REVERSALS: The Pages Reversed

Thirteen

Don't confuse "strength" with "positive" qualities!

I am a bit confused- a person i was doing a reading on got the page of wands reversed....yet the card I was reading for was for what the person's "strengths" are?? That makes no sense...from what I have read on the rest of this post, the Page of Wands Reversed is supposed to be a negative or mean spirited person. So how can this be considered this person's strength??
First, if you're using reversals, you need to work through them carefully--which is why I always tell people to hold off using reversals until they're really familiar with the meaning of the upright cards. You're jumping to conclusions here, and you can't do that with reversals. They require step-by-step study and thought.

Second, *don't* confuse a "strength" with a "positive" quality. Being able to kill someone in cold blood may seem like a really negative quality, but it becomes really positive out on the battlefield. Strength is relative to situation, and need not be anything you may consider "nice" or "good"--just useful for the job. For example, a reversed page/swords would be perfect for a tabloid newspaper--it's a strength for a person in that situation to be gossipy.

Last: Don't assume that this card indicates a big thing. Think of someone at your work who is really lousy at their job. Now imagine you were asked, "What's their greatest strength?" You might have to offer a back-handed compliment like, "Well, they stay out of people's way...." It is totally possible that in this situation, this person is so lacking in strength that all the cards were able to give you was something pretty weak. If that's the case, you need to see it. Don't try to prop and polish this page/wands rx into a strength that doesn't exist. Realize that the cards are telling you that the person you read for really needs to change, because their only strength is a very weak one.

In fact, you may well pull out that Page/Wands rx, set it down, and ask the deck, "What can my friend do to become better and stronger in this situation? What must they fix/change?" Then do a spread around it.

Okay. Page/Wands. So, first, they are a "page" a newbie at something. Second, they are "wands" filled with energy, moving, doing, activity. Reverse this, and you can have several possibilities--for example, they may be the opposite, someone who is reserving their energy rather than spending it. As a Page of Wands spends their energy wildly and indiscriminately (being "young")--so holding back is usually a negative; it makes the young person seem like they're not eager to learn. But in this case, that may be positive. A strength. They are not eager to learn something that is wrong or corrupt, say. Or they are being frugal rather than wasteful with their energy.

Another possibility: getting back to "situation": Steve Jobs was the sort who bullied people into doing more than they thought they could do--he was hard on them, but he got magic out of them. Wands are about charisma, and a reversed Page/Wands may be using that charisma in what may seem a negative way, yet could garner positive results. Like being a demanding person, which gets more out of co-workers in this instance than being a nice and understanding person would.

*What* is the situation? That is the big question. Answer that first, and it might become clear what the "strength" is.
 

peacefulsk8r

WOW. Thanks so much for your advice!! I am still new at this, and appreciate your advice.

I think I'll give it a try with upright cards; I'll see how that goes.