No I don't.. but wait, actually I do !
Hello,
Last year a tarot friend asked me if I used reversals and I started to answer "no, I don't", then I added "but wait, sometimes I do, actually"
I dont really like reversals. Here are a few reasons :
- I do not like to see the cards upside down. It seems a little bit disrespectiful for the image to be put upside down, and for the characters to be left with their feet hanging in the air. And I do not like my decks all mixed up with cards in all position, I more like my decks to be well kept, all cards up, in their little cosy pouch.
- I read with a mix of book knowledge and intuitive interpretation of the images, and most of the time I have difficulty seeing whats going on when and image is not upright
- the meanings given in many books, and in particular in most LWB, for reversed position, is very often frustrating. Most of the time I feel like whoever wrote the LWB did not give a damn, and basically just used their dictionnary of antonyms to come up with a keyword that is just the opposite of whatever keyword they gave to the upright card (but then... I am not a fan of LWB in general, and I usually dont read them. Companion books are different - sometimes)
- I think all cards contain their whole range of meanings, positive and negative, inside and outside, diminished or exagerated etc, and you can have an opinion from the question, the other cards around, the position in the spread etc.
So I mostly read without reversed cards.
But that is not to say that I never use reversed cards, because I have three decks that are excellent for reversals, and just beg to be used that way :
My two round decks (Gorgon's and Motherpeace) are my favourite for reading that way, because they offer so much more than mere "upright" and "reverse". With them, the infinite possibilities of subtelties is just awsome !
It is not even possible to keep the cards upright in the deck, so they WANT to be read in all directions !
I love how the ways the cards land, tilted to the right, tilted to the left..... i And, some cards can litterally be pointing to other cards, or at the sitter ! Like the arrows in the 8 of Wands (Motherpeace) for example.
I also have the Madam Clara Sees it All tarot which is specificaly made to be used both upright and reversed, so I am not going to ignore it. It is my only "rectangular" deck that I willingly mix up in order to get reversed cards.
I do not have the Revelations tarot, but I wish I did.
For all my other decks, I really prefer to keep them upright. When I gather my cards, I pay attention that they are upright.
For that reason, I normally do not have reversals in my readings, and I can say that I "do not use" reversals.
But, sometimes cards have a way to do what they want... and sometimes a card shows up reversed in the spread.
In that case I understand that it has really insisted to be reversed ! So I never ignore it. The rarity of the occurence makes it even more interesting.
And, even if I do not like to see images upside down, I have come to realise that sometimes, I am able to see things in the picture that I had not seen when the card was upright.
So, to sum up, with the exception of a few special decks that like reversals, I do not willingly put cards upside down in the deck, on the contrary. But I will read a card reversed if it shows up upside down.