There is a lot to be said about the subject of Tarot. It is a highly artful and complex system of divination. It began as a game,… a wondrous game encompassing art, faith and symbol. When I first began studying the tarot, I would do what I’m sure many of you reading this did, performed several readings for myself and my friends, and then ran to get the book. Flipping frantically to page 23 or whatever, I would read the diagnosis and try and apply these words to the situation. This happened over and over again. Lather, rinse, and repeat as they say. I had one friend who just read the words on the bottom of the cards in the Thoth deck and that was the reading.
Tarot can be like that however, it can be that one word, and also the thousand other words associated with the card. One of my favorite references for Tarot is the Tarot Dictionary and Compendium by Jana Riley. In it she compares the meanings from several different decks and interpretations. When available she also lists meanings for reversals. My advice is to learn as many of the meanings upside down and backwards pardon the pun, when you are a beginning student of the tarot. Once you have a working grasp of these meanings you will be able to then pick out which ones are useful in the situation. You have to walk before you can run. Obviously not every meaning is going to be helpful, but once you learn them you will be on your way to understanding how these delicate meanings manifest in the readings you have before you.
In certain situations I do pay attention to reversals, but I am much more sensitive to the cards I see before me. Let’s face it, certain cards carry with them negative meanings and situations. There is always a scene in a bad soap opera about someone going to a psychic and getting the Death card. In my experience the Death card means a drastic transformation that is very rarely a physical death. The cards I am actually speaking of here are the swords cards. To be more specific about it the 3,5,7,8,9, and 10 of swords. Some people refer to the situations and connections these cards make with the general reading as ill-dignified. If you reading is full of these swords cards, and by full I mean more than half in your spread, everything will be affected. Usually the reading will be effected in a negative way. There are things you can do in these situations, but success will be a struggle.
I’m sure many people will disagree with me about this. I would love to hear about your thoughts and experiences with Tarot and reversals, please share in the comments below. For those wishing to get a tarot reading from me please e-mail voodoouniverse@yahoo.com and for more information about Tarot and other forms of divination check out our Divination Space Station series of interviews here on this blog.
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