Reversals again! =D

[DarkContraband]

So I know this topic has been covered a billion and one times, but I am still confused. Ive read every thread on the site about reversals and ive done my own research, but nothing seems to fit for me. I would LOVE to read reversals, because I like to have as much diversity of meanings in my readings as possible, but most of the traditional reversal meanings are too negative for me. The tarot cards themselves have enough negative meanings, and adding another 78 negative meanings just creates too much chaos for me to handle.

But on the other side of the coin, simply reading the energy as "blocked" or "different" seems a bit too vague for me. Does anyone else have any other tips for reading reversals?

 

[gregory]

WELL - if you are that DESPERATE to read reversals - a) I'd love to know WHY it is that important to you - but b) - try the Revelations deck. That helps a lot.

The other thing is - IF I were trying to do that - I just look at the IMAGE I get when the card is upside down. The actual literal picture in front of me. You might be surprised. Then again - that's what I do when the card is the right way up, too. There are limitless meanings in a picture.

 

[DarkContraband]

Lol I wouldn't say I was DESPERATE to use reversals, but I am drawn to them for some reason. I think I just like the idea of 78 extra meanings for the cards. Which is a bit insane, I know.. 78 seems like enough on their own. But maybe Im a bit of a glutton for punishment >.<

Anywho, reading the image upside down is a cool idea too. It would be different from reading the card as "opposite". Thanks Gregory =]

 

[rwcarter]

Reversed card as focus point? Meaning not opposite interpretation, but area(s) to provide extra attention to?

 

[DarkContraband]

Can you elaborate on that Rwcarter?

 

[rwcarter]

So if you're doing a past/present/future spread and you get a reversed card in the past, that might indicate the importance of the past even on the present and future. Or it might indicate how being stuck in the past affects the present and future. The focus of the spread shifts to the past card instead of the future or present.

If you had 2 reversed cards in a 3 card spread, both positions would have heightened focus on them.

Does that help?

 

[DarkContraband]

Thank you very much. I like that idea alot... though im still confused as to how to read the cards as being negative or positive though. Maybe im just silly.

Using the reversals the way you described then, would I just read the card as normal with the usual positive/negative vibe?

 

[Thirteen]

78 more meanings are already there

Lol I wouldn't say I was DESPERATE to use reversals, but I am drawn to them for some reason. I think I just like the idea of 78 extra meanings for the cards.

The cards don't gain extra meanings because you turn them upside down, nor do they lose extra meanings if you read them only right-side-up. This is a critical point to understand. ALL the cards have a range of meaning. From one end of a spectrum to the other. From this point here..............To this point here. And all those dots in between. From Red to orange to yellow to green to blue to violet. From new moon to half-moon to full-moon. From thumbs up to thumbs down. From yin to yang.

Each and every card has that range of meanings all the time. All reversed cards do is assist the reader in telling which end of that spectrum of meanings the card stands--at the red end or at the violet end. But you don't have to reverse the cards in order to have those meanings.

Many readers love reversals finding the useful and stimulating, a way to enhance the creativity of their readings. If reversals do that for you, that's awesome--we all use what enriches readings for us, be it dignities, zodiac signs, quaballa, or reversals. By all means, use them--and I'll second going for the Revelations deck, which is a deck where reversals are are must.

But it's a misconception that you will gain 78 more meanings if you use reversals. Those 78 more meanings are already there--in fact, you've got a good 78,000 more meanings already there in those cards. That's why Tarot is a never ending study. Because you can always learn new meanings for each card (and if you're insane for wanting to spend your life learning thousands of more meanings--not just 78 more--then welcome to the club. We're all just that insane here).

Just because a card is upright doesn't mean you must only read it as that one upright meaning listed in your little white book, right?

 

[rwcarter]

Using the reversals the way you described then, would I just read the card as normal with the usual positive/negative vibe?

Yes. Since you said you didn't want to look at reversed cards as being necessarily (more) negative, I thought that looking at them as indicating a focus might be a different way to use them.

 

[brightcrazystar]

I tend to read these as commentary to the cards. I do not read a reversed card has a different meaning, but a different emphasis.

A card turned skew-wise means it stands out, and thus if i see reversed cards, I know to look for something that stands out. This is where my intuition sets in, and my psychic centers get impressions that give my readings a topic, of sorts.

This almost always seems to reinforce one of the many elements of the symbols or correspondences that inform my readings, and sometimes helps me choose what approach to take. An inverted card, for example, the 2 of Cups may mean simply "Cancer" or Chokmah of Briah, of even the name of a being associated with the cards. A color or who knows what... That to me is always the mystery I need to unlock, to make the reading be a key to realization.