Reversed tarot cards are the ones that come out upside down when you deal, and on this site they are read as the same card turned inward, held up for a while, or in the middle of letting something go. A reversed card is not the opposite of the upright one and it is not a bad omen, and if you have been dreading them, most of that dread comes from a way of reading that we do not use.
You also do not have to read them at all. Plenty of careful readers deal upright only and find the shadow of a card from the cards around it, and if you are in your first month that is what we would suggest. In the readings here, roughly three cards in ten arrive reversed, and the reading says so and reads them one of the three ways below.
What a reversed card is not
It is not a no, it is not the card’s dark twin, and it is not a message telling you to brace. The Sun reversed is not a storm; it is the Sun with a curtain half drawn, good things happening that you cannot quite feel, or a cheerfulness you are performing for the people at the table.
The reason the omen reading is so common is that it is easy. Upright good and reversed bad is a rule you can learn in a minute, and it produces readings that frighten people, which keeps them coming back, and that is roughly the business model of the worst of this industry. We would rather you understood the card.
Three ways to read reversed tarot cards
Inward is the first. The thing the card describes is happening, but quietly, in your head or behind a closed door rather than out loud. The Knight of Swords reversed is the argument you have been winning in the shower all week and have not had. The Five of Wands reversed is the fight you are having with yourself about the fight you are not having with them.
Delayed is the second. The card’s thing is real and it is held up, by circumstance or by you. The Eight of Cups reversed is the leaving that keeps being put off until after the holidays, then after the birthday, then after the summer.
Letting go is the third, and it is the one people miss, because it is often the kindest reading in the deck. The card’s theme is on its way out. The Four of Pentacles reversed is a grip loosening, which is frightening for a day and a relief for a month. The Ten of Swords reversed is somebody getting up off the ground, stiffly, and getting up all the same.
How to tell which of the three
Look at your week rather than at the book. If the thing the card describes is happening but nobody else can see it, it is inward. If it is on the calendar and keeps moving, it is delayed. If it was true a month ago and is less true now, it is letting go. Most reversed tarot cards settle into one of the three within a minute of honest looking.
The picture helps as well. Turn a card upside down and the figure in it is lying down, or falling, or pouring something out, and the deck will often tell you which of the three it is before you have finished thinking about it.
Do you need to read reversals at all?
Honestly, no. Upright only is a complete way to read, and reversed tarot cards are a second dial rather than a second deck, useful once you know the upright meanings well enough that the turned version has something to be turned from. If you are learning, our advice on tarot for beginners is to leave them out for the first month and add them on the day the upright cards start to feel as if they are only telling you half of it.
If you do want them, the practical part is small. Cut the deck once while you shuffle and turn one half around, and from then on about a third of your draws will come out reversed, which is enough to be interesting and not so many that every reading is upside down.
The reversed card you dread
Death reversed is the ending you are resisting, the thing that finished a while ago and that you are still turning up for, and it has nothing to say about anybody’s body, upright or otherwise. The Tower reversed is the collapse that has not happened yet, the crack in the wall you noticed and papered over, and the thing worth asking is what you are still holding up. Neither of them is a sentence. Both are a description, and a description can be answered. The next one that lands upside down, ask it which of the three it is before you reach for anything else.
Questions people ask
Are reversed tarot cards bad?
No. A reversal is the same card turned inward, delayed, or in the act of letting go, and none of those is an omen. The Sun reversed is still the Sun, only dimmed, and Death reversed is an ending being resisted rather than anything about a body. If a reversal frightens you, the useful move is to ask which of the three it is.
Should a beginner read reversed cards?
Not in the first month. Upright only is a complete way to read, and a reversal only means something once you know what the upright card is being turned from. Learn the seventy eight the right way up, with one card a day, and add reversals when the upright cards start to feel as if they are telling you half of it.
Does a reversed card mean no in a yes or no reading?
Not on this site. The lean of a yes or no draw comes from the card and from the condition attached to it, and a reversed card is read as the same card held up or turned inward, which changes the condition rather than the answer. A Ten of Cups upside down is not a refusal; it is a good thing that needs tending.
