Imagine yourself sitting in front of a tarot reader for the very first time. You’re watching her shuffle hypnotically, and suddenly, the cards start to fly. As they land, you notice that some have fallen upside down. You have no idea what any of it means, but you can’t imagine all those little swords mean health, wealth, and happiness. Your reader chooses to leave them in the positions they fell, and your stomach drops a little. You find yourself asking anxiously, “Oh no…is that bad?”
Those upside-down cards are called reversed tarot cards, and they aren’t automatically bad news. Depending on the context, they can suggest resistance, shifting priorities, or even healing. The idea that they always predict trouble is one of the tarot myths worth leaving behind.
She chuckles a little and says not to worry, but you’re not quite convinced. On the edge of your seat, you await her interpretation. Maybe I’m possessed…or falling tragically ill…or about to be fired…or dumped! Your thoughts race and race until suddenly, the diviner begins to speak.
“I see you’ve been hurting lately,” she starts. Oh no, you think, here we go. “Perhaps processing some deep betrayal and grief. We have the Three of Swords and the Ten of Swords here, both reversed. If you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, love, I think it already has.”
Recently, you’ve been piecing your life back together after a string of difficult months. A gnarly breakup, some friendship drama, and a few too many late nights out have been draining you of your vitality. She might be onto something.
She shuffles yet again, and another card drops. Yup, another upside-down card, this time “the Ten of Cups,” she explains. “Life hasn’t quite taken you in the direction you thought it would, has it?”
“I thought we were going to get married,” you confide. “We were about to start our lives together and build a family.”
“I know that must be painful to grapple with,” she validates. “But have you considered that another path might be even better for you than the one you’ve been idealizing?” No, you hadn’t considered this. Not fully, at least. When you’re honest with yourself, there were things about him you weren’t jazzed about dealing with forever.
Another card flies. “The King of Swords, reversed,” the reader starts. “He wasn’t very kind to you, was he?” How does she know that? “His way or the highway, I take it.” You’re too stunned to speak. He did have a way of making you feel small, like he always had the upper hand.
“His anger got the best of him sometimes,” you agree. She shuffles again, ready to dive deeper still.
“The Eight of Swords, reversed,” she continues, “suggests that in his absence, you are beginning to believe in yourself again. You are willing to see where you have been getting in your own way and experimenting with what it feels like to take your power back.” The reader scores again: you’ve just enrolled in therapy and joined a kickboxing gym.
“The Devil reversed indicates that you’re ready to confront the choices you make that you know aren’t good for you. You’re ready to stop relying on substances and the approval of others to attempt to fill the void inside.” This feels incredibly validating to hear. You have been taking accountability lately, recognizing what’s within your control.
“One last card,” she concludes. “The Empress, reversed. If you remember nothing else from our reading, remember this: you are creation itself. Within you resides the entire universe. You are worthy of the life you want to build, even if you don’t fully believe it yet.
“At times, you forget how powerful you really are. You forget that you came from divinity, that you are divinity. Your life force is returning. From here on out, refuse to shrink yourself. See yourself as limitless and abundant, because you are. You always have been.”
This short story illustrates the light and complexity that reversed cards can contain. Though reading reversals is completely optional, they offer another layer of meaning that can transform the essence of an entire message. Reversed cards aren’t inherently bad. They can help shift perspective, reveal another side to a story, or indicate a disconnect from the energy at hand.
Sometimes, a reversed card can indicate hesitancy or resistance to an energy, as when the reader pulled the Empress reversed for the querent, or person receiving the reading. She was blind to her own inner light to a certain degree, but it was never truly out of reach.
When she received the Devil reversed, the reader interpreted it as awareness of her own unhealthy habits. The reversed position suggested a willingness to free herself from those patterns. An upright Devil might have pointed to feeling caught in a cycle of numbing and distracting.
The Eight of Swords, a card about limiting beliefs and the prison of the mind, showed the querent wiggling her way out of constraints in its reversed position. After prolonged unkind words from her partner, she was beginning to question the limits she had come to believe in.
An excess of energy can also show up in reversed cards, as when she received the King of Swords. Normally representative of someone trustworthy, sharp of mind, and eloquent, this reversed King illustrated a misuse of those qualities. A person who thinks they’re smarter than everyone else can cause great harm with their voice alone. In this story, he used his words to overpower his partner.
When a card about our hopes, aspirations, and happiness appears reversed, it can indicate disillusionment or a shift in priorities. The Ten of Cups reversed gave the reader a way to explore a sudden change in her client’s life path. It did not mean that she was doomed to an unhappy life. Rather, what she thought would bring her joy had not.
The reader interpreted both the Three of Swords and the Ten of Swords reversed as signs of healing. Though the querent might not have fully recognized it yet, she was beginning to recover. In this context, the upright cards might have spoken to the immediacy of pain, exhaustion, and sadness.
What a reversed card may indicate depends on context, including the question, the surrounding cards, and the reader’s approach. The next time you receive one, open up to the idea that its position can enrich the meaning of the reading before you. Ask if there is avoidance, fear, or a misunderstanding of the energy at hand. Be open to the card suggesting that a hard time could be ending, or helping you see your own power.
Or, if you’d rather not read reversals, ditch ’em. You can read every card upright and still have a meaningful reading. Follow those intuitive nudges and read with intention. The rest is up to you.