Do you use reversals?

[firecatpickles]

If all the cards - or only short 1 card - come out reversed, I read them with NONE. It makes sense to me that way. NOTHING can be THAT negative/blocked/befuddled/what-have-you!

I agree with that one. Also, if the querent is sitting across from you it could mean there is a more important message directed at the querent. Someone else mentioned on a previous thread that if they are all reversed (and I have used this meaning recently, as well) that the querent is dealing with/living in the past.

I just love how much more detail I get when reading reversals, and how many different ways one can read reversals. For me it makes for a more interesting reading for me and the querent. It is very helpful when reading intuitively and it is for me, too, how I originally learned. Must say a little jealous of those who can just "turn it off" and ignore them -but I can't.

I have suggested my partner, who did his first intuitive reading yesterday, not use reversals (just yet.)

KK

 

[greycats]

Reversals: depends on the deck.

When my primary deck was RWS, I never used reversals because it seemed that quite a number of the cards had unhappy meanings anyway and I could read just fine without having more. And I was never comfortable when negative cards came up reversed. (A reversed negative is a positive? Or a stronger negative? Or a neutral? Forget it.) Now that I read mostly number-and-suit, reversals aren't a problem whatever deck I use. Bring 'em on. However some decks don't seem to be suited to reversals and some authors/artists claim that their decks should be read upright. Fine with me. And sometimes with decks that are strongly into astrology or the Kabbala I don't use reversals because I have too much on the plate already.

 

[Zhritza]

I am essentially unwilling to read without reversals, even though with some decks and spreads it would probably be advisable. I don't like too much shiny-happy. I crave "as above, so below" in everything. Not that I favor darkness. It's just that so many people, Americans anyway (people I meet who moved here from elsewhere seem less like this), always appear to be pushing themselves toward perkiness, tact, and worst of all, modesty.

I am totally about to go on a rant that would become irrelevant, so I'll quit now.

 

[mythos]

I put 'sometimes'. I am still learning though. I was a firm believer in the idea that you don't need to use reversals to get the most out of a reading; that the combination of cards is sufficient to provide all the clues. I think that I will probably come back to that, but I figured that, until I can comfortably use reversals, I am not genuinely in a position to really know if that is true - or whether I was just avoiding learning them - which seemed like a daunting task. Still does, by the way, because I don't read much.

Mind you, I only use them with a deck that I am really familiar with.

mythos

 

[lilacblooms]

When i started off I didnt use reversals though i was fascinated with the concept. Once i got familiar with the cards and didnt have to consult a book/website for an immediate meaning i started on reversals. Now they are an integral part of my readings. I keep on jotting meanings of reversals i read in my journal now

 

[Lula Jing]

For me I don't like using reversals because it makes the spread look all wrong and I can't read it.

I try and take each card in the context of the surrounding cards and I like to see them all face up.

Also I'm pretty tidy so I lay the cards out neat and upright, it gives me a sense of clarity and enables me to view the spread as a whole, as if from above.

Shy x

 

[Michael]

I don't like reversals. The cards were designed face up anyway. I believe that any card can carry a positive or a negative side depending on other cards in the spread.

 

[Kaworito]

Since I'm just learning I decided to start not using reversals, mayve sometime in the future i'll incorporate them to my readings...

 

[enchanted spirit]

I'm backwards, I started using reversals, but after I changed decks I decided not to use them anymore. The 1st deck I was using was the Tarot Nova kit, and all I had was the little book that came with it. It had very simple explanations of all the cards, including reversals. I think that because I decided to get "serious" about Tarot, and start really learning the cards, that reversals just began to seem too complicated. I may pick them back up later, it's hard to say. So I answered the poll "sometimes", since I have used them and have nothing against them.

 

[Talisman]

A way of looking at reversals

Okay, this story has an "urban legend" flavor, but I'll believe it when I hear it 'cuz it happened to me.

Years ago. A woman dropped by my apartment and she had her pre-school age daughter with her, a quiet little child.

For whatever dumb reason, I had laid out at the time six or seven Tarot cards face up in a horizontal row on a coffee table in front of a couch.

The woman and I were talking, drinking coffee maybe, and I was watching the child out of the corner of my eye. The child stood looking at the cards, and then reached out and picked up the "Hanged Man" and turned the card "right side up."

I'm with that little girl. I don't wanna look at the cards upside down. With skill, you can read the continuum, the gifts and lessons, the light and shadow, and the challenges of each card without turning it upside down. I don't think your intuition is crippled if you see all the cards right side up side.

In other words, I don't think it makes any difference, one way or the other. If -- big IF -- I'm right, I always get to look at my cards right side up. 'Cept the Hanged Man.

~ Talisman