The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals

by Mary K. Greer

What do you do with the "other half" of the Tarot deck: the reversed cards? Experienced and beginning Tarot readers alike often struggle with interpreting cards when they're upside down.

Struggle in the dark no more. Respected Tarot scholar and author Mary K. Greer sheds light on the subject in The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals, the first book in Llewellyn's new Special Topics in Tarot series. This series was created in response to an...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B008YF3MM6
• ISBN13: 9781567182859
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A refreshing look at Tarot card reversals

I've always understood Tarot card reversals as energy "blocks," or signs of delay and difficulty in getting projects or inner changes "off the ground." After reading this book, I realize how much I had been limiting myself with these two interpretations. Mary K. Greer does an excellent job of providing 12 different ways of understanding reversals in a reading. Depending on how in-depth you want your reading to be, you can try looking a the Rx cards from one or more perspectives. She includes meanings that are traditional, psycho-spiritual and everything in between. The book includes several spreads for helping you work with reversals effectively. The one I found to be most helpful was the "Hanged Man." Though it only requires the use of six cards, each card is read twice, telling the "story" of your question from both Outer and Inner perspectives...and giving you twice as much information. I appreciate the fact that the book gets to the heart of its topic without the reader having to wade through the same beginning information found in general books on the Tarot. This book is a great resource, and I believe the entire "Special Topics in Tarot" fills an important need in advanced Tarot studies.

unbeatable "bible" for reading tarot with reversals

Mary Greer pioneered the psychological, experiential methods of reading tarot that have now become the norm. Her earlier books, especially Tarot for Your Self, are full of exercises to help beginning readers develop a personal relationship with their cards. I thus expected Tarot Reversals to follow this same pattern...a sort of workbook for getting comfortable interpreting reversed cards.Although there are some very valuable exercises in this book, nearly 70% of it is devoted to card-by-card interpretation, typically a page or so describing the upright meanings of the card, then a somewhat lengthier description of the reversed meanings. These descriptions are an incredible resource for any tarot reader, especially if you use reversals in your readings. There is nothing even remotely comparable anywhere else. (Other tarot books explain the meaning of the upright card, but limit reversed meanings to a few keywords.) Besides the welcome in-depth look at reversed meanings, these card interpretations are just plain good, reflecting Greer's decades of experience as a tarot reader and teacher. A welcome inclusion is shamanic/magical meanings for each card, and healing/disease implications as well. This section of the book holds its own against any of the card-by-card interpretation guides on the market today. Although this book is part of Llewellyn's series on "advanced topics in tarot", a complete beginner could learn how to interpret cards very well by using this book.The remainder of the book consists of general advice on using and interpreting reversals. Greer goes far beyond "reversals as opposites", describing twelve different senses a reversed card can have. The book includes a lengthy listing of words that can be used to modify the upright meanings of the cards. This is very useful, especially if your own deck is a little too far removed from conventional meanings to make use of the card-by-card descriptions.There are a number of excursions into various tarot topics, such as elemental dignities, and some really interesting spreads. I could hardly read a page in this book without coming on something new I wanted to try out.Although this book is not intended to be a substitute for a basic tarot book, it could probably be used as such without much difficulty. And as a resource for working with reversed cards, it is unique and indispensible.

Brilliant insights into an often overlooked aspect of Tarot

With "Tarot Reversals", Mary K. Greer (author of, "Essence of Magic", "Tarot Mirrors", "Tarot For Yourself") has created possibly one of the best Tarot resources for the serious student of Tarot divination. I don't want to repeat much of what other reviewers have said thus far, as they have covered the material well. Instead, I will try to add to their insights. Many Tarot professionals don't use reversed interpretations. This is all well and good. But the numerous books out there that do deal with the concept of interpreting Tarot cards reversed, usually fall short in interpreting reversals. This could leave one to draw the conclusion that reversals are of minor importance in a spread, which is absolutely not true.Greer corrects this inequity with a book that, not only focuses on the concept of reversals, but equally weights the upright and reversed interpretations of the cards. So you not only get the flip-side interpretation of the Tarot, you get an indepth analysis of the cards in both upright and reversed positions, making this a highly valuable resource for professional and novice alike. Along with this indepth analysis, Greer also offers a very brief, "traditional" interpretation of the cards, both upright and reversed. The interpretations are the meat of the text. The introduction and the first two chapters set the stage, discussing the book's concept, providing specialized terms used in the text, viewing Tarot from a different perspective (reversals are more than just negative interpretations) and how to go about using reversals.There are a number of wonderful spreads provided at the back of the book, some of which require you to use all reversed cards, an incredibly innovative concept. The Hanged Man spread is visionary, having you read the cards in each positions as both upright and reversed; upright indicating an outer perspective on the issue, and, reversed being the inner perspective of the issue. Thankfully, Greer doesn't waste a lot of space on sample readings. Instead, she provides one in significant detail, and even gives readers exercises they can do in conjunction with that sample reading, for further learning adventures.For greater historical background and Tarot overview, novices may wish to supplement this text with one other well-rounded introduction to the Tarot, such as, Joan Bunning's, "Learning the Tarot" (included in Greer's bibliography), or, Cassandra Eason's, "Complete Guide to the Tarot". But this is, by far, one of the best indepth book of Tarot interpretations out there today. There's a wealth of information here for the advanced practitioner as well. Llewellyn should be commended for the nice layout and design of this book and for exploring these less-covered aspects of working with the Tarot. I hope this first book in the "Special Topics in Tarot Series", is indicative of the quality of books yet to come. I see that one of Greer's forthcoming titles is one entitled, "Tarot Court", which I hope will be coverin

Another great book from Mary K. Greer

The first in the new "Special topics in the Tarot" series, "Tarot reversals" is the great new book by the author of the classic "Tarot for your self". There's a big wealth of information on choosing your personal approach towards reversed cards (critical, as some of this approaches are in fact opposite), suggested meanings for both upright and reversed cards, considerations on what a majority of reversed cards stand for, spreads, examples, bibliography, resources and a very interesting essay on the heroine's journey, as opposed to the traditional hero's journey suposedly portrayed in normal position cards. Although this book isn't nearly as exercise heavy as "Tarot for your self", I still feel it merits five stars. It already would only because many aficionados have been waiting for one such for a long time, but the fact it's written by Ms Greer makes it a sure winner. It is a good addition for the intermediate/advanced tarot student's library.