Reversed Tarot Cards: What They Mean and How to Read Them

Written by Orbitarot · Sources: listed at the end of this guide · Updated October 7, 2026

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Key finding: Waite's Pictorial Key gives a reversed meaning for 77 of 78 cards (all except the Two of Cups), many of them weaker or sideways rather than opposite; on our site reversal weakens the yes/no lean for 60 cards, softens 14 and leaves 4 unchanged, and with reversals on a 3-card reading has a 7/8 = 87.5% chance of at least one reversed card.

What do reversed tarot cards mean?

A reversed tarot card is one that lands upside down. Most modern readers take it as the card's energy blocked, delayed, turned inward or overdone. In the 1910 source book for the classic deck, though, a reversal is simply a second listed meaning, and it is often not the opposite of the upright card.

This guide goes back to that source, A. E. Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, and counts what is actually there. It then shows how reversals change the yes or no leans on this site, works out how often you should expect to see them, and ends with a practical way to read them, or to leave them out.

Did Waite give reversed meanings for every card?

Almost. Waite gave a reversed meaning for 77 of the 78 cards. All 22 Major Arcana have one, and 55 of the 56 Minor Arcana do. The one exception is the Two of Cups: its entry lists upright meanings and stops, with no reversed line at all.

We checked this against Waite's text card by card. For the Major Arcana, his section on their divinatory meanings has 22 entries and 22 lines beginning "Reversed". For the Minor Arcana, 55 of the 56 card entries contain a "Reversed" line. The Two of Cups ends instead on its upright list, which begins:

"Love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the interrelation of the sexes" (A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1910, Two of Cups)

Waite does not say why this card has no reversal, so we will not guess. On our card page for it we give a modern reversed reading, imbalance in a relationship, and say plainly that it does not come from Waite.

Is a reversed tarot card the opposite of the upright meaning?

Not in Waite. Some of his reversals are near-opposites, but many keep the upright idea in a weaker form, shift to a related topic, or even turn more positive. The Sun reversed is "The same in a lesser sense", and the Wheel of Fortune reversed is "Increase, abundance, superfluity".

Here are six cards where his reversed meaning is clearly not the opposite of the upright one. Every phrase below is quoted exactly from the book.

This is not a one-off. In five entries Waite says outright that the reversal is the same meaning, or a lesser degree of it: The Sun, The Tower, The Moon ("lesser degrees of deception and error"), the Ace of Swords and the Five of Swords. That is five cards where the reversal points the same way as the upright card, only quieter.

The Tower follows the same pattern. Its reversed entry begins "According to one account, the same in a lesser degree", so the upright disaster is softened, not undone. Compare a card where the reversal really is a reversal: The Lovers upright is "Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome", and reversed is "Failure, foolish designs."

The lesson for reading is that Waite treated reversals as their own list of meanings, built from older fortune-telling sources, rather than as a rule of opposites. He was frank about how much weight those lists deserve. Of the fortune-telling meanings for the Major Arcana, he wrote that they are, "as it seems to me, in the highest degree", "at once artificial and arbitrary".

How does a reversed card change a yes or no answer?

On this site, a reversal makes the yes or no lean one step weaker for 60 of the 78 cards, softens it for 14 hard cards and leaves it unchanged for 4. No card leans yes when reversed: upright there are 48 yes cards, reversed there are none.

Every card page lists its lean upright and reversed with a reason, and these counts come straight from those 78 files.

So 47 + 1 + 12 = 60 cards step down, 14 step up from no to maybe, and 3 + 1 = 4 stay where they were. The 14 that soften are hard cards such as the Tower and the Three of Swords, where a reversal is read as the worst passing. You can try this on the yes or no tarot reading, which shows the reason under every answer.

One honest note: our leans follow modern practice, not Waite. The Wheel of Fortune is the only card that drops straight from yes to no in our data, yet Waite's own reversed meaning for it, "Increase, abundance, superfluity", is hardly a no. If you prefer Waite's reading, the card page quotes it next to ours so you can weigh both.

How often do reversed cards come up?

