Reversals

Barleywine

That is an extraordinarily lucid and helpful way of looking at the effects of reversals (and I'm glad I remember enough high school physics to know what a Venturi tube is :)

It also dovetails nicely with one of the ways I tend to look at reversals already: as a means of the reversed card saying that the issue it's describing has to be dealt with whether we're comfortable with it or not.

And I seem to have forgotten my industrial application knowledge. Constricting the flow increases the upstream pressure of the fluid, thus increasing its stored potential energy. I changed my earlier post to add the "too-tight pair of shoes" analogy.
 

Rachx

That's certainly true. I work with decks that aren't intended to be used with reversal (the Voyager is an example) and those that don't lend themselves well to it. I work with decks that don't have the usual esoteric correspondences, and some that don't do much in the realm of directionality (aka "facing"). Different tools for different purposes is the best way to approach it. On balance, though, I do like more "grist for the mill" of any kind.



For me reversals does depend on the deck- so choose your deck to suit the spread and the question. My Robinwood for example doesn't get read with reversals - as per Robin Wood- out of respect for her and my deck. I have another deck that has no definite picture it's very bland so is always read upright because it's so pedantic. I sometimes wonder if reversals would help but I find it confusing. My RWS and Osho decks however love being read with reversals- it just brings more detail and subtlety to a spread when read with reversals. I think reversals may be the grammar actually in a spread and I love that it can be looked at that way. Reversals can be the full stops, semicolons and commas - the pauses in the reading- where we need to take a breath and look closer perhaps? I think decks definitely have a preference as to whether they want reversed readings - as odd as that sounds ! X
 

Ruby Jewel

Since I studied graphic design in NYC back in the '60s, my art is pretty much two-dimensional as well. I was never much of a realist or an admirer of the "Old Masters" in those days. Words are another matter; I strive to find just the right words for any expression, and I bring the same approach to my tarot reading: just the right tool to make the most sense out of what the cards are trying to tell me. The same applies to use of correspondences; they may seem counter-intuitive, but really all they do is provide "seasoning to the stew." So I guess in that sense I'm a completionist rather than a minimalist. I like to look at all angles to see which offers the best success path, and adopt any that add to the overall picture. It helps when having to change gears in the middle of an incoherent reading. On the other hand, you might also say I "throw everything against the wall to see what sticks." What I'm after is depth as much as breadth of vision, what I like to call a three-dimensional approach to reading, or maybe peeling an onion is a better analogy.

I agree. It's that "precise" word that becomes the WOW in writing. When you bury it in the middle of adverbs, or dilute it with overblown adjectives, that precise word loses its punch. I love the way "Gimpel the Fool" starts out. "My name is Gimpel, and I am a Fool." or Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea." "He was an old man who lived by the Sea." They both won the Nobel Prize for Literature, I believe. For me, reversals are kind of like ... a bunch of flowery adverbs and adjectives attaching to the core meaning of the card. But, like I have said before on this forum, "it takes all kinds of people to make a world." We would be a bunch of robots if we were all the same....how boring.
 

Gaston D.

Reversals can be the full stops, semicolons and commas - the pauses in the reading- where we need to take a breath and look closer

This is as succinct and helpful a way of looking at reversals as I've ever come across. Thank you!
 

Migdal93

So far I only used reversal 3 times, all of those in personal readings. The first time was AWFUL because I felt bothered by the cards being upside down, it felt opressive to me. Next 2 times, with a different mindset, my beginner mind could see the benefits. One of the readings, out of 5 cards I got 4 in reverse. I looked at the deck and said "Ok so two options - you must hate me or you feel like playing with me a bit, right?" :laugh: So many pips reversed... In a TdM deck... oh the horror!

Anyway, after that reading, I read a lot of things online about how to use reversals. And I really liked two ways of doing so - One, is that the energy of the card is low. The other, that there's something blocking that energy.

Ex - You get the empress card reversed. There's motherly energy there, but maybe a really controling mother is blocking it from being a good thing.

To me it works really well and dispels that whole idea of reversed cards being dark or being messengers of bad news.

