You pull a reversed card. Your first instinct: flip it back upright. That reaction gives you away—you don't know why you're paying attention to reversals. Reversals aren't the factory setting for tarot. Before RWS, cards were rarely discussed in terms of upright vs. reversed. Marseille tradition still has serious readers who use uprights only. Thoth's symbolic language covers both poles without flipping. Choosing reversals means adding an extra interpretative dimension. First, confirm you need it. Then add it in.
Reversals Are Not the Default—They're a Tool You Choose
Reversals as a systematic tool appeared in tarot history much later than most people think. From the 15th to 18th century, tarot cards were primarily game tools—Tarocchi and Tarot de Marseille—with divination as an afterthought, and reversals as an afterthought to the afterthought. In the late 18th century, Court de Gébelin and Etteilla began systematizing tarot for divination. Reversed meanings entered written records for the first time. Etteilla included upright/reversed distinctions among hundreds of meanings per card—but his system was too elaborate and didn't survive. What made reversals standard was the early 20th-century RWS (Rider-Waite-Smith) system—A.E. Waite gave reversed meanings for every card in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. After that, reversals entered mainstream instruction.
Three Deck Families, Three Attitudes Toward Reversals
The three major deck families take three distinct positions on reversals. RWS family: reversals are standard equipment. All 78 cards have upright and reversed meanings. Waite himself was mild about it—he provided reversed meanings in Pictorial Key but never insisted they were the only way. Marseille family: most traditional Marseille readers don't use reversals. Alejandro Jodorowsky states clearly in The Way of Tarot: the card already contains all the information; physical inversion doesn't change the reading. Thoth family: Aleister Crowley barely discusses reversals in The Book of Thoth—not out of neglect, but because Thoth's symbolic system (color, planetary, Hebrew letter, alchemical element) inherently carries both poles. High and low, light and shadow coexist in the same card's visual signals. These three positions map directly to practical advice today: which deck you use determines whether reversals are required, optional, or unnecessary.
Layout
Factor One: Your Deck Family—RWS / Marseille / Thoth
RWS-Based Decks: Reversals Are Standard Equipment
If you use the classic RWS deck or RWS-derived decks (Modern Witch, Light Seer's, etc.), reversals are part of the system's language. RWS upright images carry clear directionality and emotional tone. Flipping the card changes the visual information—the child on the Sun card descends from above when reversed. That visual shift triggers new interpretative associations. Skipping reversals here means discarding half the information the deck designer built in.
Marseille-Based Decks: Upright Is King, Reversals Are Optional
Traditional Tarot de Marseille card design has no strong up/down orientation—figures are symmetrical, buildings are centered, cups sit upright. Physical flipping barely changes the visual information flow in a Marseille deck. Many experienced Marseille readers insist on uprights only, using spread position, elemental relationships, and number logic to cover everything reversals would add. If you use Marseille and your style leans traditional, skip reversals entirely—this is orthodox practice, not cutting corners.
Thoth-Based Decks: Reversals Live in the Symbols, Not the Direction
Crowley's Thoth deck rejects the upright/reversed binary by design. Every card's symbolic system—planetary-astrological correspondences, Hebrew letters, alchemical elements, and color gradients—already expresses both poles simultaneously. Reading reversals on a Thoth deck doesn't require flipping the card; it requires reading the symbols bidirectionally. If you use Thoth, invest your energy in understanding Mars in Capricorn retrograde rather than worrying about which way the card faces.
Factor Two: Your Reading Experience—The Beginner Grace Period
Beginner Phase: Skip Reversals for the First Three Months
The 78 upright cards alone form a system that takes at least three months to build basic intuition for. Adding reversals before you can close your eyes and recall the core upright energy of every card is like hitching a trailer to a car that hasn't started yet—you'll confuse both upright and reversed meanings at once. Spend the first three months mastering upright card meanings, elemental relationships, number logic, and spread structure. When your upright foundation is solid, reversals will grow out of it naturally.
Intermediate Phase: Three Signals That You're Ready for Reversals
How do you know you're ready? Three signals: 1) Your understanding of upright cards has moved past keyword lists—you can tell each card's 'story' rather than its 'meaning.' 2) In a spread, you can independently identify which card is driving the narrative instead of relying on each card's isolated definition. 3) You occasionally feel an upright interpretation is 'missing something.' The third signal matters most—that 'something missing' is the space reversals fill. When all three signals are present, start adding reversals.
Advanced Phase: Use Reversals Selectively
Advanced readers don't use reversals as all-or-nothing—they choose card by card. Some cards in your intuitive system never need reversal (you read The World upright every time and it works). Some cards give you especially useful reversal information (reversed Nine of Swords in the blockage framework reveals the root knot beneath surface anxiety). Build your own 'reversal necessity list'—not every card needs the flipped dimension.
Stepping Back: When Reversals Make Your Readings Worse
If your accuracy drops after adding reversals—don't push through. Step back. Reversals are not an advancement badge. Many working professional readers use uprights only for daily spreads and bring in reversals only for deep psychological exploration spreads. Stepping back isn't regression—it's judgment. Knowing when not to use reversals is a higher-level skill than knowing when to use them.
