I don’t read reversed cards… most of the time. And it’s not because I don’t know how, or because I think it’s “wrong” to do so. It’s because I’ve learned to get everything I need from the cards without looking at them upside down.

A Change in Perspective

I still remember my first session with a mentor after interpreting tarot spreads for years on my own. Even before we got started, they casually mentioned that they didn’t read reversed cards. I was stunned. They didn’t make a big deal out of it, didn’t go much into detail as to why. They just mentioned that they check their deck beforehand and that they feel the upright cards have everything they need to do a reading. They continued saying that of course, everyone can do what feels right to them. And that was that.

That one offhand comment completely changed how I approached tarot. I’d never liked when reversed cards appeared, but I thought I was “supposed” to use them. And honestly, especially in the beginning of reading tarot for myself, reversed cards used to stress me out! They were rarely good news and I was just getting to know the cards upright. Hearing someone whose knowledge on tarot I respected say that I don’t have to work with them, was a relief.

Tarot is already honest enough

Here’s the thing: tarot is already brutally honest. The cards rarely sugarcoat or politely hint at what is going on. Sometimes they’ll slap you across the face with exactly what you don’t want to hear. And yes, that can be useful and is essentially one of the many reasons why I fell in love with the classic tarot. But I’ve also found that I don’t need an extra layer of harshness, which usually shows up in reversed card meanings.

Instead, I love working with the shadow of an upright card. Every card has one, an uncomfortable truth lurking behind the more obvious message. The Lovers isn’t always about romance, sometimes it’s about choices you’ve been avoiding. The Knight of Cups can be a dreamy lover… or a serial heartbreaker. You don’t need to reverse those cards to find the nuance.

No Rules, Just What Works for You

There are no steadfast rules in tarot. The best readers I know have very different approaches. Some swear by reading reversed cards, others never acknowledge them. I believe I sit somewhere in the middle. I will read a reversal if it shows up in a way that feels significant to me, when it really wants to be noticed. As I always check my deck carefully before shuffling, a reversed card appearing is rare and I will know in the moment, if I need to acknowledge it or not. But I’m not shuffling with the intention to pull them.

On my website, in the feelings descriptions for each individual card, I include some of the traditional reversed meanings because I know they are important to many people. But I don’t dig as deeply into them as I do the upright meanings.

So no, you won’t see me reading reversed cards often. But you will see me dig into the shadow side of an upright card, every single time.