Isn't it funny how some decks just *don't* like reversals?

Just started using the Golden - it seems to make no sense when I get reversals, but then, the meanings in her book are VERY negative indeed for reversals, that may be what turned me off them. However, I just did a reading with 1 reversal & it seemed to really fit. I think I am just going to have to get used to reversals with this deck.

Another deck that doesn't like reversals is my Enchanted. Not only does she provide no rx meanings, it's just impossible to read that way!

I have "Tarot Reversals" by Mary K. Greer, & I have found it to be a definitive Tarot book in just an all-around way, let alone for reversals; it has made it MUCH easier to interpret those pesky reversals, at least for most decks! For instance, my Alchemical loves reversals! (The RWS need hardly be mentioned, natch!)

Just sharing thoughts...

Interesting what you had to say about the Golden. It is my main deck and I always shuffle it so that all cards remain upright. (I pick up the "reversed" aspect--which I think of as being "stressed"--from the card's position and surrounding cards and what my gut tells me.)

The Hallowquest Arthurian deck is not even supposed to be read using reversals. Of course, a person could do so if he/she felt like it. But I don't. There are so many dark, negative, and "heavy" looking cards already in the deck, that reversals really don't seem to be necessary.

I also vary this from deck to deck. First, if the artist says, 'no reversals', then I honour that because clearly it would go against the philosophy of the deck. And then what kind of readings would you get?

Also, if the deck is already on the dark, negative side, I don't add to it with reversals. And I include the Thoth in this group.

I tend to reverse only a few cards and then if I get one the significance is much higher. I upright them after I finish the spread to ensure I get different reversed cards each time.

Hmm... Don't have this problem at all...

I got the opposite... I *try* not the read reversals with my two Oracle Decks, (Good Witch/Bad Witch and the Love Pack) but they just KEEP coming.

For some reason when I'm in reading trance, I accidently put reversals in the deck or something... but sometimes in the whole spread of 20+ cards only one card is reversed... without explanation! I'm sure I put them all upright... and in the previous Readings that I have not had that particular card...

It drives me to distraction!

At least it is funny for people who get Readings from me

Kahlie

Marion said:

I also vary this from deck to deck. First, if the artist says, 'no reversals', then I honour that because clearly it would go against the philosophy of the deck. And then what kind of readings would you get?

Click to expand...

This is my sentiment exactly.

Hi Danubhe,

I personally haven't really had any problem using reversals with any deck. I do have the Golden Tarot and, though I haven't done a lot of readings with it, I have had reversals and just straight on with them.

As for whether or not to use reversals in general... well, I use them with all of my decks... even the dreaded Thoth. Even the Haindl. To me, the "reversed" meanings are inherant in the cards anyway... having cards come up reversed just makes it easier for me to read them - now that I'm used to doing it that way.

As to whether or not the artist designed the deck with reversals in mind is, to me, to a great extent, irrelevant. I don't say this to be disrespectful at all... I have tremendous respect for anyone who can create 78 beautiful works of art which can speak to me the way a Tarot deck can. But, if I am going to use a Tarot deck for readings, whether for myself or for other people, I have to make that Tarot deck my own. That means that I have to use it, handle it, shuffle it, study the cards, absorb the images into myself and decide what they say to me ... before I do a reading with them. They have to become my images. Otherwise all they will be is pretty pieces of artwork to me with little or no meaning. Part of this process is to "decide" what the reversed meanings will be - and I do this by visually studying each card upside down.

I assume that the majority of Tarot artists have designed their decks with the idea that they would be used by Tarot readers. As such, once I have purchased the deck or been given it as a gift, I will make it my own deck.

As such, I really have never had a problem with reading with reversed cards with any deck. Well, except any Marseilles deck, which are impossible for me to read with anyway for some reason...

I think Raymond Buckland's Romani Tarot is that way - he even says in the companion book that each card has everything that the reader needs to interpret it, based on the Seeker's question and card's position in the spread.

I just love that deck.

I don't go by whether or not the artist had reversals in mind when creating the deck. I respect their feelings and their intentions, but since tarot makes such a strongly personal connection in each individual, my feeling is that people should read however works best for them, even if that differs from the deck's creator's own intentions.

Whenever I get a new deck, I ask it whether or not I should use reversals with it (really, though, I'm just finding out how my own subconscious feels about it). Some respond emphatically yes, others definitely no, and a couple have been fairly neutral about it. In many ways I prefer using reversals, since I can get much more nuanced readings when I do so, but some decks, such as the Goddess Tarot, give me great readings, but only when using uprights. So I treat each deck on a case-by-case basis.

You know I have noticed that too. I thought I was the only one, and that everyone else always used reversals or always did not. I have 17 decks (well 16 and 1 in the mail. But I found early on that some of my decks did not work well with reversals. The first I noticed it with was "The Wheel of Change", still one of my favourites, but not good for me for reversals.

Just as some questions lend themselves more to reversals than others I have found. I always take both these factors into account before deciding whether to use reversals or not.

Bar