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The first is that I've struggled with any deck that isn't the Rider-Waite deck, and even then I've struggled with that. Usually I'll struggle with the meanings of cards, especially with the major arcana.
The second is that I've given up on reversals. Not because they're negative, but because I have no idea what they mean. My understanding is that its "The opposite of the upright meaning" but then I'll have problems deciphering that.
Will not using reversals give me a botched answer? I've gotten better at reading tarot but I'm still not great with deciphering meaning unless its super obvious like 9 of swords.
I'm personally not fond of reversals. I also think that the cards need not be taken at face value. In a way they are a glimpse into possibilities which may or may not manifest depending on our actions. To me, feelings of fear are counterproductive. Swords represent Air, the Intellect. I know I struggle with overthinking and subsequent doubt which has its source in the reasoning mind. So one way of seeing the suit of Swords is as a guide to one's reasoning faculties. There is a place for intellect and reason, but placing too much emphasis on this aspect of life can be counterproductive to the rest.
That being said, Paul Huson had this to say about Nine of Swords in his guide to the Dame Fortune's Wheel Tarot:
This card seems to have earned itself a bad reputation over the years quite at odds with its traditional import. One of the traditional cartomantic interpretations simply indicates a minister or member of the clergy, thereby denoting honesty and good faith. Accordingly, this card depicts a medieval bishop or abbot wearing a miter and carrying his pastoral staff. However, he is hedged by nine swords, a veritable forest of troubles.
Keyword: Celibate.
Upright Card: Bachelor, celibate, virginity, abbot, priest, monk, hermit, friar, nun, temple, church, monastery, convent, hermitage, sanctuary, cult, religion, piety, devotion, rite, ceremony, ritual, recluse, anchorite, vestal. The state of virginity. This card may also be a warning of the plots of powerful and implacable foes.
As you can see, comparing this interpretation to others, there is no One Right Way with interpretation. It's often something you have to work out on your own with time and practice.
I don't use reversals, I use position. For example the Sun is generally though to be a positive card, but in a "obstacle" position, it won't be good. It could tell, for example, that your crash for someone is just a beautiful freindship.
If I am not mistaken Josephine mc Carthy also does not use reversals.
But I know many tarot readers, my mother for example, who reads cards like "good or bad". In that case you can use reversals. The important thing is that you establish your rule and stick to.it every time. You can check on labyrinthos for meanings.
For non rayder-white tarots check Camelia Elias and Jodorosky
If I remember correctly the Thoth deck doesn’t use reversals and Ive read some authors who say that reversals are kind of a later addition to tarot reading.
i guess if it works for you to either use reversals or not use them that’s all that matters. I knew a guy who told me he read reversals because they gave him more detailed information in the reading.
I don't use reversals. It wasn't part of the original intention (I guess neither was what we use it for to be fair,) but it's still a new thing overall. The card represents what it represents. I don't think the orientation changes that.
I tried reversals for awhile. I know some that use them and it works out well for them. However, I found it pointless and forcing me to relearn how to communicate with my decks. Learning the context of card placement in relation to each other was far more fruitful.
The first is that I've struggled with any deck that isn't the Rider-Waite deck, and even then I've struggled with that. Usually I'll struggle with the meanings of cards, especially with the major arcana.
If you will only use RW just go with the instructions and descriptions that go along with that .
For deeper understanding try another deck which gives the Trunps associations to other things like elemental and planetary, astrological attributions and others . See the Trumps as similar to 'neteru' that is ; a range of things in a certain class .
It does take a fair amount of time and effort to 'get a fuller understanding ' of tarot .
The second is that I've given up on reversals. Not because they're negative, but because I have no idea what they mean. My understanding is that its "The opposite of the upright meaning" but then I'll have problems deciphering that.
Will not using reversals give me a botched answer? I've gotten better at reading tarot but I'm still not great with deciphering meaning unless its super obvious like 9 of swords.
Try looking at 'modify' instead of reverse ; that is , read all cards upright but the negative and positive of a trump is by its aspects to other cards in the reading .
