Using Reversals in The Wild Unknown Tarot

Hello! I hope this is the proper place to discuss this. I've had The Wild Unknown deck for sometime now, I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and had to have it, once I finally got it I had no regrets about getting it! It is the perfect deck for me and I get so much out of it on a psychological, emotional, and spiritual level. I have had amazing readings and I am still learning with this deck and deciding where I want to go with it.

One thing I keep going back and forth with is whether or not I should use reversals with this deck. I have always used reversals in the past, but I find with this deck I get so much from the cards that I don't really feel the need for reversals. I'm so used to using them that I try doing it anyway but something always feels off when I do it.

Do you use reversals with TWU? Do you feel that reversals should be used with this deck or do you feel that there is enough to the cards to just do away with reversals all together? I am still on the fence here because I'm so USED to reading a certain way and this deck just changes my entire outlook on readings! What are your thoughts?

Unfortunately, I don't have this deck, so while others who do are preparing to answer, I'm just adding my 50 cents.

If using reversals with this particular deck feels off to you - don't use them. I find using reversals difficult with some decks, particularly TdM (where pips are mostly symmetrical both ways) and Arcus Arcanum (where the cards are just so beautiful and detailed that it's really tiresome to keep turning them up and down to have a closer look). For those decks, I just go with uprights only. As a wishing-to-be-an-expert reader, I think it's great to be able to do it both ways, so keep pushing your horizons, don't stick in the comfort zone.

Just some general thoughts.

Hi heroesandthieves,

I love this deck too and I don't use reversals with it but then I don't use reversals when I'm reading at all.
Just because I don't physically turn cards upside down doesn't mean that I don't use a card's full range of meanings though. I think that every card has a range of meanings and I use context, the question, the position and my intuition to decide how a particular card should be read in a particular reading.

I learned with the RWS deck and it's variants but in the last few years I've found that I prefer reading with the Tarot de Marseilles and I tend to read in sets of 3 cards. I read the Wild Unknown in this way too with all of the cards upright. I look at the way the energy moves through the cards so sometimes I'll read the middle card as the main one with the outer 2 supporting, sometimes I'll read from the outside in, sometimes from left to right and sometimes from right to left, all depending on the reading..

I think it's entirely up to you but I don't personally think that any deck needs any of the cards to be physically upside down, in fact that puts me off when I'm reading although others find that reversals really help them nail down which interpretation to use at a given time.

i have only received my deck in the mail as of today, but i immediately have to say yes, differentiate reversals. when i look at the 6 of cups and the wheel of fortune in particular i see a new emphasis of the message when upside-down... it feels quite deliberate.

I've always read with reversals, and I do it with this deck as well. I'd like to say though, that using The Wild Unknown has changed the way that I read and regard tarot in general. While I do use 'reversals", I've become a lot more open minded in my interpretations since getting into this beautiful and unique deck....

I kind of have to use reversals... I was raised with them; and to not use them just seems to be unnecessarily limiting the vocabulary of the deck. I can appreciate the viewpoint of those that prefer not to use them - but it just isn't for me...

Michael

Reversals

I don't use reversals as well. I am certainly not a seasoned reader, but from my perspective, reading cards upright and using position or the energy of a given reading brings out the more subtle aspects of the cards (replacing reversals proper). I find reversed cards quite jolting. So the context and gut feeling lets me know the cards intention at that moment in time.

I guess it's the difference between staring at an inverted card that may convey a message that is the opposite of it's upright, versus considering an exaggeration, overuse/misuse or underuse of an upright's quality.

Hope this makes sense.

While I can read reversals, I prefer not to (with any deck), and I certainly don't feel the need to with this deck at all. I think the meanings are full, rich, complex without reversals. I also find that the messages of each card are clear and fluid without reversals, depending on the question asked, the layout, and the card's placement in the layout.

I read reversals, before I learned how to read them i always felt like my readings were off- something didn't seem right. Now with reversals I feel like I'm seeing the whole picture.

My thoughts on reversals

For many years, I didn't use reversals, and then in the past year I've been broadening my horizons. I agree, however, that maybe not all decks work well with reversed meanings, and they're not really necessary in the grand scheme of things.

At some point, I decided to ask the decks themselves whether the deck prefers reversals or upright meanings only, and for this deck, I got upright only. I asked the question by laying out 5 cards and if 3 of more were reversed, I took that as a negative. This particular deck answered me with "no reversals," but then again, how ironic that I decided to use reversals to answer this question. Is this like the tarot version of a double negative? Ha!

Anyway, this is just my opinion of this deck. I might change my mind at some point in the future, but if you're not sure how to use a particular deck, why not ask the deck for it's opinion?

This is one smart deck, Sztar, isn't it? I don't use reversals with it either. The author states in the book that she doesn't feel reversals are necessary with this deck. I agree.