AUTHOR’S NOTE: In a recent online post, someone used the word “backflip” to describe how we might rebound from a card we don’t understand to land on our own unique, intuitive interpretation. This jogged my memory about something I once read regarding reversals.

One of the more unique ways I’ve ever seen for handling reversed cards came from Paul Fenton Smith’s Tarot Masterclass. In that work he proposed that, when we receive a reversed card in a reading, we should look back on the previous card in its suit or series (regardless of whether that card appears in the spread) for something we may have failed to manage effectively within its scope. The idea seems to be that this incomplete (and maybe defective) closure will carry forward into present circumstances and produce the unsettled state of affairs shown by its reversed successor, and reconsidering it will ideally permit us to address any unintended consequences.

For example, if the 3 of Cups appears reversed, the querent may have reached an unbalanced condition concerning relationship matters expressed by the upright 2 of Cups. Classically, this can mean introducing a third factor into the mix that disrupts its harmony, since in one system of esoteric numerology all single-digit odd numbers lack equilibrium. (Personally, I seldom view this scenario as a “love triangle,” but it is a common opinion held by many.) In this sense, the impact of the reversed card on the reading lies not so much in its own definition as in its potential for highlighting unfinished business from an earlier point in time.

I tend to forget about this idea when in the middle of a reading, but it adds a clever twist to the reversed-card dilemma that allows us to avoid having to deal directly with the phenomenon from a predictive standpoint (which often ties inexperienced readers up in knots). It amounts to having one foot in an inconclusive present and the other in an unresolved past, but at least the preceding card is assumed to be upright and thus open to routine interpretation that will give us some leverage in tackling any shortfall in its realization.

We can then ask ourselves “What is it about that 2 of Cups that I may have missed the first time through?” (One possible consideration would be that we took someone for granted in a relationship and didn’t give that person his or her due.) Once we’ve identified that failing and possibly backtracked to remedy any hard feelings, we can then return to examine the nature of the reversed card in a different light, perhaps as residual fallout from the earlier misunderstanding that we can now appreciate more fully and put to rights in our own mind, even if it’s too late to do much about it other than avoid repeating the mistake.