To allow reversals or not - that is the question!

Do you allow cards to be reversed in a spread?

  • YES - always

    Votes: 80 26.1%
  • YES - but on rare occasions not

    Votes: 55 18.0%
  • NO - never

    Votes: 80 26.1%
  • NO - but on rare occasions I do

    Votes: 91 29.7%

  • Total voters
    306

Shadow Wolf

I think you let the tarot cards fall where they may.

I'm still just newbie with Tarot. I've only been studying for less that a year. I'm starting to be able to use my intuition in readings but I'm not trusting it enough yet to go with the guide book. I'm also starting to study the different cards.

That being said, most guide books give meanings for reversed cards.

If a person gets a reversed card in a reading, that's what they are meant to get and the reader has to interpret that card as best as they can, either by using the guide book, or by intuition or both.

Just my 2 cents worth !!!!!
 

Fuzzmello

voted Yes, always

But sometimes I wish I could just flip the little buggers around. There was a time I couldn't abide reversals, but I'm getting where I handle them pretty nicely of late. It's the universe responding to my questions after all. I can't expect to get what I want every time.

Besides, confrontation with my deficiencies ain't a bad thing.

Fuzz
 

WolfSpirit

I voted no-but on rare occasions I do, as this comes closest to what I do.
So far I have not used them, now I have one deck (robin wood) of which about half the cards are reversed, to see if I get different readings than I get with my "upright" decks. When I started to learn I found it too complicated, and I always hated the sight of cards upside down. Then on AT I learnt many experienced readers nevers physically turn the cards but gather the reversed meaning from surrounding cards. This will probably be my favourite way of reading them but I now want to try how it is to read with physically reversed cards.
I still can't stand to look at pictures upside down though, they bring out the illeterate in me :p so I lay the cards slantways.
 

tatsi

POLL: Yes or No to Using Reversals

Kaz said:
i dont physically reverse cards in the deck, but i might read them as "reversed" depending what cards are influencing on it.
so i voted NO.

~kaz

I do the same. :)

tatsi
 

marinecomm

I am new to tarot and therefore don't have much experience in this matter. I have decided to use reversed cards for one reason. It seems to me that when you shuffle the deck so as not to generate reversed cards you are limiting it. I like shuffling the cards to allow the deck freedom to generate reversed cards. I have no doubt in my mind that some people can give accurate readings never having a single reversed card in the spread (or never having the possibility of one). I guess it comes down to more of an issue of what a reader is most comfortable with as opposed to whether the reader is doing something wrong by not letting reversed cards happen. I don't think there is a right or a wrong answer in this case. Maybe some readers' intuition needs those reversed cards for clarity while other readers' intuition can see the meaning without the card being reversed.
 

contradiction

mariannecomm, i believe you have said it better than i could have. i too need the reversals, i feel they have a reverse side for a reason, after all playing cards have a mirror image, tarot does not. although i do know several people personally (or used to), that can not use reversals. this topic would also fall under programming the cards, (or them programming us).
 

f. silvestris

No, I don't use reversals because I think the possibility of a 'reversed' meaning - in the sense of the negative side of the card's significance - is inherent in the card in any case, and the position in the spread and context of other cards around it ought to be enough to indicate whether the card itself is advantageous or not in the given situation.
 

marinecomm

Just because a card is reversed doesn't mean it has a negative meaning. Some cards have a negative meaning upright and a beneficial meaning when reversed. Some cards have the same meaning whether reversed or not, it's just that in the reversed position its influence might not be as great. At least that has been my research so far. It could very well be that later on down the road I stop using reversed cards when my understanding of each of the tarot cards has become greater. Or if it turns out that reversed cards are giving me inaccurate readings. I have to open myself up and listen to my intuition about the subject. It's like consulting the I-Ching, which I also do. Some people like the coin method and some people like the stalk method. I prefer the stalk method because my intuition has gravitated towards that. I respect anyone's right to choose. I think this question is fundamental to learning the tarot. "Should I use reversed cards or not?" For some people they could have very different readings based on their decision to that question. I have read not to use reversed cards until you have a thorough understanding of the tarot cards. The author stated that using reversed cards could complicate the learning and interpreting process for someone new to the tarot. Even though I am new to the tarot I have decided to go along with my intuition and use reversed cards.
 

jmd

Revisiting this thread which I opened just over two years ago, I find the results interesting and at the same time not quite what I would possibly have expected. Of course, I realise that we are about evenly split in terms as to whether or not we generally allow reversals, but thought that there would be a little more polarisation than there is.

For myself, I still personally agree with many of the comments already made - and in any case the meaning in a reading will unveil itself according to the specific situation at hand... still, to see a figure, for example, reversed and looking towards another figure will likely have a different 'feel' then those same two cards 'upright' with the former therefore looking away.
 

Lurea

Not quite evenly split! :D Those who don't have a slight numerical advantage over those who do. ;)

I wasn't sure what to say to this question. I don't use physical reversals right now, but sometimes the spread position or my intuition directs a reversed meaning, which I use. I suppose at some time when I am completely comfortable with the uprights, I might start using reversals..

Recently, I had the Sun come up in a negative position, which I had never had before. I had to double-check the reversed meanings, one of which was a 'delay'. Yep--the spread was dealing with a work situation, and there was indeed a delay, with significant consequences!