The World card is the last card of the Major Arcana. It means you’ve reached the end of a journey and are ready to begin another.
This makes The World card a card of closure, one that lets you know that you’ve fulfilled your purpose and reached your goal. This card can come with a sense of accomplishment and is often associated with a big achievement that’s worth celebrating.
It can show that some chapter of your life—a relationship, a career, a challenge, a life lesson, or a period of dedication—is complete. You’ll also see The World card associated with travel, so it can encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and explore the wider world.
When you see The World card reversed, it can show that you’re seeking closure, but you haven’t gotten it yet. Maybe you’re ready to move on from a previous relationship or situation, but you haven’t yet taken the necessary steps to end it.
The reversed World card can encourage you to seek the peace that comes with closing a chapter. Be honest with yourself about whatever the situation is and start making concrete changes to complete it.
The reversed World card can also show that you can’t complete a project and move on because there are pieces missing. You might be trying to rush through things, or maybe you’re overlooking important components that are necessary for you to finish it.
This reversed card can show you’re trying to take shortcuts rather than complete the task properly. It asks you to evaluate your situation and look at it with fresh eyes.
What do you need to do to see this project through to the end? Look for the details and practice self-reflection to understand the situation in full.
Reading this reversed card using the “blocked/restricted” meaning
Alright, let’s jump in to how to read your reversed World card. First, you can use the “blocked/restricted” reversed card meaning.
When you read your cards this way, you’re looking for an obstacle in front of the card’s upright meaning. So, for The World, this means something is blocking your completion or achievement of a goal. You’re so close, but something is standing in the way.
For example, say you pull the reversed World card while thinking about your finances. You’ve recently finished college and started your first full-time job.
You’re making a respectable salary, and you have enough income to be financially independent, but you still ask your parents for some extra cash every few months to help you get by. Here, the reversed World card invites you to explore why you’re not yet paying your own way.
What’s blocking you from moving on to the next stage of freedom from your parents? One possibility could be irresponsible spending habits.
Maybe you order food every night rather than cooking, or maybe you splurge on luxury items, like clothes and beauty products because you think that’s what adults do.
Take the time to sit down with your finances and look carefully at your spending habits. Understanding where your money goes every month is the first step to identifying patterns that are keeping you dependent on your parents. Then you can align your spending with your true values, and begin building the future you really want.
Reading this reversed card using the “opposite” meaning
You can also read your reversed World card using the “opposite” reversed card meaning. When you read your cards like this, you take the opposite of the card’s upright meaning.
For The World, instead of completion and achievement, you might read this card as failure, or even as an anticlimax. Maybe you failed. (It happens to everyone.) Or perhaps you finished a task, but you don’t feel a sense of accomplishment and pride.
Ask yourself if you completed the job to the best of your ability, or were you taking shortcuts to get it done as quickly as possible?
You might pull the reversed World card when thinking about your career. Maybe you work in marketing, and your boss assigned you a new client. They wanted to revamp their public image, so you spent the past few weeks developing a new social media campaign for them.
They agreed to the changes and now have someone new posting on their accounts with their revised brand message. Still, you’re feeling incomplete when you look at this project.
Here, the reversed World card can show you you’re not finished yet. While revising their social media presence is a good first step, there’s still a lot more to be done.
Perhaps their website needs to be revised to match their new brand identity, along with their printed material, emails, and other copy, and it will take time to analyze their performance and see what additional changes need to be made. Don’t jump the gun on calling this project complete until you’ve seen it all the way through.
Reading this reversed card using the “worse” meaning
You can also read the reversed World card using the “worse” reversed card meaning. When you read your reversed cards like this, you take the card’s upright meaning and put it in a negative light.
In the case of the reversed World card, while you may feel you’re ready for completion and to move on to something new, that may not be what’s best for you. Did you give this opportunity a real chance, or are you feeling overwhelmed and just want to give up?
Here, the reversed World card can encourage you to give this journey a real shot before throwing in the towel.
Say you pull the reversed World card when thinking about your health and fitness. You’ve started working out again, and you’re trying something new.
You’ve used a lot of different fitness routines before, and this time you’re going with a combination of hot yoga and pilates, which you really enjoy. But after just a few weeks, you feel you’ve learned enough and that maybe it’s not a good fit after all.
Here, the reversed World card can show that it’s important to give this new routine a chance if you want to see results. It’s normal to get intimidated when trying something new, and you won’t be good at it and comfortable with your skills until you’ve been doing it for a while.
Don’t give up just yet. Try inviting some friends along to motivate you or find a new class with an instructor you click with. It’s important to give new things a chance before assuming they’re not going to work out.
Reading this reversed card using the “no/not” meaning
Another way to read your reversed World card is using the “no/not” reversed card meaning. When you read your cards like this, you put a “no” or a “not” in front of the card’s upright meaning.
For The World, this means “no completion” or “no achievement.” There is no potential for completing your current journey because you haven’t finished the old one. You need to close a previous chapter before you can invest in a new one.
Say, for example, you pull the reversed World card thinking about a romantic relationship. You’ve started seeing someone new, and you’re having a lot of fun. But there’s something holding you back.
You’re still thinking about someone you saw last year for a few months. You are comparing your new partner to the old one and still have powerful feelings for your old lover.
Here, the reversed World card shows you need to close your old chapter before you can start a new one. You won’t be able to take the next steps in your new relationship until you make peace with the death of your previous affair.
Look back at it with fresh eyes and spend some time dwelling on where things went wrong. How were you two wrong for each other, and what can you learn from that relationship? Once you accept that your old affair is over, you can think about building something stronger and longer-lasting with your new partner.