AUTHOR’S NOTE: Here is a companion piece to my previous essay on reversed cards as indicators of introspection or introversion that explores another notion I picked up from Paul Fenton-Smith, who observed that the reversed 3 of Swords can imply being “haunted by past disappointments.”

Unlike the influence of an upright card, which will often pass through our consciousness and depart after a short time, a reversed card can invite dwelling on (and perhaps agonizing over) its impact for an extended period, if only to understand why things had to be like that. (As we all know, the most troubling memories are those that are slowest to fade, and we tend to poke and pry at them as we would pick at a scab; I harbor a few lingering regrets that go back 60 years, long before my involvement with the tarot, expressing this phenomenon perfectly.)

Even at their best, reversed cards can represent a conundrum for the reader and client since there are myriad ways to decipher them that go far beyond simple delay or blockage. The idea of being “haunted” by their residual effect delights me because it aligns so well with many of my personal interpretations. There are typically no easy answers in these situations, which underscores my belief that handling such convoluted matters is where professional diviners earn their fee. Of course it’s entirely acceptable to ignore reversal and lay all the cards upright since swapped orientation doesn’t dramatically alter the fundamental meaning of a card, just its mode of delivery, but why would I want to do that when there is so much narrative richness to be found in mining its nuances?

Riffing on a comment by Marcus Katz in a recent Facebook post, I believe reversed cards can help us answer “the question we needed to ask but did not” in the sense that they can weigh in at the subconscious level as long as we have eyes to see the message; perhaps they lodge in our long-term awareness to give us more time to puzzle it out. Reversed meanings can be the stuff of “inner work” assuming we can open ourselves to the opportunity by embracing the alternate point of view they convey. In these instances I’m keen on learning how a client experiences these impressionistic insights in a subjective way rather than in trying to pin down their precise definition in more literal language. I will broach the subject of oblique implications and ask “Does this idea mean anything to you?” The result can be surprisingly revealing in that not only can they be “haunted” by the prospect, they may well become thoroughly obsessed by it.