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

other

Ambyr_rain said:
I use reversals in my readings because 1, that was how I learned to read them. and 2, it is amazing how my perspective instantly changes if there are several cards in the reversed possition. It gives an instant reading befor I even start looking at the cards.

Yes -- perspective! Sometimes I can interp a reversal as a cautionary message... A possible outcome if one doesn't keep one's actions pure and thought process positive. There are many outcomes to every situation, a reversal is a reminder that we can feed the situation in the interest of the postive outcome.
 

marinecomm

What about those decks where the creator didn't intend for the deck to be used with reversals? I have one such deck. Nowhere in the book does the author even talk about reversals.
 

Sophie-David

I confess it doesn't matter to me how the creator wanted the cards to be used, I use inversions (reversals) anyway. }) When in doubt I have asked new decks about using them inverted, and the answer has been "go ahead" - which of course really means that my high self sees the need for me to use inversions, not that those pretty pieces of cardboard have actually have a preference. :) The only thing which might hinder me from using inversions is if the card backs were strongly asymmetrical, but if that was bothering me I would just draw with my eyes closed, which I often do anyway.

That said, I would not be surprised to find that for some decks "upright only" might be my preference. Or even that in a year's time I might just as passionately read all cards upright only. Tarot is all about intuition, and I just have to go by that and not attempt to second guess it.
 

Melpomone18

I voted no but sometimes. Ordinarily I just try to bear in mind that I may have to read the card's more negative aspects based on the nearby cards. But I always shuffle them so that they remain upright. However, for some reason they have a way of mysteriously turning themselves upside down every now and then (some decks more than others). Then, of course there are those instances when cards "fly" out while I'm shuffling and land reversed. In cases like that I read reversals.
 

other

Melpomone18 said:
I voted no but sometimes. Ordinarily I just try to bear in mind that I may have to read the card's more negative aspects based on the nearby cards. But I always shuffle them so that they remain upright. However, for some reason they have a way of mysteriously turning themselves upside down every now and then (some decks more than others). Then, of course there are those instances when cards "fly" out while I'm shuffling and land reversed. In cases like that I read reversals.

I actually did a reading (for myself) a little over a week ago and almost drew a card too soon. Without looking at it, I put it back on the top of the deck, face down. The deck is still fairly new, so the coating is sort of slick. Due to this (and maybe due to the surface on which I was reading), the card turned itself upright!!! It just circulated right there on top of the deck -- a full 180.

I figured the card was trying to tell me something, so I listened...

Kinda freaky and fun! :)
 

catz

Reversals

After 30 years away I am, once again, brand new to Tarot. That being said I have found that I do not cause reversed cards on purpose - but as Pollux replied- there are times when a card "leaps" out and is reversed and I cannot but think I have to accept what it has to say - or I will pull or replace a card catywampus - and then I figure that this is what was supposed to be ....it does make me pleased to know that cards "jumping out" is, I gather, a common experience and one that most people have an opinion on. I guess this answer does not really fit into any of the poll answers possible though !
Thanks for all of the information!
 

Queen of Swords

Interesting results- for some reason, I was expecting the majority to read with reversals. Personally, I voted for "No but on rare occasions.." because the way I shuffle just doesn't yield much reversals. Sometimes I may get a sudden feeling to shuffle a different way that does produce reversals- in which case then, I read them reversed. Or if I'm reading for someone, I always let them shuffle whichever way they like...and if that caused reversals, I read it that way. I'm more the whatever comes is however I read it...but since I don't shuffle in a way that mixes the card upside down, I end up reading upright readings most of the time.

But this brings two questions to mind:

1) How do you all shuffle? Do you shuffle like you normally would a deck of playing cards where they normally don't get flipped upside down? Or do you place them down and move your hands all over it and mix them up nicely?

2) And finally...for those who do read both reversals and not, depending on your intuition at the time, do you "tell" your cards how you're going to read them ahead of time? Like "This reading, I would like to read reversals too.." sort of deal? When do you decide if you're going to read it reversed or not? Before or during the reading?
 

Sophie-David

Queen of Swords said:
1) How do you all shuffle? Do you shuffle like you normally would a deck of playing cards where they normally don't get flipped upside down? Or do you place them down and move your hands all over it and mix them up nicely?
Since I would like reversals to be as likely to appear as uprights, at every cut during shuffling I rotate the half of the deck in my right hand so that is is inverted relative to the left.
 

poivre

I don't usually read the Majors in rx but the Minors I do.
I read Minors in rx as blocked energy. So a rx Minor is read as upright but with restriction to it.

Also it just depends, if I feel the Major rx is rx I read it that way.
I do like NOT reading with rx cards.I get more information because I layer the card more.

I feel it all depends with going with the flow when using our knowledge and
skill in a reading. Somedays are better than others!
 

other

ros said:
I don't usually read the Majors in rx but the Minors I do.
I read Minors in rx as blocked energy. So a rx Minor is read as upright but with restriction to it.

I like this interpretation/approach because the reversed meaning of any card is directly related to its upright meaning. I have had experiences where I read the reversed as a cautionary message, leaving me the power to 'upright' the situation by my attitudes, thoughts and actions.