AUTHOR’S NOTE: I sometimes think of a card’s reversed (or “upside-down”) condition as signifying a “hole in the bucket” that is carrying its energy, letting the vitality dribble away. This echoes the standard meaning of “diminishment,” but I like to be more impressionistic in my interpretation by using metaphors and analogies.

My current thinking on reversal is that a card’s potency is never entirely depleted, it is just subtly rerouted. Thus, there is no need to secure the card’s mojo by immediately tending to the breach when we can just collect and restore what was temporarily diverted (or, if the influence is negative, we can willingly kiss it goodbye and count ourselves lucky).

Although I’ve described reversed cards as “having a Hanged-Man moment,” in reality nothing is sacrificed except perhaps a little time and energy. Once we recognize that fact, with a bit of effort we can always “right the ship and get back on course” in accordance with the card’s upright meaning. Even if that is not especially auspicious in nature, we can at least confront it head-on rather than obliquely after we “patch the hole.” We will just have to take the inconvenience in stride until that occurs. There is a verse from an old country-rock song, It’ll Get Better by Redeye, that speaks directly to this hardship, and I like the stoicism of it:

“You know time will mend that hole in your shoe
But until then your toe will stick through.”

The point is that reversal is not necessarily threatening, it can present an opportunity to examine one’s options before doing anything. Another of my personal definitions for it is a momentary “time-out:”

“A pause to reassess the situation from a different angle (“step back and take a deep breath”); a chance to rethink or regroup; “buying time;” mitigation; “damage control;” “putting on the brakes.”

In a recent online exchange I described the reversed 9 of Swords as reflecting one of my unique meanings of reversal as “backsliding” (or maybe “stepping back from the brink” is a better way to put it). With this particular card a little hesitation could be prudent so we don’t beat our head against the wall.

We can usually afford to let a fraction of the bucket’s contents drain out as we pursue the leak and come up with a more robust recovery plan. All it takes is a disciplined forbearance as we pinpoint and evaluate the source. There is no need to toss out the remainder when an in-situ patch will solve the problem. In practical terms, I think of this as “going to Plan B.”

Once again, I will link my full glossary of reversed-card implications, although I have not yet added the “hole-in-the-bucket” metaphor to the “Diminishing” category.

The Significance of Reversed Cards