Reading Reversals

Treating a reversal as the simple opposite of the upright meaning is the shortcut beginners take most often, and it is also where readings most often go wrong; tarot history has never settled how reversals should be read, and both whether to use them and which theory to follow vary widely ^uncertain. This page first lays out several approaches to reversals that have appeared over time, then gives a simplified version for everyday use.

Where reversals come from, and why there is still no consensus

Whether reversals appear at all depends on how you shuffle. An overhand shuffle (like straightening a deck of playing cards) keeps every card facing the same way, so every card turns up upright. A "washing" shuffle, where the cards are spread and swirled on the table like mahjong tiles, or a crosswise shuffle mixes the cards' directions at random, so upright and reversed cards can both appear. There is also no single rule for which way counts as "upright" once a card is turned over. Some go by the reader's side of the table and some by the querent's. What matters is agreeing on the rule before the reading starts; there is no one "correct" convention to find.
The card meanings used for tarot divination can only be traced back to roughly the 19th century, and from the earliest sources of that period, upright and reversed meanings already appear side by side. Early texts often described a reversal as "ill-dignified" (unfavorable, unlucky), and this is where the stereotype "reversed = negative" comes from.
The Golden Dawn tradition never agreed on this internally. MacGregor Mathers (S. L. MacGregor Mathers) and Waite both used reversals explicitly in their books, while Aleister Crowley deliberately left out the upright/reversed distinction when he designed the Thoth deck. Two camps within the same occult tradition took opposite approaches, which confirms that the split among the three main traditions goes beyond how the cards are drawn and reaches into the method of reading itself.
A rough pattern can be observed. Practical divination traditions that lean toward predicting events give reversals more weight and treat them as essential for judging good and bad outcomes. Discursive traditions that lean toward meaning and spiritual growth put less stress on reversals, and some even suggest reading a reversed card as if it were upright [uncertain, this is a generalization from observation and not an established conclusion in tarot scholarship].
Tarot literature itself does not treat reversals consistently ^uncertain, and this is more than an impression. The only two English-language books devoted to reversals, Mary K. Greer's The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals (2002) and Joan Bunning's Learning Tarot Reversals (2003), both appeared in the 21st century. That a technique in use for over a hundred years waited this long for a systematic treatment shows how much reversals have remained a marginal, unsettled topic in Western tarot writing.

Historical theories of reversal

In Daniel's Chinese-language book on reversals, the author sorts the approaches to reversals found in Western writing into several lines. They start from different premises and even contradict one another, which shows that "how to read reversals" was never a single question. Each approach grew out of a different worldview.

The negative-meaning method: the earliest mainstream approach

This is the oldest and simplest idea. A card can carry both a positive and a negative layer of meaning, so the positive layer goes to the upright card and the negative layer to the reversed card. A typical example is the Wheel of Fortune, which stands for change itself with its direction still open: upright is read as "change in a favorable direction" and reversed as "change in an unfavorable direction". This approach divides further into three specific uses:

Misuse: reversed = the same force used in a crooked way. The force is still there, but it points in the wrong direction. A card that stands for quick wit and confidence, for example, might become petty cleverness or arrogance when reversed.
Too much or too little: reversed = the upright meaning has gone too far or has not gone far enough. A card that stands for reason and following the law might, reversed, become rigid, dogmatic and cold (too much). A card that stands for will and the ability to get things done might, reversed, show that the ability is not yet sufficient or the person is not yet mature (too little).
Weakening: reversed = the upright card's positive force is weakened. The direction stays the same and only the strength is reduced. A card with a strongly positive meaning (such as a card of fulfillment) does not flip into something negative when reversed; the fulfillment simply meets more obstacles and is less complete.

The advantage of the negative-meaning method is that it shows good and bad at a glance, which makes it friendly to beginners. Its weakness is that some cards are already dark when upright (such as cards of upheaval or endings), so pushing them further toward the negative when reversed leaves little to distinguish the two, and forcing a difference can feel strained.

The opposite-meaning method: swapping the whole meaning

This goes further than the negative-meaning method. Since the whole image is turned upside down, the meaning should be turned around completely as well. The change is not limited to "positive becomes negative"; other qualities can be swapped too. A card that stands for triumphant conquest might, reversed, be read directly as the defeated, conquered side. This approach also has several specific uses:

Pointing to an action to avoid: reversed is read as "don't do this." A card about coordination and communication might, reversed, suggest steering clear of a particular partnership for now.
"Not" the upright meaning: the reversal is defined by exclusion. It gives no specific opposite content and only says what something is not. A love card that stands for sincere affection is read reversed as "this relationship is not sincere."
"Lacking" the upright quality: reversed = the absence of the ability or state the upright card describes. A card that stands for intelligence and insight is read reversed as a lack of intelligence or insight.

The opposite-meaning method is easy to apply once you know the upright meanings well. But "opposite" can point in many directions, so the meanings tend to spread wider and grow looser. Forcing a card whose image looks positive into a negative reading can also clash with your first intuition, which makes it harder to accept.

