Not too long ago, I got a request to do a reading for the three
Skelton brother, Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner, who were not returned to their mother in Morenci, Michigan, after a visit with their father. Their father is in jail, and he refuses to discuss his sons' whereabouts with anyone. They disappeared over Thanksgiving of 2010. My question to the cards was "what happened to the Skelton Brothers, and where are they?"
The first two cards are the World, crossed by Death. This is rather ominous. They began what was supposed to be an exciting trip, and, in one of the rare incidents of actual death chronicles by the Tarot, apparantly died. I truly hope I have interpreted this incorrectly, but I don't think I have. For some background, we have been given the four of pentacles, reversed, which tells us that material losses, due to mistakes and extravagances on the part of the person experiencing the losses, played a role in this sad situation. The five of swords, reversed, tells us about deceit and a violent revenge of some sort. The best we can expect to find is the Knight of Pentacles, reversed. I think this speaks of an event, rather than a person in this reading, and I think we are being told that the boys will be found, very eventually, near or in a field that is not used anymore.....upright, this card is associated with plowed fields, since it came reversed, I am interpreting it as overgrown and unused fields. The Emporer is the next card, and as this is the "father" card, and the boys were with their father when they disappeared, I think the answers lie with the father.
In the mind of the person who did this, it was a way to express anger and keep a quarrel going. The three of swords tells us this. This was done to punish a former lover, the three boys were only collateral. We have the six of cups, which speaks of children, child friendships, and the past, telling us that these three boys were the most convenient way for the perpetrator to hurt the lover he so wanted to punish. The four of cups, reversed, in the place of hopes or fears, speaks of new relationships, and as it is a hope or fear, but not a reality, I think the perpetrator had a real problem with an ex moving on, to a new relationship. The reading ends with the Empress, or the "mother" card. So we have a picture of a father who wanted a relationship with a mother, and did not get what he wanted, and three boys used as pawns. How very sad.
Note: The six of cups appeared in the place of environment, and it may also have been telling us a little about location. Cups are water, which points us west, and the message may be "six to the west" of the father's home.