Will Sierra Lamar's Case Ever Be Resolved?

Sierra Lamar went missing in March of 2012, and it has been almost two years with no answers. A suspect has been charged, but not tried. His court dates continue to get continued. So will her case ever be solved?

Three cards here indicate the search and investigation in the past: the ace of cups, the Hierophant, and the Queen of Cups. Water has always come up in readings I have done in the past, connected to this case, and continues to do so. The element of the suit of cups is water, and the ace is often a river. The Hierophant is tradition, and traditional search methods have been used, albeit unsuccessfully. The justice system is another traditional "system" that is being relied upon, even though the defendant has not responded in the manner expected by investigators and the prosecution. There is also a woman connected to the investigation, showing up in this reading as the Queen of Cups. She has intuitively put together quite a few pieces of the puzzle, already. She would like to find Sierra before insisting upon moving forward in court.

The three cards I pulled for the present are the nine of pentacles, the King of Wands, and the Magician. One of the meanings of the nine of pentacles is completion of a project, and this meaning seems to fit my question about resolution to the case better than any other possible meanings this card has, even though the case has not been solved. The King of Wands is someone male who is also connected to the investigation, and has been since the beginning. He gets some information that comes as a surprise, follows up on it, and turns to the Magician, who is an expert at gathering and analyzing evidence. At this point, I should state the obvious; these cards definitely want to discuss the resolution of finding Sierra and bringing closure to those who love her, rather than prosecution. As the Magician is upside right, I think someone may actually bring him some actual evidence to work with.

The future shows us the six of cups, the High Priestess, and the four of swords, reversed. The six of cups is looking back at the past. Places that have been searched, places the defendant and Sierra have both visited, and; once again, water. A garden with water, a place that somehow welcomes children...yet looks to the pasts of the individuals involved in the case. The High Priestess also deals with water, but in a different way.....she is the subconscious. She also represents things that are hidden. As a physical location, she could also represent a church dedicated to a female saint. The four of swords reversed is renewed activity, successful renewed activity, but with a bit of social unrest. I don't think that finding Sierra, all of the evidence, and a successful prosecution is going to lay this case to rest peacefully. There will be a lot of outcry.

All of the water symbolism points us in a slightly westward direction, and other symbols that jump out at me from the cards are a lake, a river, a garden, a hand, and children playing...ala the six of cups. As unbelievable as it seems, I do see this case resolved one day, sooner than anyone thinks.
 

Richard Cody Haynes

 

What could possibly have happened to Cody Haynes, who disappeared in September of 2004? He was eleven when he went missing, and now he would be twenty. The image on the far right of the poster is a computer generated image of how Cody would look as an adult.

 

This reading starts with the King of Swords crossed by the Knight of Swords. Yikes! Two males of the suit of swords! Luckily, they are both upside right, so I think they can be linked to the investigation. Law enforcement and the judicial system are often represented by court cards of the suit of swords, and it's element is air. So we know that the investigation is still open, and even if it seems like a lost cause, someone in an investigative position is still earnestly looking for Cody Haynes.

 

Beneath this is Judgement, which tells us not to give up, a conclusion will be reached. Water is also indicated on this card, as a physical location. But this is in the past, as the reason the King and Knight of Swords are looking for Cody, in the first place. The opposing forces in this matter, also drifting into the past, are represented by the High Priestess, who speaks of things that are hidden. She also deals in water, as it hides things from time to time, and on less physical levels, represents the subconscious. Another "watery" card we find, in possible conclusions for this case, is the Page of Cups. This is a message, or a tip to law enforcement, from a young person, and the message comes from the heart. The element of cups is water, once again. Something we must recognize though, is the reality represented by the eight of swords, which tells us that Cody did not reappear because he was trapped somewhere. Water is part of the imagery of the Ryder-Waite eight of swords, and taking this card at literal, face value, we would see a suggestion that Cody may be trapped in shallow water somewhere.

 

Another Page that comes up in this reading is the Page of Swords, representing the fears of the person who knows what happened to Cody, yet has not come forward. There may be a witness, or an accomplice after the fact, who is young and has the answers law enforcement seeks. The five of swords comes up as a picture of what happened to Cody. This card is a card of violence, and sometimes of revenge. This is followed by another five, the five of wands, which is in the place of the perpetrator's hopes. Someone here is hoping to get away with playing games with the investigation and those who are looking for Cody. Also, deception is the main message when these two cards appear together in a reading. The nine of pentacles concludes the reading, and this card, in a reading such as this, tells of accomplishment. I think we will find, sadly, that Cody suffered violence for no reason, and that water plays a role in keeping him hidden.

 

Update For Morgan Martin

 

Morgan Martin, Florida teen who went missing in July of 2012, is still missing. When someone asks me for an updated reading on a cold case, such as this one, I almost never know specifically what question to put to the Tarot. It's also very disappointing that these cold cases, especially ones involving children, exist in the first place. Perhaps the most important question in this case right now has to do with where Morgan Martin can be found. She was also between sixteen and twenty weeks pregnant at the time of her disappearance.