Maybe I can explain it this way ; let's say we have a tarot called called 'heat ' , it's reverse would be cold , but really the card should be called 'temperature' which contains a range of hot to cold , depending on surrounding conditions .
I'm personally not fond of reversals. I also think that the cards need not be taken at face value. In a way they are a glimpse into possibilities which may or may not manifest depending on our actions. To me, feelings of fear are counterproductive. Swords represent Air, the Intellect. I know I struggle with overthinking and subsequent doubt which has its source in the reasoning mind. So one way of seeing the suit of Swords is as a guide to one's reasoning faculties. There is a place for intellect and reason, but placing too much emphasis on this aspect of life can be counterproductive to the rest.
yes that is good generally as far as suits go but within the suit of swords are those positive and negative aspects of 'mind ' (or 'intellect ' if you prefer that term ) and a type of progression through those states as modified by the suits number . Look at the twos ; a purer form of the energy ; with swords mind it is 'peace' , with cups emotions it is 'love' , etc .
There is also the aspect of order of suits swords mind , is not the first suit ; wands , fire , connection to spirit , individuality , inspiration and will , then emotions feelings and the unconscious next , swords mind intellect is third and earth physical body 4th . We get inspired , we see how we 'feel about it ' ( maybe intuitively , emotionally, maybe 'sleep on it' - running it through the unconscious . Next we mentally think about it, is it practical HOW to manifest it and what is the plan , last is discs and the physical plane - actually doing it , without that, its all a pipe dream .
The main mistake is to put air mind first , that should not be running the show , it is an important function in the process and without it things can be a disaster . Its more of a western thing to put the mind as the ruler , in the east this a bit more understood .
That being said, Paul Huson had this to say about Nine of Swords in his guide to the Dame Fortune's Wheel Tarot:
This card seems to have earned itself a bad reputation over the years quite at odds with its traditional import. One of the traditional cartomantic interpretations simply indicates a minister or member of the clergy, thereby denoting honesty and good faith. Accordingly, this card depicts a medieval bishop or abbot wearing a miter and carrying his pastoral staff. However, he is hedged by nine swords, a veritable forest of troubles.
Keyword: Celibate.
Upright Card: Bachelor, celibate, virginity, abbot, priest, monk, hermit, friar, nun, temple, church, monastery, convent, hermitage, sanctuary, cult, religion, piety, devotion, rite, ceremony, ritual, recluse, anchorite, vestal. The state of virginity. This card may also be a warning of the plots of powerful and implacable foes.
As you can see, comparing this interpretation to others, there is no One Right Way with interpretation. It's often something you have to work out on your own with time and practice.
Will not using reversals give me a botched answer? I've gotten better at reading tarot but I'm still not great with deciphering meaning unless its super obvious like 9 of swords.
I'd suggest not using reversals while you're still learning the cards, and then trying them down the line if you feel compelled to.
There are many ways to interpret the cards, and as long as you don't switch to using reversals like midway through a reading, the symbolic language of the cards will still come through and give you a good result.
I know plenty of professional tarot readers who have a lot of experience who don't use reversals, so you'd be in good company.
I have been using tarot for decades, I've made a few sets, and have assisted others to make theirs. I believe this: If the tarot's power lies in the value of your internal projections being made upon an external image, thus bringing to the consciousness previously invisible or non-conscious content from the subconscious for your awareness to reflect upon - then it hardly matters if you stare at the sky, a cereal box or a reversed tarot card. The subconscious is far vaster than any set of cards claiming to be a full rainbow of human archetypes, can ever hope to capture, or restrict. If it does not reach you in your waking life, then it will do so through your dreams.
I also believe that becoming aware of the potential fact that -you are projecting- archetypes onto external things, is itself the larger part of understanding what Tarot is and does. For then, one recognises the ills of many of one's woes is in being continually unaware that they are inhabited by more than one element of consciousness. The result of failing to realise this influences the enshrinement of the ego which is a part of us very easily captured by the unparalleled power of forms (which includes other's explanations for things) and then, capture by various ideologies.
