Tarot card reversals refer to the interpretation of cards that appear upside-down (inverted 180 degrees) during a reading. The practice of assigning distinct meanings to inverted cards is not intrinsic to tarot's origins as a 15th-century game, but rather emerged from the French occult revival of the late 18th century.^[1]

The reversed card has become a focal point for centuries of debate regarding the nature of divination, with different schools advocating for distinct interpretive frameworks. Contemporary practitioners may treat reversals as simple negations, blocked energies, internalized processes, or may reject the practice entirely in favor of alternative systems such as elemental dignities.^[10]

Pre-reversal era

For approximately 350 years following tarot's invention, the concept of reversed meanings was absent. Early tarot decks such as the Visconti-Sforza (c. 1450) were designed as works of art intended for viewing from a single upright perspective. The trump cards featured single-ended portraits that lost their aesthetic integrity when inverted.^[1]

The pip cards (numbered 2–10) in Latin-suited decks presented a different challenge: Swords and Batons were often interlaced in optically symmetrical patterns, rendering it impossible to distinguish upright from reversed orientation without marking the cards.

Early cartomancy derived meaning not from vertical orientation but from horizontal relationships and the directional "gaze" of figures. A King facing a Queen suggested dialogue; facing away suggested estrangement.^[2]This directional reading served a similar interpretive function to reversals—modifying meaning based on spatial context—while preserving image integrity.

The Etteilla system

The systematic tarot reversal is attributed to Jean-Baptiste Alliette, writing under the pseudonym Etteilla, who published the first book dedicated to tarot divination in 1783–1785.^[5] Etteilla's cards were revolutionary: the first printed with keywords directly on the face, with one keyword at the top and a different, often opposing, keyword at the bottom.

Etteilla's system was predictive and event-based. The reversal functioned as a distinct variable producing a specific, often fatalistic outcome rather than merely indicating blockage (a modern concept). This "dictionary" approach required memorizing 156 distinct meanings (78 upright plus 78 reversed).^[6]

Card	Upright (Etteilla)	Reversed (Etteilla)
The Sun	Enlightenment, Clarity, Success	Fire, Discord, Loss of Property
Two of Cups	Love, Passion, Friendship	Lust, Folly, Misunderstanding
The Chariot	Triumph, Government	Decadence, Overthrow, Dispute

Etteilla's influence dominated for decades, establishing the foundation for the French school of tarot and influencing successors including Marie Anne Lenormand and Eliphas Lévi.

Golden Dawn and elemental dignities

Dignities vs. reversals

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (founded 1888) undertook significant restructuring of tarot theory. The Order viewed tarot not merely as a divination device but as a coherent system of Qabalistic and astrological correspondence. In this framework, the "upside-down" card was considered crude and unsophisticated.^[7]

The Golden Dawn's metaphysical argument against reversals questioned whether cosmic forces could truly be reversed: if a card represents a cosmic force (e.g., The Emperor represents the path of Heh, Aries, the Constituting Intelligence), can such a force be inverted? The Order concluded that forces are always present, but their operation is modified by surrounding cards.

Instead of physically inverting cards, Golden Dawn readers analyzed elemental interactions (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) within spreads. A card could be "well-dignified" (strong) or "ill-dignified" (weak/negative) based on neighbors:

Strengthening: Active elements strengthen active (Fire + Air); Passive strengthen Passive (Water + Earth)
Neutral: Fire + Earth or Air + Water
Weakening: Fire + Water (Water extinguishes Fire); Air + Earth (Earth stifles Air)

If the Ace of Wands (Fire) appears adjacent to the Ace of Cups (Water), the Fire is "ill-dignified"—its energy is being suppressed. This achieves similar interpretive nuance to reversals without physical manipulation.^[7]

Crowley's rejection

Aleister Crowley, in his Book of Thoth (1944), rejected reversals entirely. He viewed tarot as a dynamic, fluid system where every card contained its own shadow. The "negative" aspect was accessed through surrounding cards and reader intuition, not by shuffling accident. Crowley's system relies heavily on astrological attributes; a card representing Mars in Scorpio carries the full weight of that placement, including both constructive drive and destructive aggression. To reverse it would break the astrological logic.

