AUTHOR’S NOTE: For the approximately fifty percent of my followers who read reversed cards, this is for you. The rest can take it however they choose.
Over the years I’ve come up with over 200 discrete interpretations for the phenomenon of tarot-card reversal sorted into 15 broad categories, independent of the nature of the cards involved. Lately the one that gets the most play in my readings is the idea of diminished potency that reduces the vigor of a card’s upright meaning without changing the inherent quality of its influence (it is just sapped so it has less “juice”). Here is the general category for that description:
“Diminishing” in its potency or significance, more inert than dynamic; mild, faint or weak; rudimentary or provisional; declining; receding; regressing; fading; faltering; “out of gas;” a “false start;” impractical; unripe; unlikely at this time.
My current thinking is that reversal does little to alter a card’s normal action, it just gives it a slightly different complexion such that we may not see it coming as it sneaks up on us. The reader’s task becomes one of identifying the difference between how it’s full-on (upright) arrival might be confronted and how we should watch for it tiptoeing around our sentries when reversed.
I find this to be the most logical way to parse the subtleties. Rather than merely ignoring reversed cards as many diviners do, I want to integrate them into the narrative in a useful way. I see it in the same light as elemental discord between two cards that de-energizes any card sitting directly between them. In this case, the unbalanced condition implied by reversal can reduce the thrust of the affected card’s energy and make it less penetrating “for good or ill.” This is not always a bad thing when the full-strength version could be too much to handle under the circumstances. To that point of view we can add the Golden Dawn caveat “according to its nature,” which for this purpose means that a reversed positive card is still positive just as a reversed negative card is still negative; they are clearly recognizable but less-dynamic expressions of those polarities.
I like the idea of using all the tools in my interpretive toolbox, and reversal has always been a reliable one. There is no need to get nervous when they show up because all they do is add inflection to what would otherwise be a “vanilla” interpretation. In my opinion, this can almost double the range of the narrative without overly distorting the essential meaning of the cards, but perhaps diluting it slightly like watered wine or 3.2% beer.
I think of reversed cards as showing a different face that, like the dark side of the Moon, may reveal unfamiliar territory that requires us to rethink our customary response. Do we eye their intrusion suspiciously and jump on the opportunity to “kick ’em when they’re down” or do we let them infiltrate the situation at their own level of skewed significance. I’m always on the lookout for the latter mode of accommodation when I address them in a spread. The advice would be to avoid reacting until you know which way the wind is blowing, and how hard. You might be surprised at what you learn by briefly staying your hand.