The separate-definition method: reversals as an independent set of categories

John Gilbert of the American Tarot Association proposed a more radical approach. In his view, a reversal should not be treated as an extension or inversion of the upright card at all. It is an entirely separate set of meaning categories, so upright and reversed each correspond to a fundamentally different kind of information. He gave a table by suit:

Suit / group	Upright theme	Reversed theme
Wands	intuition	willpower and determination
Cups	relationships	immature feelings
Swords	ideas	worry and unease
Pentacles	work and career	finances
Major Arcana	the spiritual path	the material path

The advantage of this scheme is that it turns 78 cards into 156 independent categories, which in theory allows a finer reading. Critics say that splitting the meanings in two this way is arbitrary, since most card images show no trace of such a distinction; everything has to be memorized, and that makes it heavy to learn.

The versions of this technique in circulation are not fully consistent either. Another common version, which also claims to come from the ATA system, gives these suit themes: Wands upright for personality, reversed for a passing impulse; Cups upright for the relationship itself, reversed for emotions; Swords upright for ideas and plans, reversed for one's attitude toward things; Pentacles upright for wealth, reversed for health. This version does not line up with the table above, which shows that the separate-definition method has several variants in popular use ^uncertain. Before using it, check which version you are following and do not mix them. The technique only works for the number cards of the Minor Arcana, not for the Major Arcana. And because only a few of the forty number cards are negative by nature (such as the Eight, Nine and Ten of Swords and the Ten of Wands), most upright and reversed readings under this method land on neutral-to-positive interpretations. In practice you would also need to layer on the dignity judgment from elemental dignities to see whether the cards lean favorable or unfavorable overall, so the effort involved is clearly higher than with other ways of reading reversals.

The image-association method: Daniel's approach, deriving reversals from composition

This is Daniel's own approach. Tarot card meanings come from associations with the images in the first place, so the logic for deriving a reversal should also start from the image itself, rather than from an add-on rule that has nothing to do with the picture. He splits the composition into two layers of symbolism, position and direction, and in a reversal both layers flip in a systematic way. This is the most distinctive idea in his book, and this site had not covered it before.

The basic symbolism of composition (upright): the top of the image usually corresponds to what is important, advantaged or highlighted, and the bottom to what is secondary, disadvantaged or easily overlooked. Left and right are treated as an extension of top and bottom: the left side carries on the lightness, looseness and freedom of the top, and the right side carries on the heaviness, density and constraint of the bottom. Putting the two together also tells you whether a card's composition feels stable. A composition weighted toward the lower right feels settled, while one weighted toward the upper left looks light and off balance. As for direction, a movement in the image that points upward corresponds to growth and expansion, with its force landing on other people. A movement pointing downward corresponds to putting down roots and self-reflection, with its force coming back to oneself. A movement to the left leans toward risk and openness, and a movement to the right leans toward return and settling down.

The change in position: when a card is reversed, the image turns upside down and left and right switch places, so this whole order of importance is reversed. The lower part, once secondary, becomes the focus of the image. A composition that felt steady becomes unsettled, and a composition that looked uneasy and unresolved takes on a sense of things having settled.

The change in direction: in a reversal, the direction of a movement flips together with the target of its force. Harm that pointed downward at oneself might, reversed, become harm pointing upward at someone else. Risk-taking openness toward the left might pull back into cautious steadiness toward the right. Energy that went out to strike first might turn into waiting until a plan is ready before acting.

Daniel also points out the method's limits. Number cards that show only symbols and no scene (the Marseille-style cards that show just an arrangement of cups or swords) offer no composition to work from, so the image-association method has little to grip on there. He also notes that the four suits and the Major Arcana each have their own emphasis when reversed. The Major Arcana have the richest images and the most abstract meanings, so their reversals lean toward the spiritual or symbolic level. Wands focus on direction and the relative positions of the figures. Cups have such a concrete image (a tipped cup cannot hold water) that a reversal often swings straight from favorable to neutral or even somewhat negative. Swords are harmful by nature, so a reversal changes the direction of the force and leaves the harm itself unchanged. Pentacles focus on relative position and on whether something can be grasped in time. The images of court cards usually change little when reversed; the figure's basic positive traits generally go to the upright card and the more negative or changeable side to the reversed card. The images give limited clues, so a good deal of this relies on rules of thumb from experience.

A further line: the adjustment method, oriented toward mind and energy

There is a fifth line, which can be called the adjustment method. Its core idea is to leave the upright meaning unchanged and treat a reversal as an "abnormal" state or a state of insufficient energy, with the focus on how to adjust things so the card "turns upright." This line has several representative approaches. Mary K. Greer's unusual-expression approach treats a reversal as a signal that calls for special attention and active adjustment. Joan Bunning's hidden-energy approach reads a reversal as one of three states of energy: "too little," "too early" or "too late." The upright meaning is temporarily hidden; it has not disappeared. Paul Fenton-Smith's look-back approach holds that a reversal points to a lesson not yet learned from the upright meaning of the card before it. This line is more about psychology and energy, and it is less useful than the earlier approaches for concrete questions about events.

