Reversed tarot cards: how to read them

Readers disagree. Some only read upright cards: if one comes out reversed, they simply turn it around. That keeps things simple and gives each card a single meaning. Others feel that without reversals a reading loses half its color — every card sounds equally confident, and real life is rarely like that.

Both approaches are valid. Still, if you are just starting out, it is worth at least noticing reversals. They answer an important question: is this card's energy flowing freely, or is something in the way? The Queen of Cups upright is care and sensitivity offered to others. Reversed, it is the same sensitivity turned into worry or with nowhere to go.

If you want to try reversals with a physical deck, start small. Turn part of the deck around as you shuffle, and for the first few weeks read every reversal with a single key — blocked, say. Once that feels natural, add the others. Note which one turned out to be most accurate, and within a month you will have your own working dictionary of reversed meanings.

Tayna always reads reversals. The deck is shuffled with them, and each reading notes which cards came out reversed and what that adds to the answer.

You do not need to memorize a second meaning for all 78 cards. Know the upright meaning, then pick which of these four keys fits the position and the question. Often two of them fit at once.

Say the question is “Why can't I get my new project off the ground?” and the spread is past, present, future. In the past sits the Three of Wands: there were plans and a sense that something big lay ahead. In the present, the Eight of Wands reversed. Upright, it is speed and news, everything in motion. Reversed, it is motion that has stalled.

Which key fits? Blocked works — something is holding things up. But delayed reads too — the timing is not right yet. To decide, look at the third card. In the future position is the Ace of Pentacles upright: practical ground, a resource, a concrete opportunity is on its way. So the reversed Eight is more of a pause than a dead end. The idea is waiting for solid footing, and there is no point forcing it.

That is how a reversal is really read: not on its own but in conversation with its neighbors. The same reversed card next to a bright future sounds like a pause; next to a heavy one it sounds like a signal to change something now.

The suit tells you which area of life the stuck energy belongs to. It is an easy way to read a reversed Minor Arcana card even before you have learned its meaning.

Court cards reversed usually describe a person or a trait in its shadow. A reversed King is power without wisdom or wisdom without power: control, rigidity, or a refusal to take responsibility. A reversed Queen is care that has turned into dependence. A reversed Knight is drive with no direction. A reversed Page is immaturity or fear of taking the first step.

When more than half the cards come out reversed, the reading is speaking less about events and more about your inner state. Something in the situation has stalled, and it shows up as tiredness, doubt, or a sense that everything is pushing back. It is not a bad reading. It is an honest one: it points to exactly where the energy has stopped flowing.

Look at where the upright cards fell. They usually mark your support — what is already working. If only one card is reversed and the rest are upright, give that one extra attention: it is the bottleneck of the whole situation.

The mix matters too. Several reversed Major Arcana point to a big inner shift that is still unfinished. Several reversals from one suit point to a specific area: Cups for feelings, Swords for thoughts, Wands for action, Pentacles for work and the body.

In Tayna's deck about a third of the cards come out reversed on average. One or two reversals in a three- or five-card spread is normal, not a warning sign.

Reversals feel scariest in relationship readings. The Lovers or the Two of Cups upside down can look like a final verdict. More often they mean “this is hard right now” rather than “this is over”: a disagreement nobody has talked through, a feeling someone is afraid to show, closeness there is no energy for at the moment.

A reversed card in your partner's position often describes their inner state, not how they feel about you. The Knight of Cups reversed in the feelings position is not indifference but uncertainty: they are drawn to you and do not know how to approach. A reversed card in the advice position gently warns what not to do — rush, push, or wait in silence.

If a love reading is full of reversals, ask yourself what has gone unsaid in this relationship. Very often a real conversation is what clears the block the cards are pointing at.