This is a critical power for a sorcerer, or one engaged in the occult to master. Failing to do so, may lead to everything from a poor choice in partner because you don't see them as they really are thanks to projection of your illusions, or being sucked into religious cults, nationalist perspectives, or becoming an angel of death through being taken over by these powerful forces, captive to some world view (weltanschauung) or another.
I didn't read reversals for the first ten years and I didn't feel like it held me back any. I read reversals now because after ten years, I've picked up a few things and learned the reversed meanings without using them, so it felt natural to adjust my flow to integrate them. It's not as simple as "the opposite of the upright meaning", for example, the reversed 7 of cups isn't "a lack of choice", even though the upright 7 is "choice", no, the reversed 7 of cups is usually "a banishment of illusion" (because upright, it can mean being taken in by illusions). A reversed card can also mean a suppressed energy, for example, a reversed Strength card could mean that you're "coming on too strong", because Strength upright is a card of gentle expression of strength.
How do you learn them, though? Simple: Stop doing what you're trying to do, which is actually learn them all. This isn't a biochem test, you can't study with flash cards to master it. Tarot is about intuition, feeling and flow. You want to constantly soak in all the tarot meanings you can like a sponge, but don't try to retain them, just kinda let them steep inside you. When you do a reading, lean into whatever jumps out at you, and push yourself to stretch beyond the surface into the other meanings that you're less sure about. It can help sometimes to do a sort of verbal diarrhea of keywords about a card until you land on something that tickles your brain and makes you go off on a tangent. Those tangents are the core of a tarot reading.
Two other pieces of advice: It's okay to have a resource at your fingertips, pros use reference books. You should always consult your own noggin first, but if you can't remember what a card means, it's okay to look it up. There's plenty of useful tarot reference websites. Second, if you're reading for yourself, consider "rubber ducky programming". It can be easy to lose a thought in your head when you're just thinking through a reading, so a lot of people have found it helps to set a stuffed animal on the other side of the table and talk through their reading as if the stuffed animal is them as the querant.
Bonus third piece of advice: Forget patter. If you watch tarot on youtube especially, you'll see a lot of professional patter. But the thing is, you only need patter when you're working a sale. If your goal is genuine insight, it's okay to drop the patter. When you've developed the connection to tarot that makes your readings accurate, the people you give readings to will take the insight and they won't mind that it lacked the dressing of patter to keep it entertaining. And if they ignore your readings, my cards tell me you should stop giving those people readings.
edit: I'm going to stress that "use a reference" piece of advice here. In 12 years of working tarot, I have never had someone complain or express judgement at me for using a reference while reading the cards. It makes you look like you know what you're doing, people realize how many cards there are in that deck, especially if you use different meanings for them when they're upside down. On some level, with some people, if you don't use a reference, they'll be skeptical of the reading and think you made it up because you couldn't possibly have that all memorized.
After memorizing the numbers of the major arcana years ago, I've found that any random number under 23 is a "one card pull" reading for me, because I instantly calculate which "card" I "drew". It took some effort to learn to tune into/out of that state of mind, because after a certain point, you lose the signal to the noise. You don't learn anything about yourself from drawing tarot all day (read as: reading the numerology of every order slip that comes across my grill). You have to reflect on the one you drew last before you draw "clarifying cards".
I'd suggest not using reversals while you're still learning the cards, and then trying them down the line if you feel compelled to.
There are many ways to interpret the cards, and as long as you don't switch to using reversals like midway through a reading, the symbolic language of the cards will still come through and give you a good result.
I know plenty of professional tarot readers who have a lot of experience who don't use reversals, so you'd be in good company.
I think most pros will read the reversed meaning of a card if it feels reversed to them, regardless of the orientation it was pulled in and vice versa (I know for sure that when I draw 75% of the cards upside down in a reading, I just flip them all upright and go case-by-case). The reversed meanings can also be taken as the "Shadow" of the card. I think that's the easiest way to grow into using reversals, only look into the reversed meaning when you get a strong feeling from a pull that "this card is not in it's typical expression".