Still, they scare me. Way too many meanings! :grin:
 

Sztar

I apologize Sztar, but my brain refuses to follow this line of analytical thinking....it is really hard for me to comprehend what you are saying here....but I will give it a go anyway. Are you saying the querent was looking for a positive card that represented stability in a relationship and got the Tower, which she rejected because it represented instability? And then you are using the fact that it was Rx to explain her rejection...instead of an answer to the question posed? This is a very good example of what I mean by reversals resulting in arbitrary interpretations. The reading has nothing to do with the client's desire other than to say, "here is the result of your desire." My suggestion would be to simplify this by turning the Tower upright and looking at it from that perspective. This would remove the possibility of speculative interpretations. The answer would be obvious. Speculative thinking is circular. It goes nowhere.

No, the question was about what she was looking for in a relationship. The answer was the reversed Tower. She didn't like seeing the Tower, which is understandable. It's a scary type of card. But if the Tower represents breaking down old structures, isn't one of it's possible reversed meanings the *opposite* of breakdown, e.g., stability? The more meaningful question is why is the answer posed in this way? If the answer to what you're looking for in a relationship was really stability, is a reversed Tower really what you would expect to see? I doubt it. It likely indicates deep feelings of instability and wanting NOT to feel that way--something along those lines. Otherwise, how would you interpret a reversed Tower in answer to that question? Would you think the person was likely to achieve a stable relationship? The reversal was very eye opening.
 

Sztar

I don't think the querent would have wanted to see the Tower in answer to this question in any event. I think upright it would be a more arbitrary interpretation, and either way she would not have liked it.
 

Ruby Jewel

No, the question was about what she was looking for in a relationship. The answer was the reversed Tower. She didn't like seeing the Tower, which is understandable. It's a scary type of card. But if the Tower represents breaking down old structures, isn't one of it's possible reversed meanings the *opposite* of breakdown, e.g., stability? The more meaningful question is why is the answer posed in this way? If the answer to what you're looking for in a relationship was really stability, is a reversed Tower really what you would expect to see? I doubt it. It likely indicates deep feelings of instability and wanting NOT to feel that way--something along those lines. Otherwise, how would you interpret a reversed Tower in answer to that question? Would you think the person was likely to achieve a stable relationship? The reversal was very eye opening.

I don't think she got the answer she was looking for. I don't see how the Tower card could represent stability under any circumstances. It's not like you are going to put it back together again....because if you did, then you would just have the Tower upright. The Tower represents breaking down facades or masks behind which the ego hides, and in that sense it is a positive card. I always like seeing the Tower because what is coming down is what needs to come down. If I were to read it Rx, I would say it means the situation is not changing for the better....perhaps not changing at all...a failure to grow into something stable.
 

Sztar

I don't think she got the answer she was looking for. I don't see how the Tower card could represent stability under any circumstances. It's not like you are going to put it back together again....because if you did, then you would just have the Tower upright. The Tower represents breaking down facades or masks behind which the ego hides, and in that sense it is a positive card. I always like seeing the Tower because what is coming down is what needs to come down. If I were to read it Rx, I would say it means the situation is not changing for the better....perhaps not changing at all...a failure to grow into something stable.

Exactly. This was basically my interpretation, but she didn't like the answer. She was fixated on an older man (maybe he represents stability to her?) and looking for clues that he was interested. She did not want to examine the underlying motivations or think about the things she might confront about herself to get a better outcome. Maybe a bit too much realism for a romance reading, but I've never been great at telling people only what they want to hear. Otherwise, what's the point of tarot at all?
 

Ruby Jewel

Exactly. This was basically my interpretation, but she didn't like the answer. She was fixated on an older man (maybe he represents stability to her?) and looking for clues that he was interested. She did not want to examine the underlying motivations or think about the things she might confront about herself to get a better outcome. Maybe a bit too much realism for a romance reading, but I've never been great at telling people only what they want to hear. Otherwise, what's the point of tarot at all?


I think, as tarot readers, we must be committed to honesty. That's why I think it is so important just to read the cards and not try to give advice. Let the cards speak their truth and if the Client doesn't want to face it, don't get sucked into their psychological problems. It is a good idea to have a list of counselors handy to recommend for that. The important thing is to be aware that such a need exists.

I would like to also point out here that the card upright says the same thing.....a big change needs to happen...a major transformation in her ego has to take place, and she would have had to face that because the cards said it, not you. This is why I like to read the cards upright. It seems to approach the issue more directly....from a positive perspective rather than a negative one. As I see reversals, they lead to a lot of speculation about the meaning of the card that really confuses the issue.