HearthCricket
aibhlin said:
Have you ever tried to just side shuffle them and see what happens? That really limits the amount of reversals that you end up with and may make you feel more open to using them. Just a thought!
Do you use reversals?
Have you ever tried to just side shuffle them and see what happens? That really limits the amount of reversals that you end up with and may make you feel more open to using them. Just a thought!
aibhlin
Yes I have, but it's something about spreading out the cards and moving them around in big, sweaping moves while tuning in on the question which makes me calm down (for me a very unusual thing...) and focus. It's like dancing with the cards, I don't know... Maybe it's just that I've been doing it for years and shuffling any other way seems a bit forced.
Just a thought though, if you shuffle sideways and accidently turn the deck upside down, wouldn't all cards be reversed instead? That seems sad, somehow...
Just a thought though, if you shuffle sideways and accidently turn the deck upside down, wouldn't all cards be reversed instead? That seems sad, somehow...
HearthCricket
I always check first, to be sure they are right side up! 
stpcarly
When I learned, reversals were part of it. i never thought twice about it, sure I was confused at first but who isn't lol. But I cannot do a reading without them. I have tried and it feels unnatural to me. I do not split a deck and turn half reversed though and shuffle, I just shuffle around and they fall where they may. Some of my best and most accurate readings included reversals and it just feel natural to me. And I do not interpret the reversals as the opposite or negativeL/positive of the upright position. I have to look at the card and factor in my things first.
Tabby
I have always used reversals. It just seems like it easier to understand the reading sometimes. I guess what I mean it clarifies the reading a little easier. And then sometimes it doesn't...lol But, I have used them since I started reading tarot.
But, I have used them since I started reading tarot.ultimatefortune
I acually find reversals to be difficult to interpret, it's hard to tell what degree of power they posses, or loose.
squeakmo9
I've consistently used reversals as part of the read and am now finding that certain decks don't require or don't advise the use of reversals. This has recently made me think, as I had used reversals, like usual, on a deck that did not require and observed some aspects of the read as being extreme. It makes me think, although on the whole I prefer not to set the cards right side up...just want the read to be as organic as possible. I will just be more aware of the possibility of exaggeration, in any case, the querent will set me straight.
Brock Johnson
No Never-My Response
Personally, I find the tarot to do a great job demonstrating what it is trying to convey without the use of reversals. Every card in the deck simply taps into your own ability and so if you get a feeling from a card, then that is what the 'definition' is of that card for THAT reading. I find that reversals are not needed although some people use them in order to get a clearer message.
Brock
Personally, I find the tarot to do a great job demonstrating what it is trying to convey without the use of reversals. Every card in the deck simply taps into your own ability and so if you get a feeling from a card, then that is what the 'definition' is of that card for THAT reading. I find that reversals are not needed although some people use them in order to get a clearer message.
Brock
firecatpickles
Since I voted on this poll, I have stopped using reversals and instead concentrated on asking tarot to give me a definitive answer without them. It began to seem a bit "forced" having to "ensure" some of the cards came out reversed, or even asking a querent to do it. And, many a time it seemed that the reversal totally obfuscated a positional meaning. It was all just too much, so I gave it up!
Sometimes a card will come up reversed inexplicably and then and only then do I now interpret it reversed.
K
K
Sometimes a card will come up reversed inexplicably and then and only then do I now interpret it reversed.
K
KCrowqueen
I definitely use reversals. It can show a kind of superficial or mendacious flavour to the card's meaning (e.g. the Four of Swords came up reversed for someone who was supposedly on sick leave but actually using it to campaign in the local elections) or else provide a clue as to the feelings of the characters in the cards.
One time I did "turn negatives into positives" for someone, as the cards themselves seemed to think that if the querent took the advice given by the reversed card, the positive aspects of the cards would make themselves known. But last night someone's spread came up reversed, and the reversals made more sense than the cards would have done if it had come up right way round - a reversed Devil card showed her conquering her addictions. (Mind you the deck, the Archeon, was being very very cheeky by showing people who were slightly nervous about tarot all the "nasty" cards...I think that deck will need some serious grounding before I show it to anyone else as last night's spread was done in front of someone from church who was not at all sure about having a reading done and definitely not happy when Death and the Devil came up in the spreads I did for the others! I made sure I "smudged" it when I got home and it behaved itself when I dowsed for some stamps I needed to send one of my customers but which my mother had thoughtfully cleared away somewhere...)
Since I do readings from intuition vis-a-vis the design on the cards, Cups reversed tend to suggest leakages or pouring away of the bounty stored in them, particularly if the card is a good one (such as the bird on the Ace of Cups reversed is clinging on for dear life as the cup spins upside down; the Ten of Cups reversed represented for me once a very literal pouring away of tea from a cup when it was too hot to have a hot drink in the first place but no-one would clear up a half-full cup!). In a dowsing spread, reversed wands (even e.g. the pole on the Fool card) or swords are helpful since they usually "point" to the lost object in question.
So reversed cards add a depth and a breadth to my readings.
The lady whose cards came up reversed was left-handed and mentioned this but I reassured her that I too am left-handed and it doesn't always happen for me (in fact, of course, she'd just seen me read for the other lady without any reversals at all).
Glad someone revived this old thread, BTW, I started one on Talking Tarot but this is obviously a better place for it.
One time I did "turn negatives into positives" for someone, as the cards themselves seemed to think that if the querent took the advice given by the reversed card, the positive aspects of the cards would make themselves known. But last night someone's spread came up reversed, and the reversals made more sense than the cards would have done if it had come up right way round - a reversed Devil card showed her conquering her addictions. (Mind you the deck, the Archeon, was being very very cheeky by showing people who were slightly nervous about tarot all the "nasty" cards...I think that deck will need some serious grounding before I show it to anyone else as last night's spread was done in front of someone from church who was not at all sure about having a reading done and definitely not happy when Death and the Devil came up in the spreads I did for the others! I made sure I "smudged" it when I got home and it behaved itself when I dowsed for some stamps I needed to send one of my customers but which my mother had thoughtfully cleared away somewhere...)
Since I do readings from intuition vis-a-vis the design on the cards, Cups reversed tend to suggest leakages or pouring away of the bounty stored in them, particularly if the card is a good one (such as the bird on the Ace of Cups reversed is clinging on for dear life as the cup spins upside down; the Ten of Cups reversed represented for me once a very literal pouring away of tea from a cup when it was too hot to have a hot drink in the first place but no-one would clear up a half-full cup!). In a dowsing spread, reversed wands (even e.g. the pole on the Fool card) or swords are helpful since they usually "point" to the lost object in question.
So reversed cards add a depth and a breadth to my readings.
The lady whose cards came up reversed was left-handed and mentioned this but I reassured her that I too am left-handed and it doesn't always happen for me (in fact, of course, she'd just seen me read for the other lady without any reversals at all).
Glad someone revived this old thread, BTW, I started one on Talking Tarot but this is obviously a better place for it.
