To Reverse Or Not To Reverse
When I first learned how to read tarot my teacher told me that there were enough cards in the deck to represent the - shall we say - more challenging side of life and therefore it wasn't necessary to read cards in reversed position. And so whenever I read cards, I simply put them all right side up - easier to read that way anyway!
As I'm getting back into the habit of daily readings for myself in an effort to reacquaint myself with the cards, I've considered reading reversals, wondering if this would add more nuance to my readings. For one thing, I already know what all the cards mean - this process is a refresher. For another, to understand what a card means reversed you need to be familiar with what it means to start with - so it's still a refresher.
I'm curious to hear from other readers to find out how you view reversals. Do you read them or not?
Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:44 PM
Comments
Been reading since 1989...When I read for others, I hand them a deck that is all "straight" and just let them shuffle. I check to see how they have shuffled. If they shuffle so that there are reverses, I read the reverses. If they shuffle without reversing, I tune more into the feeling of the card, and blend the meanings sometimes (straight and reversed). Sometimes I give them options - dialogue to check.
Long ago I used to have them split the deck into thirds and force a section of reverses before they shuffled. It worked that way too because the force was a choice - you know what I mean?
Posted by: Susan | January 20, 2006 9:51 AM
I have two very non-traditional decks that I work with, the Faeries' Oracle and the Osho-Zen Tarot deck. With the Faeries', I rely almost solely on intuition -- it makes sense to be flexible with the faeries to do that. Sometimes, I consider the presence of a reversal to be a warning to heed the advice provided by the divinatory meaning and the other cards. The Osho deck, Buddha bless it, doesn't have reversed meanings -- the cards have holistic, integrated meanings. In this deck, there are challenges presented by all the cards, some more than others, but it all fits into the zen approach of the deck. I find this deck to be the most "truthful" of all the ones I've used.
Posted by: Tricia | July 21, 2006 4:02 PM