With reversals on, each card has a 50% chance of landing upside down. In a three-card reading the chance of no reversed card at all is (1/2)³ = 1/8, or 12.5%, so the chance of at least one is 7/8, or 87.5%. In a ten-card Celtic cross, an all-upright spread happens about once in 1,024 readings.

Here is the full breakdown for three cards. Each card is upright or reversed with equal odds, so there are 2 x 2 x 2 = 8 equally likely patterns:

• No reversed cards: 1 pattern of 8 = 12.5%.
• Exactly one reversed: 3 patterns of 8 (it can be card 1, 2 or 3) = 37.5%.
• Exactly two reversed: 3 of 8 = 37.5%.
• All three reversed: 1 of 8 = 12.5%.
• At least one reversed: 1 - 1/8 = 7/8 = 87.5%.

For the ten-card Celtic cross, the chance that all ten land upright is (1/2)¹⁰ = 1/1,024, about 0.1%, and the average spread has 10 x 1/2 = 5 reversed cards. So a reading full of reversals is normal, not a warning sign. Waite's own instruction was less exact than a coin toss. For one of his methods he says only: "Shuffle the entire pack and turn some of the cards round, so as to invert their tops."

How do you read a reversed tarot card?

Start from the upright meaning, then ask which of four shifts fits your question best: the energy is blocked, it is delayed, it is turned inward toward you, or it is overdone. Pick the one that matches the position and the cards around it. If you want a traditional view, check Waite's listed reversal too.

1. Blocked: the card's quality is present but stuck. A reversed Ace may be an idea you have not started.
2. Delayed: the upright outcome is still possible, later. This is how we read The Sun reversed.
3. Inward: the card is about your private state, not events around you.
4. Overdone: too much of a good thing, such as confidence sliding into stubbornness.
5. Waite's list: read his reversed meaning as a separate prompt, remembering that it is often a lesser or sideways version of the upright card, not its opposite.

A worked example: The Sun reversed

Say you draw The Sun reversed in the future position of a three-card reading. Upright, our future text for it reads: "Sunlight is breaking through ahead." Reversed, it reads: "The clouds are clearing, though perhaps more slowly than you would like. Joy here is delayed rather than gone for good." That is the delayed shift, and it lines up with Waite's "The same in a lesser sense". Nothing in either version turns The Sun into a bad card. The question to take away is what might be slowing things down, and what part of that is in your hands.

Read the position first. A reversed card in "what crosses you" usually points to friction you can work on, while the same card as "where it is heading" points to a trend that is still forming. Our guide on how to read tarot covers positions in more detail.

Should you use reversed tarot cards?

It is a personal choice, and both ways are valid. Reversals add nuance and double the outcomes for each card from 78 to 156. Reading upright only is simpler and suits beginners, because the position and the neighboring cards already give plenty of shading. Our tools let you choose.

Every reading on this site has an "Include reversed cards" switch. It is on by default, and your choice is remembered on your own device. Try a three-card reading both ways on the same question and see which gives you more to think about. If you are learning, it can help to start upright only, learn the 78 core meanings from the tarot card meanings pages, then switch reversals on.

Whatever you choose, decide before you shuffle, not after you see the cards. Turning reversals off because you dislike a result is the same as redrawing until you like the answer, and it tells you nothing new.

Questions

Are reversed tarot cards bad?

No. A reversal adds a shade to the card rather than turning it negative. In Waite's book several reversals are mild or even positive, and on our site 14 hard cards actually soften when reversed.

Which tarot card has no reversed meaning in Waite?

The Two of Cups. Waite lists only upright meanings for it. The other 77 cards all have a reversed meaning in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot.

How common are reversed cards in a reading?

With reversals on, each card has a 50% chance. In three cards the chance of at least one reversed card is 7/8, or 87.5%, and a ten-card spread averages five.

Do you have to read tarot reversals?

No. Many readers use upright cards only. Our readings have an Include reversed cards switch, so you can turn reversals off before you shuffle.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1910 (public domain): divinatory meanings of the Trumps Major and of each Lesser Arcana card: https://sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt/index.htm
• Yes/no leans upright and reversed: this site's 78 card meaning files, counted October 2026: /tarot-cards/
• Reversal probabilities: our own Python calculation: Computed October 2026

Spotted a mistake? hello@orbitarot.com.

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