Reversed Meanings in General

decan

The trick is to try to turn the usual keyword meaning on its head without just creating a mirror image; that's where I see the main subtlety in reversals. It's entirely too simplistic (at least for me) to just say what it "isn't." These days I hardly notice the image on the cards, just a flick of recognition and orientation, so the visual disparity doesn't have any hold on me.
I think you are right Barleywine with regard to don't be too simplistic but to deal with reversals with a subtle mind!
Well, this needs probably a kind of mastery nevertheless.

I just found something I like concerning reversals in the first book of Joan Bunning:
"When a card is reversed, its energy is not fully developped. I may be in its early stages, or losing power. It may be incomplete or unavailable. The qualities of the card are present, at least potential, but they can't express completely."
 

Barleywine

SunChariot (Babs) has her own take on reversals. She sees them as attracting special personal attention ... applying to oneself rather than something or someone else. Inner, rather than outer, if I remember correctly! (Apologies if I've mis-remembered, Babs!)

Decades ago, I was taught (and used myself) reversals to mean, literally, 'the reverse of the card's usual meaning'. Or else the meaning ill-dignified. So the Emperor rx could indicate a lack of executive decision-making & control, or a 'bad' or tyrannical leader /boss.

The "opposite of the usual meaning" is how I first learned it back in the early '70s, but I never found it satisfactory in every situation so I began expanding its scope. Internalized or personalized is one I use often; in fact I had a client last week who had seven of nine cards reversed, and that's the one we used as a major "undercurrent" in her life, something she had long contemplated but never acted on.
 

Barleywine

I think you are right Barleywine with regard to don't be too simplistic but to deal with reversals with a subtle mind!
Well, this needs probably a kind of mastery nevertheless.

I just found something I like concerning reversals in the first book of Joan Bunning:

"When a card is reversed, its energy is not fully developed. It may be in its early stages, or losing power. It may be incomplete or unavailable. The qualities of the card are present, at least potential, but they can't express completely."

Nice! I think I can boil that down into something like "rudimentary" or "provisional" so as not to plagiarize Joan. Thanks!
 

Barleywine

Something that needs adjusting, dealing with first.

Something your in denial about.

If all card were reversed then extreme passiveness, even if the cards were all wands.

Something your not dealing with very well.....and are maybe even trying to sweep under the carpet, and expect to go away of own accord.

Stubbornness.

I think I may have a general bucket to fit these into. I had thought of obstinate but then lost that thought somewhere along the way. I already captured "avoidance" and "passivity" as categories. I turned "something that needs adjusting" into "an itch that needs scratching; a touchy subject."
 

Sharla

Im sure ive also read somewhere that its the previous card that needs dealing with, in order for the reversed card to be able to manifest itself....which does sort of make sense.

Wheel fortune rx.....if you want your life to get moving again, then you need to get out of hermit mode and stop spending so much time alone, take a risk and have some adventure, then maybe the wheel will turn.

Obviously it depends on the question, but that was just an example of how i'd maybe read them that way.
 

Barleywine

Im sure ive also read somewhere that its the previous card that needs dealing with, in order for the reversed card to be able to manifest itself....which does sort of make sense.

Wheel fortune rx.....if you want your life to get moving again, then you need to get out of hermit mode and stop spending so much time alone, take a risk and have some adventure, then maybe the wheel will turn.

Obviously it depends on the question, but that was just an example of how i'd maybe read them that way.

That's one that Paul Fenton-Smith uses throughout his Tarot Masterclass book, but it's one I only partially agree with. I apply it a bit more strictly through the use of directionality or "facing." Sometimes moving ahead to the next milestone could be more effective than backtracking, since not all unfinished business is worthy of spending one's time on.
 

Barleywine

Thanks for the great input! I'm pleased to see that my matrix has been flexible enough to accommodate everything so far. I set myself an arbitrary goal to keep it under one type-written page in my word processor without shrinking down to tiny font, and I'm still there.
 

rmcfarron

I found a very interesting section on Reversals in the new Tarot Experience book.

1) Developing but unexpressed - the energy is at the immature or unformed although it is developing.

2) Present but inhibited - the energy is present but restricted or held back in some way.

3) Declining but persistent - the energy is passing but still impacts the situation

4) Desired but secret - this may be something they want to keep secret or something of which they are consciously unaware

5) Possible but unlikely - especially in an outcome position

6) Imagined but unreal - something the querent wants so much to be true, but is all in their mind.

Gave me a very different, actually several very different, ways to look at reversals.
 

Barleywine

I found a very interesting section on Reversals in the new Tarot Experience book.

1) Developing but unexpressed - the energy is at the immature or unformed although it is developing.

2) Present but inhibited - the energy is present but restricted or held back in some way.

3) Declining but persistent - the energy is passing but still impacts the situation

4) Desired but secret - this may be something they want to keep secret or something of which they are consciously unaware

5) Possible but unlikely - especially in an outcome position

6) Imagined but unreal - something the querent wants so much to be true, but is all in their mind.

Gave me a very different, actually several very different, ways to look at reversals.

Thanks for the input. I already had some of these captured in essence, and added "unlikely at this time," "inhibited;" "unexpressed/latent;" and "imaginary" where I felt they were most appropriate. I'm less inclined to use "developing" because everything in a spread is developing unless its strictly a "past" position that's no longer subject to change. A number of the categories I created imply slowed progress. All said, I still think I'm missing some major ones that I've used in the past but I can't quite put my finger on them.
 

Barleywine

Significant Updates

I want to thank everyone for their input up to now. I've absorbed all of it and was able to fit it into my basic model. I've made many changes and additions to the original list, and think I'm pretty much done with it since it's becoming mainly a "piling on" of synonyms at this point. If you see any major categories that I missed, let me know.