AUTHOR’S NOTE: While reading Roger Horne’s Cartomancy in Folk Witchcraft, I encountered the curious notion that difficult positions in a spread should be viewed as “releasing” their influence, whether harmlessly banishing it or unleashing it with prejudice on the seeker I can’t say since there was no explanatory text at that point in the book (although it may be forthcoming later).

The resulting current of stimulation led me to the related premise that any challenging cards in these locations can induce a motivating “charge” that will engender a reaction. I was struck by the idea that it could portray a “Pandora’s Box” scenario rather than a healthy purging, since “distress” is one of the more common interpretations for problematic placements.

This reminded me that in one of my numerous essays on the subject of reversed cards in tarot reading, I used the term “unloading” to mean being relieved of something onerous. (See the link below.) In that case I adopted the “healthy purging” premise rather than the “unleashing of woe” scenario. Reversal of an unfortunate card offers us a chance to get out from under the full brunt of a burden that has been shifted slightly, presenting an opportunity to sidestep some of its impact.

It suggests mortal Hercules tricking the god Atlas into re-shouldering the weight of the world after first trading places with Atlas, who then completed the “11^th Labor” on Hercules’ behalf by stealing the golden apples of the Hesperides, but fully intending to keep them for himself while leaving Hercules literally “holding the bag.”

I took a slightly different tack in a famous spread that includes a stressful placement: the Celtic Cross with its “crossing card” that traditionally meant an obstacle to achievement of the querent’s goals. I recalled James Wanless mentioning that “there are no bad cards, only opportunities,” and I brought that assumption to bear on “bad” positions by considering them to represent “major motivators” that can be either arduous or auspicious depending on the nature of the card, thereby removing the onus of inherent negativity from the picture.

By recasting the influence as a “goad to action” and letting the cards determine the nature of the stimulus, I resolved the “good-card-in-a-bad position” dilemma. This also has applicability in determining how a “bad” card might behave in a “good” position. In the first instance, a grave projection could be made less dire, while in the second a happy forecast might have some of the “shine” rubbed off the apple. In neither one is the outlook “all bad” or “all good” but is instead a nuanced compromise.

Reversal As “Unloading”