While working on my Pink Floyd essay, I used reversed cards to portray the questions posed in the song's lyrics as a way to distinguish them from the declarative statements made by the upright cards. "Can you feel me?" and "Would you touch me?" are two examples. This has me thinking that reversed cards might … Continue reading Reversed Cards As “Interrogatories”
Reversed Cards
The “Captains of Industry” Business Dynamic Spread
“Business Management” spreads are some of the most challenging patterns to craft since there so many dynamic variables, vested interests and external influences to consider that it can be difficult to decide where to place the focus. You can quickly wind up with a sprawling, multi-armed monstrosity. (Hint: Despite its appearance, this really isn’t one … Continue reading The “Captains of Industry” Business Dynamic Spread
The “Tarot-Cartography” Relocation Spread
Here's a little less-complicated fun with reversals. It's based on the "Astro-Cartography" model from the 1970s. This approach to relocation assumes that we have an urge to move but don't know exactly where we want to go to find the best "fit." It uses a process of elimination based on the appearance of reversed cards … Continue reading The “Tarot-Cartography” Relocation Spread
Lurkers on the Threshold
There is an old cliche that "a bad penny always turns up." This aphorism perfectly describes the barely civil dispute about the practice of reading reversed cards that is currently simmering on one of my more advanced tarot forums. The weary consensus is to just "pick your poison" (I'm full of platitudes today) and move … Continue reading Lurkers on the Threshold
A “Mercury Reversed” Example Reading
As luck (or Fate) would have it, Mercury went retrograde on the 14th of January, 2022, giving me a perfect opportunity to test this spread. During much of the period, Venus is also retrograde but there were no Venus decan cards in the draw. It might be worthwhile to set up the "Archetypal Pattern" for … Continue reading A “Mercury Reversed” Example Reading
The “Mercury Reversed” Retrograde Period Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I split this spread off from yesterday's post for better visibility, saying three times "I promise not to repeat myself . . ." As discussed at length in my previous essay, I don't buy the popular notion that Mercury going retrograde as part of the evolving "sky pattern" is automatically a harbinger of … Continue reading The “Mercury Reversed” Retrograde Period Spread
The “Undoing”
I've mentioned that I've been reading Jonathan Dee's Fortune Telling Using Playing Cards. In it he describes a "Romany" method of reading that uses reversals (apparently old playing cards weren't double-ended so you could do that easily; now you have to mark them first). In his discussion of reversals he brought up a point that … Continue reading The “Undoing”
Flipped Missives: Reversals As Insinuation
While working on my initial dream-analysis reading, I started to say that all of the reversed Wands cards in the dream scenario represented an "incursion" of Spirit into the reverie, but then I realized that, in the dream-world, visions of profound import typically don't stand up and shout in order to draw attention to themselves, … Continue reading Flipped Missives: Reversals As Insinuation
Reversals and “Chaldean Mirrors”
I've been considering a different way to handle reversed cards that I call "Chaldean mirrors." The concept may not be new, but I haven't encountered it before. Most of the cards were associated with the “decans” of the Chaldean zodiac by the Golden Dawn's Macgregor Mathers, bringing the nature of the card together with the … Continue reading Reversals and “Chaldean Mirrors”
Half-Steps and Stepping Stones
I believe it was Paul Fenton-Smith, in his book Tarot Masterclass, who first introduced me to the idea that reversed cards represent unfinished business from the previous card in the sequence. Thus, if you get the 5 of Pentacles reversed, you still have accounts to settle with the 4 of Pentacles before the Five will … Continue reading Half-Steps and Stepping Stones
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 