Do you use reversals? Why? Why not?

Valeria

Before I learnt how to read reversals, I had this insane dislike for them. I think it stemmed mostly from people portraying them as the "Devil's own device". But ever since I learnt how to read them (my Tarot deck was very insistent) I seem to find them giving me better answers than the uprights.

Have you felt something similar?

If you don't​ use reversals, why did you decide not to go there?
 

nisaba

Back in my first few years, I used reversals. Then i gradually found that i simply no longer needed them to work out exactly what aspect of itself a card was trying to say to me.

Now, it is unneccessry to use reversals, and seems disrespectful to have cards upside-down in a deck (much like ruffling the long, immaculately groomed hair of a person who hasn't given you permission to touch them).

So as i no longer need them, and it seems disrespectful, I don't even give reversals a thought, and haven't for decades.
 

St.Kilda.Witch

I have never used reversals. I read the cards as they present themselves I don't have to turn them upside down in the deck for a card to make sense of the message it is conveying.
 

Valeria

Now, it is unneccessry to use reversals, and seems disrespectful to have cards upside-down in a deck (much like ruffling the long, immaculately groomed hair of a person who hasn't given you permission to touch them).

Sounds very interesting. Which tarot deck do you use? I think it's a distinctly yang deck if it doesn't like reversals.
 

Scarlet Air

When I started learning Tarot I avoided reversals just because it was too much to learn all at once. Now I don't use them because I don't think they're necessary.

Each card has so many layers and applications that I can't see why you would need reversals in the first place. Not to mention so many cards have dual meanings anyway based on context. For example the Six of Pentacles is about giving or receiving depending on which position the subject is in. How do you reverse a card that already represents the two sides of a situation?

If you like reading with reversals that's awesome that they give you something else to add to a reading. But for me I just can't make sense of them.
 

Alta

I didn't, then I took some time with Mary Greer's rather brilliant book "Tarot reversals", and did for a long time. Now I do it rather less often but at least I feel okay when replying to a reading where the member used them. I think that they have something to offer, if only a shade of meaning that might not be clear if the card had presented upright.
 

BodhiSeed

I think it reflects reading style rather than having to do with how well one reads tarot. For me, I see each card on a continuum rather than as either positive or negative; I likely won't read a card exactly the same way in different readings. For this reason, I see no reason to use reversals.
 

MissChiff

I didn't, then I took some time with Mary Greer's rather brilliant book "Tarot reversals", and did for a long time. Now I do it rather less often but at least I feel okay when replying to a reading where the member used them. I think that they have something to offer, if only a shade of meaning that might not be clear if the card had presented upright.

This book is really wonderful! I've always read reversals, but I had a rough start learning them and then this book was given to me and really made a difference!
 

Valeria

I think it reflects reading style rather than having to do with how well one reads tarot. For me, I see each card on a continuum rather than as either positive or negative; I likely won't read a card exactly the same way in different readings. For this reason, I see no reason to use reversals.

I agree with you. Each Tarot card definitely has a spectrum of meanings within it. That is the reason why I incorporate reversals. When they show up, they bring a distinctly different flavor to the reading. It is as if their upside down world plays by a set of different rules from the uprights.

I am still learning this new topsy-turvy language, so perhaps that's why they seem so much better at the moment to me. But I agree that you don't need reversals for an accurate reading.
 

Valeria

I didn't, then I took some time with Mary Greer's rather brilliant book "Tarot reversals", and did for a long time. Now I do it rather less often but at least I feel okay when replying to a reading where the member used them. I think that they have something to offer, if only a shade of meaning that might not be clear if the card had presented upright.

This book was pivotal for me too. :]