Reversals

So I've been thinking lately about reversals, and here's the conclusion I've come to:

To be a truly advanced reader, you MUST master reversals. I know some people will disagree, but I can see now that all of those years I didn't read reversals was really just fear of the unknown. I rationalized that there was more than enough information in the cards without needing to understand reversals, and I told myself this was a conscious, informed decision.

Then a couple of years ago, I bought Mary Greer's book on mastering reversals, and now I've completely changed my mind. Over time I started using them more and more, and my readings have so much more depth now. I use them in every reading.

I'm curious to know other people's thoughts on this topic. Do you read reversals? If not, why not? In particular, I'm curious to know what the more advanced or professional readers think about this, but all opinions and experience levels are welcome.

I read reversals with most spreads and with most decks, and have since 1972. You'll find a number of recent threads on the subject, where my approach is explained.

I used to only read upright but things and situations thst were present weren't entirely coming out the right way. It was just off.

Once I started reading reversals it was like whoa!! Totally different dynamics and I could really get into the nitty gritty of the situation and what was relaly happening. Like the uprights were only the superficial of what was happening but the reversed cards were like the detail and just gave me so much to work with.

I don't use reversals, I opt instead for esoteric symbolism, Kabbalah and astrology to give the cards shades of meaning. I would be wary in making flat-out statements as to what an advanced reader actually is because different people are advanced in different things.

There used to be a time when I thought an advanced reader must know Kabbalah. I still think it is very enriching to learn and I highly recommend it, but I no longer think it is a "must."

I agree with Zephyros here....a very enlightened viewpoint in my estimation. Reversals feel arbitrary to me...in every sense of the word...particularly in applying a meaning to them. I would rather use astrology and clarifiers and surrounding layout. The cards are like my friends, when I look at them, I know their weaknesses and their strengths, particularly since I know them through astrology...same as I do the cards. For instance, when the Tower comes out Rx, does that mean you put it back together? or it hasn't fallen yet? That is what I mean by arbitrary...all of a sudden the decision is in my hands rather than in a simple intuitive response to the cards and the layout of the cards. If I am at a loss, a clarifier will explain it. Right now it is in the reading because it is telling me that transformation is on the plate. It doesn't imply that it will happen or it won't happen...just that the energy is there as a possibility. When the Fool comes out Rx, does that mean he's not a fool, or he's worse of a Fool? or he should take a chance or he shouldn't take a chance. The energy of the Fool says, here is a chance of a lifetime. Are you brave enough to take a chance. It doesn't predict the future. It is up to my intuition to read it......Reversals get in the way of my intuitive response by forcing me to think too logically and involves too much predictive guesswork. I don't use the cards to predict. If my intuition is tuned into the situation, I know the message....if I'm not sure I do a clarifier....beautiful. I don't need reversals....they don't clarify, they confuse...imo.

......for instance, since I know there is a positive aspect to the Fool as well as a negative one, all I really need to do is look at the last card to tell me what the Fool's jumping off the cliff will result in. If the last card is an Ace of Cups....there's my yes answer. If the last card is the 3 of Swords.... there's my no answer. That is the reason for 10 cards...to make clear the entire scenario. If I read the Fool as reversed, and the last card is an Ace of Cups, all of a sudden the advice is in my hands....instead of the cards, because now here's the Fool contradicting the Ace....In fact I had this come up in a reading recently. A woman and her husband were thinking of selling their home and moving to Boston to be close to their grandchild. The last card was the Fool. I did a clarifier and the Ace of Cups came up. What if the Fool had been Rx? All I would have had was a contradiction. As it turns out, she is going with the reading, but they are not selling their home.....all the cards said was, "here's what the energy looks like if you take the chance..now you make the necessary decisions to make it happen?

Ruby Jewel said:

The cards are like my friends, when I look at them, I know their weaknesses and their strengths, Reversals get in the way of my intuitive response by forcing me to think too logically and involves too much predictive guesswork. I don't use the cards to predict. If my intuition is tuned into the situation, I know the message l don't need reversals....they don't clarify, they confuse...

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l have never used reversals but thought l would give it a try to see if it added more to my readings. l agree with what you say here, for me l feel exactly the same way.
We all work with the cards differently, its finding what works best, and l work like Ruby Jewel.
It was fun to give it a go but at least l found reversals were not for me.

I don't think reading reversals or not is what determines or makes a reader better than the other.

For me everything is there already in the upright position.

One of the reasons I don't read reversals is also that there is no uniform agreement on their meaning/significance which makes me feel uneasy.

The main reason I don't is that I've been reading since 1998 and cards still reveal new meanings to me in their upright positions. Even though I stick to traditional meanings, it's nuances of traditional meanings that can and sometimes do make a world of difference.

Another thing I've learned to accept is that if someone is reading for me and a card shows up and being interpreted in a way I wouldn't the reader's take is always more valid because that is her/his deck talking to her/him.

I agree in essence with Zephyros' observations about "knowing Kabbalah." I think it's enriching to master the technique of reading reversals before deciding to reject them out-of-hand. Reversed cards are more cautionary or advisory than prescriptive; I consider them a kind of "signpost" that can point down different byways in the reading that may otherwise remain unexplored. They can also save time in getting to the less obvious meanings that I agree are already encoded in the cards when upright.

For example, we start out saying "The Sun is wonderful, but wait, there may be something less benevolent about certain aspects of it. Hmm, how does that fit into the context?" With reversal, we can cut right to "There may be a cloud across the face of the Sun, something may be "hidden in plain sight." For me, it becomes a matter of efficiency.

Ruby Jewel said:

......for instance, since I know there is a positive aspect to the Fool as well as a negative one, all I really need to do is look at the last card to tell me what the Fool's jumping off the cliff will result in. If the last card is an Ace of Cups....there's my yes answer. If the last card is the 3 of Swords.... there's my no answer. That is the reason for 10 cards...to make clear the entire scenario. If I read the Fool as reversed, and the last card is an Ace of Cups, all of a sudden the advice is in my hands....instead of the cards, because now here's the Fool contradicting the Ace....In fact I had this come up in a reading recently. A woman and her husband were thinking of selling their home and moving to Boston to be close to their grandchild. The last card was the Fool. I did a clarifier and the Ace of Cups came up. What if the Fool had been Rx? All I would have had was a contradiction. As it turns out, she is going with the reading, but they are not selling their home.....all the cards said was, "here's what the energy looks like if you take the chance..now you make the necessary decisions to make it happen?

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I hear you, but I think the reversal helps clarify. Ordinarily, most cards carry both a positive and negative meaning. The Fool, for example, is a great card. You need to watch out not to fall over the cliff, but it's about striking out into the unknown. Reversed it carries a real warning: be careful, pay attention. Without the reading the reversal, it's more difficult to know the emphasis. To me, it seems more arbitrary.