Reversed Cards: History, Debate, and Interpretation

What Is a Reversed Card?

When you shuffle a tarot deck, cards sometimes emerge with their images upside down—these are reversed cards. This occurs because common shuffling methods (mixing the deck like playing cards) naturally allow cards to flip.

However, if you use a magician's shuffling technique (drawing from the bottom), you'll never encounter a reversed card.

History and Debate

The Origins of the Concept

The notion of "reversed cards" was first formally documented in two books by Etteilla—one on divination with playing cards, one on tarot. These were among the earliest texts dedicated specifically to teaching card divination as a practice.

Yet substantial evidence suggests card divination existed long before Etteilla.

The Main Points of Contention

Several perspectives compete in discussions of reversed cards:

1. Early tarot may well have included reversed cards—Etteilla lived relatively early in tarot's history, so we cannot conclude that ancient tarot excluded them.

2. Basic card divination may have adopted reversals later—but we cannot be certain whether this happened before or after tarot emerged.

3. Not all card decks use reversed meanings—Even after Etteilla, the Lenormand deck (created after his time) carried no reversed interpretations.

Modern Decks and the Question of Orientation

Three well-known decks have publicly rejected reversed card meanings:

• Thoth Tarot (Crowley-Harris)
• Robin Wood Tarot—Wood acknowledged that she couldn't work with reversed cards, so the cards in her original readings gradually lost reversed positions. When designing her own deck, she deliberately chose not to assign reversed meanings. Users remain free to explore them independently.
• Shadowscapes Tarot—The creators designed no reversed interpretations but encourage users to discover their own.

Thoth Tarot and Golden Dawn Tarot eschew the "flip" method, yet they do carry reversed meanings—determined by the Rule of Four Elements rather than card orientation.

As for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, Arthur Edward Waite did introduce reversed meanings in the guidebook, though he may have borrowed them from earlier sources. Many practitioners studying under Rachel Pollack (often called "Mother Rachel") chose not to work with reversals when using Rider-Waite.

How to Interpret Reversed Cards

Reversed Cards as One Factor Among Many

Card reversals are not the only way to modulate a card's meaning. Position within the spread, surrounding cards, the question's context—all matter equally.

Some readers never use reversals; some Lenormand readers treat tarot cards as standalone symbols; some work with decks that carry no positional meanings—and all can read tarot successfully. Reversed cards are not essential.

Mary K. Greer's Twelve Interpretations

In Tarot Reversals, the first comprehensive study of reversed meanings, Mary K. Greer proposed twelve approaches:

1. Blockage or Resistance—The querent fears, denies, or resists the card's standard meaning; or they attempt what the card symbolizes but meet obstacles.

2. Projection—The querent attributes the card's qualities to others rather than to themselves. This might mean projecting negative traits to diminish others, or positive ones to idealize them.

3. Delay, Difficulty, or Obstruction—The event the card represents is postponed, hard to achieve, or blocked. (If that's unwelcome, let it stay delayed!)

4. Internal, Unconscious, or Private—The card's energy remains unknown to the querent, hidden from consciousness, or kept secret. It may signal the need to turn inward to resolve the situation.

5. Waning or Dark Moon—If the upright card mirrors a full moon (fully visible), the reversal mirrors a new moon (obscured). You might consult astrological ideas of waxing and waning—the new moon as beginning, unclear; the full moon as peak, leading toward completion.

6. Breakthrough, Overturn, or Change of Direction—The card's standard meaning has confined the querent. Now they're about to break free, escape limitations. This applies even to "positive" cards if the querent has felt bound by them while meeting social or others' expectations.

7. No or Not—Add the negation "no" to the card's standard meaning. Or "don't"—don't do what the card symbolizes; don't be the type of person it depicts.

8. Excess or Deficit—Too much or too little; too young or too old; or oscillating between extremes.

9. Misuse or Misdirection—The card's standard meaning is being misapplied, used out of place, or invoked at the wrong time.

10. Reflection, Return, or Repetition—Doing something again, reconsidering. Similar to retrograde planets in astrology—Mercury retrograde might mean old relationships resurface or an ex reappears; Saturn retrograde might mean reconsidering past responsibilities.

11. Correction or Difficult Advice—The card flags where trouble lies while also suggesting where repairs must begin.

12. Unorthodox, Spiritual, or Magical—The card's meaning arrives through unusual, non-conventional, or unconventional channels, bringing unexpected aid to the querent.

Other Interpretive Approaches

Looking Back (Paul Smith)—Glance at the card before this one in the numerical sequence. A reversal signals that the prior card's work remains incomplete. For example, a reversed Ten of Wands suggests you haven't finished the Nine of Wands; a reversed Wheel of Fortune suggests unfinished Hermit work.

Hidden or Locked Energy (Joan Bunning)—An upright card shows energy fully displayed, at its peak. A reversed card shows that same energy diminished, hidden, or locked away, at a low point. This doesn't mean the energy vanishes—if it didn't exist, the card wouldn't appear.

Ricklief's Five Categories—Late, Reduced, Reversed, Dark, or Altered: - The normal effect is delayed - The normal effect is weakened - The complete opposite of the standard meaning - The shadow side of the standard meaning - A shift in direction

Intuitive Reading—Look at the card's image when it's flipped. Which details, previously overlooked, now stand out? Interpret based on this fresh perspective.

A Balanced View

Looking across all these interpretations, you'll notice that most of the time, reversed cards signal some form of difficulty—resistance, delay, concealment, and so on. It's unsurprising that many readers assume reversals are "bad."

Yet experienced practitioners often caution: a reversed card is not simply the opposite of its upright meaning. This caution holds merit—many teachers recognize it as one valid approach among several.

The most widely accepted consensus is this: Every card occupies a spectrum from its highest (most positive) expression to its lowest (most negative). Whether you use reversals or not, weave all surrounding factors into your reading, then assess which frequency the card occupies within its own spectrum. An upright card need not sit at the high frequency, and a reversed card need not sit at the low.

Reference: zhihu.com — Reversed Cards