Tens Reversed Tarot Card Meanings

The Tens are about spiritual completion, being beyond Earthly comforts and the now. They examine the results in future generations, but also within, on how it affects the soul, the spirit of the person. This means that a reversal is damaging not only to the person in question, but possibly to others.

Ten of Swords Reversed

The Ten of Swords indicates a final end. All that's been said, all that's been thought, all that's been argued is over. It's ended and the matter is dead - if not the person who was on the other side of the discussion. The positive of this card is that things can be laid to rest and everyone can move on.

Turn the card upside-down, however, and the body sinks down on those swords. They impale him even deeper. What should be over isn't over, it lingers, torturing its victim.

Upright, I would read this as a querent's opponents putting the "nail in the coffin" in regards to the debate. They stab him in the back and leave. But reversed, I'd read this as his opponents turning the knife, making him suffer as long as possible. This is the card you'd get for a kid being mocked and insulted every day at school; it just never seems to end. Even worse, the querent may be lead to think that his suffering is over...but it's not. The kids may treat him nice just to get him into a position where they can make even more fun of him. Not a nice card.

Ten of Wands Reversed

Upright, this is a card about taking on too many burdens. It is the end result of putting out all your energy into projects - they multiply and you find yourself carrying the entire load. Here's the important thing, however, these burdens were brought about by good fortune, by doing the right thing. The querent built up a good and honest business (for example) and now it puts too many demands on his time - but he did right.

Reversed, therefore is a person trying to shirk his responsibilities. This is the dad who promises his kids he'll do all kinds of things for them and never does; the guy at work who volunteers for everything, then passes the jobs onto others to do - or just doesn't do them, leaving a mess for everyone else to clean up. This is a person who doesn't carry their load, they toss it away, neglect it, put it on someone else's back.

Ten of Cups Reversed

This is a card about the spiritual bliss of love, love in partnership and in family, love in the home. There is affection and warmth, joy and harmony.

Reversed: In essence, reversed this card is a disruption of the harmony. Someone in the family, or something in the partnership is making it hard to maintain the love. This may be as simple as a child throwing temper tantrums or a teenager rebelling. Or it may be a bit darker than that - a husband/wife with a vice or addiction or psychological problem that is getting worse and eroding what would otherwise be a happy home.

The difference here between Nine of Cups and Ten of Cups: the Nine of Cups reversed is like going to a family party or dinner and everyone is shouting or making trouble; disruption is total, the family is in pieces. In Ten of Cups reversed there is the feeling that all was well - and could be well again - but for one, disruptive problem that is eating away at the soul of the family. There is a focus and a center to what is turning the family up-side-down. It isn't, as at our reversed tavern in the Nine of Cups, a free-for-all.

This makes Ten of Cups more problematic. In Nine of Cups, as discussed, we can conclude there's no wishing this away and best to cut ties. But in the Ten of Cups, there is no wish to cut ties or give up on the person. The erosion is slow but equally devastating, like rust. The person causing the problem is still loved, still part of the family...but what can be done?

Ten of Pentacles Reversed

Upright, this card is about fortunes or legacies that can be either passed onto the next generation or used to benefit others. The Querent transforms the earthly (money) into spiritual good by using it for the benefit of all (building a library, for example).

Reverse this card and we see a fortune or legacy wasted or lost. The children eat up their potential inheritance with luxurious living, or the parent with the fortune gambles it away, or it gets taken away by creditors. This is also a card about squabbles over money, fights over legacies. A relative dies and the vultures descend to take their valuables. In the worst case, the children come to the reading of the will only to find that there is no money, only debts. The fortune they thought their parent had never really existed.


Curious about this card when upright? Go to our Tarot Card Meanings.


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