Tarot de Marseille approach

The Continental tradition rooted in the Tarot de Marseille (TdM) developed a different relationship with card orientation. The TdM's defining feature is optical symmetry in the pip cards: a Two of Coins or Five of Swords often appears identical whether upright or reversed. Before corner indices became standard, readers could not definitively determine if a card was inverted.^[9]

Filmmaker and tarologist Alejandro Jodorowsky proposed an "optical language" rejecting both Etteilla's binary and the Golden Dawn's dignities. Jodorowsky argues meaning is generated by the gaze and directionality of figures: if a figure looks up, it connects to spirit; if it looks down, it risks falling.

In Jodorowsky's framework, a reversed card is not "bad" but represents energy moving inward or downward—essential for balance. The Hanged Man, for instance, requires inversion to function; standing upright, he would lose spiritual perspective.

Modern psychological methods

The late 20th century saw tarot migrate from occult lodges to therapeutic settings. Influenced by Jungian psychology, authors including Rachel Pollack and Mary K. Greer redefined the reversed card as a signifier of the unconscious and the shadow.^[10]

Greer's twelve methods

Mary K. Greer's 2002 treatise The Complete Book of Tarot Reversalscatalogued twelve distinct methods for interpretation, providing a flexible framework beyond the "bad luck" fallacy:^[10]

Method	Definition
1. Blocked/Resisted	Energy present but cannot manifest due to fear or obstacles
2. Projected	Quality denied in self and seen in others (Jungian projection)
3. Delayed/Unavailable	Event will happen but timing is retarded
4. Inner/Unconscious	Energy turned inward; private vs. public experience
5. New/Dark Moon	Early phase of cycle; gestating, not yet visible
6. Breaking Through	Overturning status quo; refusing constraint
7. No/Not	Simple negation (Etteilla binary mode)
8. Excessive	Overcompensation; too much energy (vice)
9. Misused/Misdirected	Right tool, wrong application
10. "Re-" Words	Retrying, reviewing, retracting, returning
11. Rectification	Disease into remedy; reversal as cure (alchemical)
12. Shamanic/Magical	Unconventional wisdom; entering the card's underworld

The WIND method

Contemporary author Benebell Wen introduced the WIND mnemonic for practical application:^[11]

W – Weakened: Energy present but low-voltage
I – Inverted: Classic opposite meaning
N – Negative: Shadow or vice aspect
D – Delayed: Timing aspect

This heuristic demonstrates the modern trend toward flexible interpretation rather than fixed dictionary definitions.

Practical considerations

Standard playing card orientation means that basic shuffling techniques (riffle, overhand) will not produce reversed cards if the deck is stored upright. Introducing reversals requires deliberate randomization:^[14]

The "messy pile" or wash

Spreading the entire deck face-down and swirling cards in chaotic circular motion ensures true statistical randomization of orientation but requires large surface area and may scuff cards.

The cut-and-flip

Dividing the deck into stacks, physically rotating one stack 180 degrees, then combining. Less random than the wash, as large blocks may remain oriented together.

Digital applications

Mobile applications use pseudo-random number generators to simulate orientation. However, digital reversed meanings are often displayed as single keywords, potentially losing the nuance of multiple interpretive methods.^[12] Online tarot decks with reversal support attempt to address this limitation by providing comprehensive card meanings for both orientations.

Artistic innovations

Some practitioners reject reversals on aesthetic grounds, arguing that inverted cards disrupt visual narrative and create interpretive "noise."^[13]Several artistic solutions have emerged:

Reversible artwork (Revelations Tarot)

Zach Wong's Revelations Tarot (2005) features fully reversible artwork with distinct symbolic narratives. The card has a central waistline: the top image depicts upright meaning; the bottom image, printed inverted, depicts reversed meaning. When the card is reversed, the "shadow" image becomes upright and dominant, integrating reversed meaning into the visual field.

Round decks (Motherpeace Tarot)

Circular decks introduce degrees of reversal. Because cards can be read based on angle (90 degrees left, 45 degrees right), this supports "moon phase" interpretation where angle indicates whether energy is waxing (growing) or waning (fading), moving beyond the upright/reversed binary into a 360-degree spectrum.

Tarot Card Reversals