what are the reversals

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 08 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

oasisgirl	08 Oct 2004
I am a newbie and still wanting to the reversals since some books say different things I know it is a stupid question but I am still learning and tried to interpret them but it is hard though THanks Nadia

Ace	08 Oct 2004
If you pull a card and it is laid down upside down, that is reversed. I read reversed cards as NOT the upright meaning-usually. But you might be following a system that says the reversed meaning is ............. something very different from the upright one. Some people don't ever read reversed (which I signify as R or Rx). They just look at the card and say if feels like....... which may match a reversed meaning to someone else. OThers will tell you their view on reversals and if you search, there have been some great threads on reversals recently.

Mesara	08 Oct 2004
Reversals occur when a card appears upside down in your reading. Many tarot readers interpret these cards differently then they would if the card was upright. Most books or deck inserts include reversal meanings, and usually they are simply a more challenging aspect of the card's upright meaning. For example, the 5 of pentacles upright traditionally means financial hardship, loss of money or employment, etc. Reversed, one might interpret it as more of the same, only extended like a long stretch of unemployment or money that will not be recovered, etc. Just one small example. Hope it helps. Not everyone reads reversals however, and sometimes *newbies* are advised against trying to learn them right away. There actually was a thread in this forum that dealt with reversals, and people's view on them. You might find it interesting.

Mesara	08 Oct 2004
Whoops, Ace beat me to it! Looks like we pretty much said the same thing, which I think hints at great and splendid advice! :) Check out the threads, I think you will learn a lot just from hearing about what other people have to say.

lunalafey	08 Oct 2004
All cards have both positive (upright) and negitive (reversed) representations. Some people do not read with 'reversals'. They just feel that it is the dark side of the card that is speaking. I happen to use reversals with some decks and no reversals with others. In the earlier phases of learning tarot- all the reading of all those words got to be overwhelming at times. So I would read and pick out the things that caught my attention- from all the resources I had at the time, and wrote them all down in my journal. For me it was a matter of sinking in slowly. The more I got familiar with the nature of the card, the better I could see it's dark side.

oasisgirl	08 Oct 2004
Which was the thread about reversals? if you don't mind me asking about it?

Sulis	08 Oct 2004
Hi Oasisgirl, At the top of the Using Tarot Cards forum is a 'sticky' thread titled 'How to Read'. Here's a link http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15119 Scroll to about half way down that thread and you'll find loads of info on reading with reversals :) Love Sulis xx

oasisgirl	08 Oct 2004
Thanks for giving me that thread it helped me

The what are the reversals thread was originally posted on 08 Oct 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.