Upright and Reversed
TarotDefinition
Two orientations a tarot card can take when drawn. Upright cards are read at face value; reversed (inverted) cards are read with modified, often inverted, meanings.
Origin
Reversals appear in Etteilla's 18th-century manuals, though earlier French and Italian readers seldom used them. The practice of intentionally shuffling cards so some are reversed entered modern usage through 19th-century cartomancy manuals.
Development
Two main schools of reversal: (1) Opposites — the reversed card means the opposite of its upright meaning. (2) Modulation — the reversed card means a weakened, blocked, internalised or shadow version of the upright. Most modern readers prefer modulation.
In Practice
Some readers ignore reversals entirely and shuffle so all cards are upright. Others build reversal into their practice, especially in Lenormand and Thoth. The choice is a matter of style and tradition, not "correctness."
Deeper Reading
Reversals are technically arbitrary — they exist only because cards have a printable top and bottom. They are a useful interpretive convention rather than an intrinsic property of the cards. Decks like circular tarots have no reversed cards at all.
See Also
- reversals
- inverted cards
- cartas al revés
- cartas invertidas