Factor Three: The Type of Question You're Asking—The Question Picks the Tool
Quick-Decision Questions: Uprights Are Enough
'Should I accept this offer?' 'Should I go see him this weekend?'—quick-decision questions need clear directional signals, not multi-layered interpretation. Upright cards carry natural binary energy (the forward-moving Wand, the still Sword, the receptive Cup, the building Pentacle) that functions as a direction signal. Adding reversals is like hanging a second sign on top of a traffic light—redundant and distracting. One upright card or a three-card upright mini-spread handles quick decisions cleanly and sharply.
Deep-Exploration Questions: Reversals Have Irreplaceable Value
'Why do I keep getting hurt in the same kind of relationship?' 'When did my sense of direction start blurring?'—these questions are about the parts that got pushed down. Reversals are the tool built for suppressed energy. The internalization framework helps you see projection. The blockage framework helps you locate the sticking point. The excess framework helps you spot dosage problems. Across all three, reversals deliver information uprights alone can't reach. Deep questions, deep tools.
Timeline Questions: Reversals Mark Turning Points
'How will my career develop over the next three months?'—in timeline spreads, reversed cards are time-markers for directional shifts. An upright-to-reversed sequence signals that energy changed direction during a specific time window. Note: you don't need to decide on reversals before laying the cards—decide after you see where they land. If a reversal appears in the 'future' position, use the reversal framework to read directional change. If it lands in the 'present' position, use the blockage framework to read the current sticking point. The question picks the tool, not the other way around.
Questions About Others: Use Reversals with Caution
'Does he like me?' 'What's his relationship with that coworker?'—questions probing someone else's inner world carry high risk with reversals. The internalization framework pulls focus back to you, but what you actually need is external observation of the other person's behavior. Upright cards deliver objective information through astrological correspondences and elemental attributes—more reliable here than the subjective projection reversals invite. Build an objective frame with uprights. Don't use reversals to dig holes in someone else's mind.
Quick-Reference: When to Use Reversals
- Make an active choice before you flip, not a passive one after. The card back didn't tell you upright or reversed—you have the one second between pulling the card and turning it over to decide: Do I read reversals for this spread? Make that decision conscious. Ask yourself every time: do I need the extra dimension reversals provide? After three months, your choices will be sharper than any automatic-flip habit.
- Run a two-week 'uprights only' practice period. Do every reading upright-only for 14 days straight. You'll be surprised how many questions uprights handle just fine. When you restore your normal reversal frequency after two weeks, you'll have a fresh assessment of what reversals actually do—they shift from 'habit' to 'tool.'
- Use different settings for different questions. It's slow but effective training. Make three labels—'Upright Only,' 'Add Reversals,' 'Case by Case'—and tape them to your deck box. Before each new question, glance at the label and confirm your choice. This physical prompt stops you from drifting into autopilot.
- A reversal-readiness signal list for beginners: if during an upright reading you say 'something's still missing' more than twice, and you say it again on one question—today might be worth trying reversals. If your upright reading feels complete and satisfying—skip reversals today. Use the body's sense of 'full or not-full' rather than the mind's 'should or shouldn't.'
- Marseille deck users wondering whether to add reversals: don't add them yet. Marseille's numerology (Minor Arcana number cycles), elemental flow, and spread-position relationships already deliver enough information for most situations. Once you're fluent in all three of those layers, then consider reversals—by that stage you won't need anyone to tell you whether to use them. You'll know.
Common Questions
I use an RWS-derived deck but don't want to read reversals. Is that okay?
Completely fine. Plenty of working professional readers who use classic RWS every day skip reversals. RWS has a reversal tradition—that doesn't mean you're obligated to follow it. The real test isn't your deck type. It's whether your readings feel complete within the upright framework. If you lay three upright cards and can tell a coherent narrative from past through future without needing to patch a hole—you don't lack reversals. If you consistently finish upright readings with 'but I feel like I'm missing something'—reversals might be what you're missing.
One day I suddenly felt reversals were useless. Am I regressing?
Not regression—tool simplification. Early on, reversals act like training wheels: they help you see the other side of the information. Once you're steady, you discover you can already find that 'other side' in upright cards—The Star upright already contains evidence that 'hope can be over-idealized.' At that point, reversals feel redundant. Not reading reversals and not knowing how to read reversals are entirely different things—the first is a choice, the second is a gap. Having the choice is what signals maturity.
Other readers say reading reversals is the only way to be professional. True?
Peer pressure in the tarot community is real—as if skipping reversals makes you underqualified. But it's social expectation among colleagues, not a technical requirement. The percentage of experienced professional readers in North America and Europe who use uprights only is higher than you'd guess—over 40% of TABI (Tarot Association of the British Isles) registered members reported in online surveys that they don't read reversals for every spread. Professionalism isn't about how many tools you set on the table. It's about which tools let you tell the story clearly.
I use two decks—one with reversals, one without. Will that confuse me?
No—it'll make things clearer. The two settings naturally form two independent reading channels in your brain, the way you code-switch dialects depending on who you're talking to. The key is consistency per deck: this deck always stays upright-only, that deck always includes reversals—don't mix. After about three months of stability, you'll notice yourself automatically reaching for one deck over the other for certain types of questions. That means your intuition is already assigning tasks to each deck.