Do you use reversals?

[HellzBelle]

Nope, don't use them at all. And I do try to ensure that after reading all cards go back into my deck right way up. Does that make me anal?!
I do however view the cards as containing both positive and negative meaning within their imagery and I use the statement of purpose, the position definition and the relationship to the other cards within the spread to determine how I would read each.
I think this should be determined by whatever you feel comfortable with as you learn/study tarot, what system you can personally give merit to, and perhaps what seems intuitively 'right' for yourself.
There, that's my two bobs worth.

 

[Persephone37]

No reversals in my readings. I don't even realize conciously which card was reverse or not when I read and since I turn them all into the upright position after turning or flipping, they go into the Deck all in the same way, while I am not careful that I don't turn them the wrong way. I agree with others I read here in AT, that the cards have already two meanings and they express it very well themself how to interpret them without paying attention to how they ended up on the fabric.

Thats my 2ct.
Regards Petra

 

[darkmoon84]

I also read reversals, thats how I first learned and now I think that without them the cards would say a totally different thing. They change the message. For example the Stength card may appear reveresed but it is NOT saying that the querent is brave, strong,....but that he needs courage, strength to face whatever problems or obstacles he has....

So yes, always read reversals

 

[lupo138]

reversals

hi,

i changed my mind from since my last post. I read the reversed cards, in particular the first one, as something that is knotted, a blockage. if you remove that block you can see what would happen. so sometimes it is good to remove a block, sometimes better to have it be as it is.

 

[Sakura Murasaki]

I always use reversals. They help me gain more insight into a particular situation.

 

[anonymous_artist]

Interesting replies throughout this thread. For a very long time I never used reversals though I eventually bought the 'revelations tarot' which includes reversal meanings within the image as well and this was a learning curve to use them. On the one hand I liked the double image on the card but on the other hand I never fully connected with the deck. I have moved back to using my trusty rider waite and like someone previously mentioned in this thread the images on this deck don't really appeal when you look at them in reverse.

 

[AJ]

I took an drawing class once based on the book Drawing From The Right Side Of The Brain.
One of our early exercises was drawing an image of a man in a chair. But we did it looking at our model image upside down. Even those of us that have trouble with a stickman did pretty well with the exercise because we were looking at the details and not what the image was.

Whether we use reversals or not, taking time to look at a deck with all the cards reversed is a good exercise, you can quite often pick up a detail you've blanked out completely in normal viewings because you assume you know it all already.

 

[Grizabella]

I never use reversals because when I was first learning, it was easier not to. Lately I've been thinking I might start using them once in awhile, but when I do, it bothers me to get more reversed cards sometimes than upright. The attraction to using reversals is getting stronger, though, so I may become a convert eventually.

 

[Elnor]

I start my deck out with all the cards the right way up, but if someone shuffles the deck so that there are reversals, or if they hand me the card so that it's reversed, then I pay particular attention to it, although this is something I've only recently started doing.

I had one client who kept fiddling about with a card he'd just chosen; turning it around in his hands several times and finally giving it to me so that it was definitely upside-down.
It was the Ace of Pentacles, and it turned out he'd just lost his job that he liked due to an accident, and was starting a new one in computers that he wasn't happy about. That's the one that convinced me to listen to reversals when they are 'in my face', so to speak!

Elnor

 

[krysia322]

I chose "Sometimes", but in truth, the answer would be "Rarely".

For the most part, if I were going to use reversals, I would make sure it's clear during the reading that I will be doing reversals (more so that the cards know, because I do it sooooo rarely), and then only for certain decks, like Zach Wong's Revelations tarot, where reversals have a clear (at least to me) roll.

Other than that, I'll use reversals primarily with one-card or yes/no spreads.

I think a large part of why I rarely use reversals, is because I simply don't feel I have the skills yet. I do own a couple of books that focus on reversals, and I hope they'll help my understanding of reversed cards...