Reversals

Leviosa said:

Hello all!

Since I began reading tarot I decided not to use reversals. Found it too complicated but now that I've had some extensive hours of practice and study, I'm beginning to consider using them.

Do you use reversals? Why or why not?

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I'm an Elemental Dignities person. I find it very uncomfortable to use reversals because once I do a reading I know that, say, the 4 of Cups is reversed so I have to about and shuffle them all randomly again, it's just too taxing and frankly, in my opinion, quite unnecessary. Elemental Dignities gives me a whole other range of nuances that I'm not able to pick up on with reversed cards. For example a card can be Dignified or Ill-Dignified but it can also be Half-Dignified with the way I read it. If reversals double the amount of information, this triples it

Every method is correct, every method is useful. I myself am in awe of people who can use reversals because I can't! So to each their own. I hope you find your style of reading

Sincerely

-uraszz

while I am still learning I've decided for now to go by the backs of the deck so I use reversals depending on the deck I use

if the backs allow for reversals I use them if they dont ...then I dont

Its just less stressful for me this way and my readings still come out fine..I do feel that they help and should be considered but I hate seeing the back of the card itself reversed

I find that I can still consider both aspects of the card depending on the situation whether the card is reversed or not

I like to try to use my decks the way the artist meant for them to be used. If it comes with a guide and the guide uses reversals, then I will. If there are no reversals in the guide, then I will not use reversals with that deck. If there is no guide, I usually read with reversals but for certain readings I might not, and I'll state my intent for reversals before shuffling.

If I am using reversals, I spread the cards face down and mix them all over the table and then stack them together. If all of my cards are reversed in a reading (happens very rarely) then I will read them as such. This technique has served me well.

RE: using images...I frequently read intuitively based on how the card's images speak to me alongside my general understanding of the cards themselves, and I've found reversed images can still be used that way. For example, I did a reading for a friend using the Animism Tarot and one of the cards was The Lovers reversed. The image shows two seahorses with their tails entwined and kissing, and when I asked my friend how that reversed image spoke to her she said it looked like one seahorse was dragging the other down. In that reading, in that position and with her question, the imagery was spot on.

Leviosa said:

Hello all!

Since I began reading tarot I decided not to use reversals. Found it too complicated but now that I've had some extensive hours of practice and study, I'm beginning to consider using them.

Do you use reversals? Why or why not?

Click to expand...

Usually, but not always. Depending on it it feels right in a particular reading. It just gives more options of what things could mean.

I do NOT use the traditional method of reversals though, where the reversal turns it's card meaning into the opposite. I have never liked that method and it feels unnecessary to me. ALL cards can mean either the pretense of absence of their energy already. Don't need reversals to tell me that.

I have a few methods of reversals I alternate between.

But for the most part I use one I invented myself. It fits me best.

Babs

SunChariot said:

I do NOT use the traditional method of reversals though, where the reversal turns it's card meaning into the opposite.

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When I first learned Tarot, that was not even in the lexicon. Each card had some specific reversed meanings and it sometimes was almost the same as the upright meaning.

So for me, that is a newer and simpler method of reading reversals, and isn't traditional at all.

CrystalSeas said:

When I first learned Tarot, that was not even in the lexicon. Each card had some specific reversed meanings and it sometimes was almost the same as the upright meaning.

So for me, that is a newer and simpler method of reading reversals, and isn't traditional at all.

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Oh.That is the one I always hear about here on AT. The one most talked about. I presumed it was the traditional method as it is the one almost everyone seems to talk about most,at least here. It never called to me personally though. Of course we all need to find what works for each of us.

Babs

I use reversals quite often. I've found that it helps give the reading more depth. Sure, you can get along just fine without using them, but it helps to see which aspects in the situation are conflicting with each other and which energies are weakened and just enriches the reading for me.

Achlys said:

I use reversals quite often. I've found that it helps give the reading more depth. Sure, you can get along just fine without using them, but it helps to see which aspects in the situation are conflicting with each other and which energies are weakened and just enriches the reading for me.

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I agree whole-heartedly. I use both reversals and Elemental Dignities since each one provides a different kind of testimony: EDs strengthen or weaken the normal function of the "principal" or focus card, while reversal often puts a pronounced spin on the method of "delivery." I like each one in its own way, but I find reversals less abstract and therefore more useful in practice.