Reversing Reversals

From one reader to another, from one book to another, there are different theories on interpreting reversed cards. Many agree it's the negative version of the card. However, there are times when the card in reverse doesn't make sense to be the negative version. Such as the 10 of swords in the obstacle position. The10 of swords is a warning card by nature, so it's redundant to re-interpret it as the ''negative version''.

Others say reversals mean that phase has passed. But if the reversed card appears in the past position, past is already implied. Still others say you should only look at the picture and notice things you don't see in the upright position. This works for some cards but not really others.

I took an amazing tarot master course with Richard Knight, one of the most renowned tarot readers in the world, and he simply stated: there's no need to read reversals. You already have 78 cards full of insightful messages. You don't need 156. He explained that your reading is just as accurate, or more so, when only reading upright. I have found this to be totally true.

Tarot reader and author, Rashunda Tramble, explains it best in her blog on staywoketarot.com. She says: ''My eyes would be drawn to the reversed cards first, so I’d start with those and then interpret the upright cards after. My readings were falling victim to “negativity bias”...Not having the card reversed, leaves me more room to look deeper into the card itself and what’s going on in the scenery of the card rather than the physical card being upside down.''

When I stopped reading reversals and simply rotated the card back up and carried on, my readings became more fluid. The cards worked in harmony without a delinquent card stunting my flow.

When I read tarot, I first look at the cards without analysis. I allow messages to flow to me inspired by the images and the positions of the cards (those 2 things are more than enough to glean meaning from). I then tap into my logic left brain and recall the key words and my card nick-names. Those initial impressions that flow to me are messages from Spirit. These messages are the crux of the reading for me. Reversed cards, and the pressure to quickly decide what method to use to interpret them, caused my instincts to come to a halt and my link to Spirit to get muddled.

Another factor was time. I'm often reading at events and only have 15 minutes with a client. Reversals throw a monkey wrench into things and worry the client. It requires a little more explanation and reassurance. It was just more efficient not to spend time on them.

The last point is the niggling problem of the querent across from me. Who are the cards facing? Who are they reversed for? First off, when possible and appropriate, I sit them next to me. This is more bonding. But that's not always practical. If they're across from me, I deal the cards facing me, then rotate the cloth to face them, adjusting any reversed cards.

Querents have asked if they should be worried about ''that upside down card'' because they've heard that's a bad omen. My response, as I casually turn the card upright, is: 'Nope', the same way I tell them not to fear the death card. There are no 'bad' tarot cards. Only warning cards... and there are enough of those without reversals.