How do you know that a card is reversed?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 10 Aug 2001, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Gandalf	10 Aug 2001
How do you know that a card is reversed? That question concern the minors cards. I mean, when minors are like picture is easy to see if they are reversed. But, for the classical tarot or for the Oswald Wirth tarot for exemple how do you see when the minor card is reversed, specially the swords, wands or pentacle? Answer please because this simple matter blocked me for a while.

raeanne	10 Aug 2001
Gandalf, Some decks do not use reversed meanings. If the deck you are using looks the same upright and reversed, then there would be no way to tell. (Well, with intuition, you can tell that a card just doesn’t seem to fit or is a bit out of line with the others. This would indicate that you might explore the reversed meaning and see if you get a better fit.)

EveAnna	10 Aug 2001
With the decks you use is the number of the card written on the bottom edge of the card? The 1JJ Swiss doesn't have scenes on the Minor Arcana but they have the number i.e 4 Deniers on the bottom edge of the card. If there really is no way to tell the reversed card then just read them upright.

EveAnna	10 Aug 2001
I see what you mean now - I've just been looking at the Oswald Wirth deck. And the Minors are numbered top and bottom - oh well. There is an upside - On one of the sites I've just been to Wicce's I think, it says that the Oswald Wirth deck is now out of print so it'll be a real collectors item in a few years.

Kiama	10 Aug 2001
I used to read with normal playing cards, and on some of the pip cards, you cannot tell if the card is reversed or not. I did this with the cards when I used reversals: Just put a dot or mark on the 'top' of the card. Use your intuition to know which istop and bottom... It's as simple as that. Hope this helped some. Kiama

tarotbear	11 Aug 2001
I agree with raeanne's reasoning. I do not get reversed cards when I shuffle, so if a card jumps out at you or doesn't seem to fit the rest of the spread, I consider the reversed meaning as a possiblility for that card and see if it makes more sense.

rob	12 Aug 2001
Quote: tarotbear (12 Aug, 2001 02:19): I agree with raeanne's reasoning. I do not get reversed cards when I shuffle, so if a card jumps out at you or doesn't seem to fit the rest of the spread, I consider the reversed meaning as a possiblility for that card and see if it makes more sense. I, too, concur with both raeanne and tarotbear. I don't normally get reversed cards because of my shuffleing but always watch the "feel" of each card as I draw them. Even if I feel the reversed meaning is the better fit, I don't lay down a card reversed in a spread as some people can be VERY reactive to certain cards when they appear, let alone when they're reversed (like the tower or death cards in particular). I simply give my interpretation to the card and the spread. -rob

Gandalf	13 Aug 2001
Thanks a lot to all of you. Yours answers help me a lot!!! ;-)

The How do you know that a card is reversed? thread was originally posted on 10 Aug 2001 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.