A reversed Tarot card is just that - a card that is upside down. If you look up the meaning of reversed Tarot cards, you will find that most are interpreted negatively. In fact, it is common practice to attribute the opposite meaning of an upright card to a reversed Tarot card. This is why many Tarot readers avoid reading with reversals. They want to avoid the so-called negative energy of these reversed cards. However, these cards don't have to mean doom and gloom. If you change the way you interpret them, they can actually provide you with much deeper insight. They can help you understand a given situation from many different angles and make your reading more effective and thorough.
If you happen to be a beginner Tarot reader, you might think you will have to learn a whole new set of meanings for the 78 cards (if you want to read reversed cards). But that's not the case at all. You just need to learn 3 methods that will help you take the meaning of an upright card and translate it to the meaning of its reversed nature. Let's take a look at these 3 methods.
How To Look At Reversed Tarot Pulls
1) An Energy Imbalance (Too Much Or Too Little Energy)
Reversed Tarot cards can sometimes indicate an imbalance in energy (which means that there is either too much energy or too little energy of the upright card). For example, The Star represents the energy of hope and faith. But too much hope and faith can make a person leave everything to a higher force. As such, they might not be too careful with their decisions and actions. On the other hand, too little hope and faith can make a person pessimistic and bitter. So, if you get a reversed ‘The Star’ card, you might need to explore whether there is too much faith or too little of it. You can do the same for all the other upright cards and their energies.
2) Internally Expressed Energy
If you look at the meanings of different Tarot cards, you will realize that they are just expressions or representations of different types of energy. For example, the Devil is an expression of the energy of addiction and materialism. Another thing to note is that upright cards represent externally expressed energy. This means that their meanings have to do with the outside world and they are experienced in the external environment. So, we can interpret reversed Tarot cards as internally expressed energy. This means that their energy is experienced in the inner world. So, if an upright Devil card represents reveling in the material world, a reversed Devil can represent reveling in the inner world through spiritual practices like meditation. As you can see, there is no gloom and doom while interpreting the meaning of the reversed Tarot card.
3) Upside-Down Imagery
Tarot readers who like to use their intuition will love this method. Here, you need to look at the imagery of a reversed Tarot card and allow your intuition to interpret it. For example, in the upside-down Page of Pentacles card, the coin looks like it could be sliding out of the man's hands. This could mean that if the person is not careful, they might lose money. So, they need to make better decisions and be disciplined about their spending habits.