Reversals

Reversals

Same Energy

You’ve probably noticed that when I talk about the potential meaning in each card I also acknowledge that of their reversed states. Some people choose not to read reversals at all, but I think they add a lot of depth and expansion to a reading. I believe that everything in a reading appears for a reason and when a card reveals itself as reversed it should not be disregarded.

When starting out in Tarot reading, it’s easy to assume that reversals are just the opposite of their upright counterparts, but that isn’t really the case. With the tree of life in mind, it becomes apparent that the cards are, essentially, symbolic representations of different states of divine energy. When they are upright that energy can be fully expressed. When they are reversed that same energy still exists, but it becomes repressed and unable to reach it's full potential.

Reversals can be tricky because they are a lot more subtle and personal. The reason many reversals seem like negative counterparts to their upright selves is because they are not fully charged, so to speak. For instance, in the case of the II of Pentacles the upright meaning reveals an ability to find balance in your life, whereas when it’s reversed it points to imbalance. Imagine learning tree pose in yoga. Until you get it just right you may waver and fall, but you’re working towards stability. That is not the opposite, but an in progress state.

This is also true for cards whose upward states have a more negative connotation, like the III of Swords. Upright it may point to pain or distress caused by external sources, reversed it may point to inner pain or a time of hardship that has just passed. It’s the same energy of grief felt in different ways.

In many cases, reversals guide you to look inward for the answers you seek. Imagine a card laid upright before you, then imagine rotating it from its upward to reversed state. The motion creates an inward spiral that points to you. The energy is within you, but something is blocking it from being fully expressed. In the II of Pentacles example, it may be asking you to look inward to reevaluate your priorities in order find the source of your imbalance.

I hope this information was helpful and not too confusing. Everyone has their own way of reading reversals, or not, this is simply my philosophy on the subject.