Reversals
The use of reversals within the sphere of tarot reading is a practice that has been sanctioned by both time and usage. Since the first tarot reader placed a card upside down and, rather than immediately correcting the alignment, noticed that 'Le Bateleur' seemed in danger of dropping his ball, cards have been reversed with impunity. This, I believe, gives an added facet to each card. Indeed it adds a further 78 meanings to the 78 already inherent in the upright tarot deck, thus effectively doubling both the number of cards in the deck and the amount of learning the novice must undertake.
Those that choose not to use reversals, it must be said, do so out of sheer laziness and by doing so throw scorn and opprobrium upon a long established tarot tradition. However those brave souls that undertake to learn the added range of meanings will, in my opinion, find themselves well rewarded for their time and effort. This is because, and I believe this has been amply proven, the reversed cards give insights into what is called the 'shadow side'. The purpose of the reversed cards is to look into the very soul of the reading, and the act of reversal is a magical gesture that breaks the barriers between the worlds allowing the meaning of the cards to slip easily into that other realm of darkness where all one's fears and desires are born.
Because of this one must take care and precautions when dealing with reversed cards, for it is there that the demons that wait in the unseen wings of every tarot reading are most likely to dwell. When they see the upturned card they are wont to dash forward and attach themselves to the darkness unleashed by the magical act of reversal. The spirit or demon will then dwell within that card and though it can be used to learn true things to the benefit of the reader it must be also treated with delicate caution as it will wish to attach itself to the reader and can, if the reader is slovenly or incautious, peel itself from its temporary pasteboard home and enter the aura of the reader themselves, becoming a parasite upon their life force and leading them, eventually, to hell. Once a demon has attached itself to a person it latches on and can be very difficult to remove. However a demon that has merely made its home in a carelessly reversed card can be shifted through the usual cleansing rituals, though care must always be taken to remove it from the vicinity of both the cards or the reader, and for this I believe that a cup of salt water, a silver spoon and a flushing toilet prove the most efficacious.
These warnings aside it is my true and abiding belief that the study and use of reversed cards is well worth the work and the danger involved. I would encourage anyone to at least attempt to seek meaning in the most carelessly placed trump although it goes without saying that precautions must always be taken.
The one about other uses for the cards.