When Tarot Cards Are Upside Down

Be Aware of Reversed Cards!

Often when a Tarot reader shuffles the cards and places a card down, it will come out in the reverse position or upside down. 

What does that mean?

My practice is to view the reversal as flipping the original meaning of the card in question. For example, if you got the two of cups in the reverse position, I would read it as there being a lack of harmony between two individuals. In this case, the people that are the subject of the reading are not seeing eye to eye emotionally. This is just as an example because the other cards in a spread will help contextualize the two of cups. At this point, we still do not know if this disharmony is in a romantic relationship or in some other area of life (contrary to popular belief, the cups are not always about romance).

The Marseilles Tarot 

My Favorite Deck: The Marseilles Tarot

It’s important to point out that reversals have more to do with certain types of decks. For instance, we know that reversals were not used with the Marseilles Tarot, though nowadays you can purchase a deck with instructions on what to do if you get a reversed card. This is a problem, though, because the only suit you can get a genuine reversal in is the cups. With swords, the face cards and the odd numbers (with the exception of the ten of swords) can all be reversed; but not the even cards. With the clubs, the ace and the face cards can be reversed, but no other cards can. With the coins, all face cards can be reversed, but no other cards can; although I have seen readers come up with rules for reading the three and four of coins as reversals.

Alejandro Jodorowsky points out that the Marseilles Tarot was read by considering the symbols of each card and how they related to the symbols in the other cards in the spread. This requires one to know the cards well, and it also helps to know numerology. After considering this, it is up to each reader and their spirituality to draw relevant meanings from the cards for their client. 

Reversals: A Newer Concept

Reversed cards is a concept that comes to us from the 18th century. We see rules regarding reversals in the 1783 work called Manière de se récréer avec le jeu de cartes nommées tarots or A Way to Have Fun with the Card Game Called Tarot by Jean-Baptiste Alliette. In this work, there are rules for how to read the Minor suits when they are reversed. By the 1840s, there were rules for reading all cards when reversed. 

Are Reversals Necessary?

In my opinion, reversals are not necessary when using the Marseilles Tarot. This deck was not designed with reversals in mind. There are Marseilles decks being sold with numbers written on the cards in ways that facilitate reversals, but that is a modernizing trend that is not natural to the classic Tarot.

When I use the Rider-Waite, I use reversals because that deck was designed with reversals in mind. I find that reversals also help add details to a reading that may help the client more.