 

I simply asked the question, "Where is Morgan Martin?" The reading is already unique in that the cards all fell reversed. We begin with three cards for the past, which are, the Magician, the seven of wands, and the nine of swords. When the Magician falls reversed, he speaks of abuses in power. This is someone who either has some personal or political power in the part of Florida where Morgan lived, or has the ear of someone who does. This power was used against Morgan, and was further abused in covering up events that took place after Morgan left her home for the last time. The seven f wands, when upright, is guarded property and a guarded home; but when this card falls reversed, it is the opposite. Morgan had let her guard down completely, and that is how she became vulnerable. The nine of swords signifies imprisonment, especially false imprisonment.

 

For the present, we have the ace of cups, the Page of Cups, and Judgement. I believe we saw Judgement in an earlier reading for Morgan. The ace of cups does not bode well for the unborn child. Upright, it refers to birth and fertility, along with joy, but reversed, it tells of the opposite of those things. Likewise the Page of Cups, who is also reversed here. The reversed Page goes a step further and assures us that a deliberate deception can be revealed under the right circumstances, though, so we can be sure that Morgan's disappearance was no accident. Fear of death and disillusionment are what we are being shown by Judgement upside down, those were elements on Morgan's part.

 

What we will find in the future are the ten of swords, the three of pentacles, and the four of cups. The ten of swords is a card of violent endings, either reversed or upright. When reversed, the message is power, but short lived. Once again, we are getting hints that someone with some power played a role in this situation, but it will not last. The three of pentacles is a card of craftsmanship, yet it falls reversed; and I think it helps to explain the ten of pentacles and the Magician a little bit; it is telling us that someone who was charged with bringing events to light decided, instead, to hide clues and obscure the truth. The last card is the four of cups. When we get this card reversed, we have a sigh of relief.....someone jumping from new relationship to new relationship and from novelty to novelty.

 

For the answer to the question of "where"; I must conclude that water is a dominant geographic feature in Morgan's current surroundings. The three cards for the present gave me two cards from the suit of cups, and the element corresponding to cups is water, and Judgement is, on mundane, or everyday levels, a "watery" card in and of itself. As a physical location, it tells of traversing and rising out of water, typically a large lake or an ocean, but not travelling to new places. Reversed, it would simply tell of water as a hiding place, rather than a springboard or an agent of rebirth.

 

Alexis Murphy

Alexis Murphy disappeared from Northern Virginia last month. She is seventeen years old, and while her cell phone has been located, she has not. There is also a suspect in custody, in connection to her disappearance, who has been denied bond. Alexis was last seen at a gas station in Lovingston, Virginia, and after that, seems to have vanished completely. So where is she, and what happened?

We begin with the three of wands crossed by the High Priestess. The three of wands represents the gas station and the business, customers, and community. The High Priestess is mystery, and hidden matters, with a touch of feminine influence. The subconscious mind is also represented by this card, and I am convinced that a customer or patron saw Alexis there, and also saw either a person in her acquaintance, or a vehicle that is part of the scenario; yet does not realize that it was Alexis, or realize the importance of what was seen. The matter of things that are hidden appears as an obstacle, so the advice to counter that problem is obviously to keep information and contact numbers for law enforcement in prominent places at the gas station, and keep asking everyone who was in the vicinity to come forward with any detail, no matter how unimportant it might seem. There is either a reluctant witness, or a witness who does not realize that he or she is a witness, and the gas station can somehow yield more clues.

Beneath this, we have the three of pentacles. Note that we have another "three"! This is the card of the craftsman, and speaks of a man who is very good at his job. It is followed by the King of Wands, and he falls upright, so I am going to assume, for now, that he is favorably disposed toward Alexis, and trying to find her.  The card representing his best chance of doing that is the nine of pentacles, which is solitude and waiting for counsel before acting. Security, and protecting one's assets is an obstacle in effort to find Alexis.  This card could also represent a woman, who does not want to step away from her secure "comfort zone" in order to come forward with something she has seen. What follows, as something that will happen soon, is the seven of cups. This represents scattered forces as a result of invalid choices and offerings, and energies wasted on things that do not pan out. So far, a large amount of this King's energy has been wasted.

The five of pentacles, reversed, is the first card on the staff. This is someone's fear, and it is a fear of something, or someone, being returned. Next, we have the influence of a person as the environment of this matter: the Knight of Pentacles, reversed. When reversed, this knight is lazy, dishonest about financial matters, and careless and sloppy. He, too, has a connection to the three of pentacles, only he is not very good at his job. He is also a bit of a fraud. The card describing this Knight's hopes and favorite passion is Strength, reversed, which is abuse of power, and sometimes physical abuse. The last card is the Chariot, reversed, which tells us that the wills of two individuals are at odds right now about which direction to take evidence. The opposite opinions and energy forces cannot work together to move the chariot, so it stands still. On mundane levels, this card sometimes refers to vehicles which have broken down. Another possibility connected to this card is message that no one traveled very far. This is one more thing that takes us back to the gas station for clues.

The presence of two cards with values of three lead me to believe that Alexis is not far from the last place she was known to have been seen........about three miles. The pentacles point north, but the cups point west. The High Priestess also has a connection to water, as does the seven of cups. Water somehow aided the hiding of evidence, and is still obscuring the Truth. I hate to see cards like Strength, reversed, in connection to persons directly involved.....in this case, the reversed Knight of Pentacles. This tells me that Alexis somehow ended up in the company of someone who either abuses his own strength, or some type of power he either has over others, or just had over her.

Hopefully, Alexis will be found soon.