a personal choice, I just don't use reversed meaning at all, but then I don't really use much of the traditiona teachings so to speak, I use my intuition more than what is being written in a book. If the deck is right for you and you have connected with the cards, the messages will come through just right, in my opinion it doesn't depend on some cards being reversed.

Hope this helped a bit

hi willowfox, what do you mean by reversed, focus on negative aspects? sometimes and for some people reversed can also mean blocked or delayed. So you still get what you would with 'upright' but a bit later or with more difficulty. Another way is to see a reversed card as drawing attention to itself 'look at me! me! I'm important!' rather than having negative connotations. I don't usually read with reversed cards, but have at times had all of the above and more. Trust your gut feeling, don't get too caught up in your rules Also, there's tons of threads here on the subject, there's many many ways to interpret a reversal!

I do take note when I get a reversal without intending to get them, but as of late, I can't seem to make any sense of reversals when I intend to read them. (Last few days I've been using reversals.) I think it's because it feels odd when shuffling knowing that there are reversals in the deck, and it throws me off. I may try reversals with another deck since I can tell when my cards are reversed for my main deck (dropped them). If I shuffled not intending to use reversals, I pay a lot of attention to the reverse card. I'll attempt to read it reversed but definitely take note of it.

I do take reversed cards into consideration but I have had some very clear answers come back that my reversed meaning for the card was very wrong.
I used to read the runes and some people say that a rune has two meanings but I found that idea to be total rubbish, a rune has only one meaning attached to it.
Therefore, I have been wondering of late why reversed will sometimes not give a correct answer, so I wanted to hear other people's experiences and how it all worked out.

I used to do reversed readings with my RWS clone but now I've moved to the Thoth--at least for now--I don't do reversed readings.

One reason, in fact the main reason, I still don't do reversed readings is that the back makes me feel that the Thoth shouldn't do reversed.

Reversed for RWS, for me, is one to be focused upon; it is blocked, a negative meaning, or one to be looked at in a special light.

As for why sometimes reversed meanings are 'wrong' is that you have to trust in yourself to find the right answer, sadly there is no simple way of telling you which way you should look at a card it is all down to experience.

willowfox said:

I do take reversed cards into consideration but I have had some very clear answers come back that my reversed meaning for the card was very wrong.

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The real question is was your interpretation really wrong? or are you doubting it because it is not in the book?

I use reversals, always pay attention to them just like all the rest of the cards. How you read reversals (or even choosing to use them) is a personal choice. To me reversals can sometimes be blocked energy, it can be that something different pops out in the picture because I am viewing it from a different perspective and that particular thing or symbol is of significance, it doesn't have one specific meaning to me just because it is reversed - it may simply be "standing on its head" trying to get me to pay attention to it. How you read reversals, its location in the spread, and the surrounding cards will all have an impact on what the reversed card means in the context of a specific reading. For me it is all about context.

Mary Greer has a great book Special Topics in Tarot: Reversals (or something similar) that you might want to check out.