Reversals - Do you use them? Why or Why not?

knight_sephiroth

I don't read reversals either, largely for many of the same reasons stated here in this thread. With 78 cards, almost every condition is presented in some way in the upright position, and I do try to consider all angles of the card as they relate to the other cards, using my intuitive response to position, imagery and question.

With that said, once in a while, a reversed card asks me to read it as reversed. Rarely happens, but when it does, I go with it. I don't use reversals as the all-negative (or all-positive) opposite of a given card, instead I consider whether the reversal indicates the upright situation is blocked, or not yet manifested. Other times I've seen the reversal in a literal, visual way - like the Queen of Cups' world has been turned upside down! Etc.

But typically, no reversals.
 

Victoria's Finest

I don't find that at all actually - with one exception. I DO use Zach Wong's Revelations deck - and with that - well you kind of have to; it would feel disrespectful not to. BUT - interestingly - if you try looking in books for reversed info - they DON'T seem to match these cards at all :D Their meanings stand alone.
Frak! I knew I shouldn't have clicked that link, but I had to! I love it, now it's on my list. Shame on you for making me want this deck! (but not really :joke:)
 

MagicMonkey

What a great read from everyone.

I'm using RW and over the years I've avoided reversals while I was learning and because like a few have mentioned, I felt I was getting what I needed from the upright.

However of late I've been considering leaving this theory behind and trying reversals to see if I get a more direct indepth analysis on a situation. Would love to know how you get on.

Good luck.
 

knight_sephiroth

Frak! I knew I shouldn't have clicked that link, but I had to! I love it, now it's on my list. Shame on you for making me want this deck! (but not really :joke:)

Wow! That is a cool deck, and I'd look forward to using reversals. darnit. Adding it to my wish list as well. LOL.
 

Victoria's Finest

Right! I should probably comment on my reversals usage :p. I do use reversals because, well, I like them :D. I do feel like they give me additional information to ponder. I don't memorize reversal meanings, I just flow with what feels right to me for that reading.

When I first started working with Tarot a couple of years ago I didn't use reversals but last year decided to give it a go and really enjoyed it. Have been using reversals ever since :).
 

Victoria's Finest

Wow! That is a cool deck, and I'd look forward to using reversals. darnit. Adding it to my wish list as well. LOL.
I keep thinking my lust is under control then something like this deck happens and I end up at my wish list again :laugh:.
 

devilkitty

I don't. I chose a "card as continuum" model. The cards before and after color my thoughts as to exactly where on its continuum a card falls (this works particularly well for me as I do not use positional spreads).

I did go through an earnest several-month period of experimentation with reversals twenty years or so back because "that's how you do tarot", and didn't like them much at all. I dropped them and the cards started talking again... I suppose standing on her head was beneath the Empress' dignity. :p
 

FLizarraga

This thread is really an education in itself.... :)

First, I'd like to point out that no card in the Tarot deck is necessarily positive or negative in itself. Just to give an example, the 10 of Swords can point to a much necessary surgery to end an ailment once and for all. On the same token, there is no reason why reversals have to be negative, either; they are just reversed, which a lot of times can also be a good thing for the querent.

As for me, I was obsessed with reversals as a newbie, struggled to learn how to read them, and for years read them ALWAYS. Lately, though, I have found that, in some readings, the cards just don't want to be read as reversed, particularly in Marseilles decks, where reading reversals can sometimes be a pain anyhow.

And in my last Marseilles exchange here in the reading circles I found myself doing something even different: not reading reversals of the meaning of the cards at all, but of the images; for instance, when the Page of Wands is reversed, his wand is actually upright, so he's really taking action instead of just contemplating it.
 

violetdaisy

Sometimes...

If I make a "go fish" pool to draw from, cards are all different directions, so those I tend to only read upright. I don't intentionally shuffle to get reversals and I usually right my cards at the end of a read. That being said, sometimes I mess up shuffling (yep, that's real) and so I get a reverse every now and again.

Occasionally I think, this is a time for reversals...so I dump my cards on the table, swoosh them around and scoosh them back together....then shuffle and read. :)
 

NatKat

Normally I don't read reversals. Sometimes I do more recently. Mostly I just don't like the look of the upside down images. <<snippy snip>>.

I had to laugh reading this. God help me but I think aesthetics is part of why I stopped reading reversals. I just don't like the way an upside down card LOOKS. It offends my sense of symmetry. I feel ya, Grizabella!

Okay here is my take. Personally I do not read reversals with my Tarot cards (I do with my oracles). With 78 cards, they have a pretty good spread of good and bad news; and everything in between. I too focus more on the spot that the card falls on in a spread, how it relates to the other cards around it, and what I am being drawn to in the card.

I've never used oracle cards ... but curious why you use reversals there but not for tarot? As for your philosophy with tarot ... my philosophy is similar.

<<snippy snip> I did consider getting ATS for a moment ...

I agree with the usefulness of expanding the Tarot vocabulary to 156, ... <<snips>>

For example, let's say you draw for a news story about a search for a person gone missing in the woods, and in a moment of blunt honesty your deck gives Death in a position for the missing person's condition. Orientation could suggest that upright, the body will soon be found by the search party, but reversed, that it will be long decayed if ever recovered at all ...
"


I enjoy the ATS book ... annoying marketing pitches and all ... the case he makes for reversals is similar to your reasons for using them ... which sound logical. So I will probably give it a whirl and see what happens. I experimented with his method to shuffle & deal and it was total disaster ... but that is one way I discover what works ... by occasionally trying things that don't };>


<<snips>>
.. I've been considering leaving this theory behind and trying reversals to see if I get a more direct indepth analysis on a situation. Would love to know how you get on.
Good luck.

Thanks! I think I will try a few exchanges for experimenting.

These posts are so inspriring. The discussion has helped me understand that part of my philosophy for NOT using reversals is the "randomness" My method to pick cards involves a quick glance at the "fan" right side up before I cut & fan them upside down to pick. I do this b/c I WANT my subconscious to absorb the card positions and guide my hand to pick correct cards based-on my psychic link with the client. Reversals seem "random" to me and I don't believe there is anything random about card reading.
OTOH ... I am going to challenge myself to try reversals for experiment b/c obviously they work for some readers, like Etene.