How this site's "blocked / overdone / turned inward" scheme relates to these theories

The above is the full family of theories that Daniel lays out. The three-way scheme used on this site's card pages, Blocked, Overdone and Turned inward, is a teaching simplification derived from the negative-meaning method. It is not a fifth theory standing alongside the others.

Blocked / delayed roughly matches the "too little" half of the "too much or too little" branch of the negative-meaning method. The direction of the card's energy has not changed; it simply has not arrived yet and is held up by real-world conditions.
Overdone / out of balance matches the "too much" half of the "too much or too little" branch, and it also takes in part of the "misuse" branch. The energy itself is still there; it has gone too far or been pointed the wrong way, and it has not disappeared.
Turned inward sits a little further from the negative-meaning method. It is closer to the hidden-energy idea within the adjustment method (reading a reversal as energy that is "hidden, not yet showing" rather than absent), and it also echoes the idea in the image-association method's "change in direction" that the force turns from acting on others to acting on oneself.

The benefit of the three-way scheme is that it is easy to remember and easy to pick up. Every card page can use the same framework without having to work everything out again each time. The cost is that it gives up the precision of Daniel's theoretical system. In particular, the three-way scheme does not cover the image-association method's logic of deriving meaning from the composition, or the possibility of a whole independent set of categories offered by the separate-definition method. If you want to work out a specific card's reversed meaning in more detail, especially for Major Arcana cards with rich scenes, the image-association method's "change in position / change in direction" is a more powerful tool than the three-way scheme.

Which of the three readings fits a particular reversed card depends on the nature of the card and the question at hand. Cards with strong positive energy are often read reversed as "overdone or delayed." Cards that already concern relationships or communication often suit "turned inward" when reversed. Cards about concrete action often suit "blocked" when reversed. The Reversed section of each card page notes which reading suits that card better.

Three practical readings to add

Beyond the family of theories above, a few more hands-on techniques are worth recording. They are not independent schools of theory. They are closer to extended uses of the negative-meaning and opposite-meaning methods in real consultations.

Reading as a warning: when a card that is already negative upright (such as a card of upheaval, endings or grief) appears reversed, besides reading it as "weakened" or "lacking," you can read it as an early warning. If things keep going in the current direction, what the upright card describes will happen sooner or later, and the reversal only gives the querent a buffer period. If that time is used to make changes, the course of events may shift. If it is spent simply putting things off, what was going to happen will still happen.
Psychological resistance: a reversal can also be read as the querent actively resisting the reality the card describes, beyond the energy itself being blocked. This works for both negative and positive cards, but it plays out differently. With a negative card reversed, the resistance is a refusal to face something bad that is coming. With a positive card reversed, the resistance may be a refusal to accept something good, either because it has come at the wrong time (for example a close relationship or a responsibility the person is not ready for), or because the good thing nearby shows up the person's own shortcomings and they instinctively want to push it away. Whether a positive card reversed means "the energy is reduced" or "the querent is resisting" has to be judged from the specific situation in the question. The two readings do not exclude each other and are often true at the same time.
Tracing back to diagnose: when a card in a spread is reversed, the cause often lies in the state shown by the card before it in the sequence, more than in the card itself. The energy of the earlier card was not handled well (even if that card is upright), and that is what led to the later card being reversed. A common mistake is to treat "this card is reversed" as simply equal to "the previous card is upright." What you should do is first read the reversed card's own meaning using your usual techniques, then go back and check the previous card to find what condition led to the current blocked state, and from there judge whether the reversal could be turned around if that condition changed. This method is especially useful when the outcome looks poor and you need to show the querent at which step things went wrong.

Some readers do not use reversals at all

Historically, there has never been agreement within the tarot tradition about whether to use reversals. In the Golden Dawn, MacGregor Mathers and Waite both used them explicitly, while Crowley deliberately dropped the upright/reversed distinction when he designed the Thoth deck. All of them are recognized authorities within the same occult tradition, yet they did the opposite of each other. The split continues today. Authors who lean toward meaning and spiritual growth mostly put little stress on reversals, and some beginner books simply suggest turning an upside-down card the right way round and reading its upright meaning. Their reasoning is that reversals add complexity and room for subjectivity, and can easily turn into "you can make it fit any way you like" ^uncertain. This is a valid simplification, especially for people who are just starting out and still learning the upright meanings of the 78 cards. This site includes reversed meanings by default, but that does not make reversals a required part of a reading.

The number of reversals is information too

The share of reversed cards in a spread is worth noticing in itself. Few reversals usually mean the current situation is fairly smooth and energy is flowing well. Many reversals usually mean there is more resistance and inner strain right now, or that the querent is in a stage that calls for more inward reflection ^inferred. Like a cluster of Major Arcana cards in a spread, this is a reading of the overall atmosphere and not a rule for individual cards. For how to bring this ratio into the reading process, see The Reading Process.