reading problems (re: reversals)

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 23 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

smash85	23 Mar 2004
ok i heard that if the card is downside up then it means something differant right? then how im i supposed to know what it means if it downside up? it doesnt say anything about it in my book, can someone help me?

HudsonGray	23 Mar 2004
Some decks weren't designed to be read in upside down position (it's called reversals). Some are. If you've got a Rider Waite style deck, check out www.learntarot.com which has a breakdown of each card with upright and reversal meanings. (They don't always mean the opposite of the upright meaning, at least 15 cards have better meanings in reversal than they do upright). However, if you don't WANT to learn reversals or think your deck isn't designed with those in mind, just use the upright meanings but look at any reversals as something that needs to be looked at specially in the spread, and give it extra attention.

Jenny-Li	24 Mar 2004
I never read reversals. The way I shuffle my decks - I never get any, simple as that. So, do I then get only half as many possible meanings of the cards? No. In my view, each card has a "theme", not a meaning. A theme is much broader than a fixed meaning, which means that the theme is both the upright and the reversed meaning AND - everything in between. How do I know which? Intuition. Surrounding cards. Communicating with the querent. Some people find reversals helpful. I don't. Don't rush to start using reversals right from the start, focus on getting to know your deck and the cards as they are! Jenny :)

firemaiden	24 Mar 2004
Hi smash, I often refer to the book by Mary K. Greer: "The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals" -- she gives many different ideas for creative ways to read reversed cards. I talk about her ideas on my thread Reversals Revisited, or twelve ways to love reversals. Please also take a look at my table of contents for this forum, called How to Read? - Links to all questions about reading There are about fifty threads on Aeclectic about how to read upside down "reversed" cards, here you will find links to most of them.

Thirteen	24 Mar 2004
I'll second Jenny-li's advise, Smash. Some of us don't use reversals at all. We find them redundant. But even those who do advise that you not jump right into learning them at the same time as you're leaning the basic, upright meanings. This is because reversals are, essentially, a blockage of the card's energy. All excellent books and websites aside, being very familiar with the cards and their upright meanings helps significantly in understanding and intuiting their reversed meanings. So if you're still studying the card meanings, you're probably not ready for Reversals just yet. In fact, learning Reversals at the same time as the uprights means you've just doubled your homework--usually to no good purpose. For now, shuffle your cards so they remain upright when you lay them out Learn and get comfortable with those basic, upright meanings. The excellent books and websites on reversals will be there when/if you decide it's time to move onto Reversals.

The reading problems (re: reversals) thread was originally posted on 23 Mar 2004 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.