Identity spread - advice please!

Hi there.
I'm Mad Muttley and quite new to Aeclectic, and happy to be here!.

I'd like to ask for some advice on a spread I need to do. To explain alittle....

At the weekend my father-in-law showed me a letter he recently received, which in it's nature is very *threatening*. In it the person (we think female, but can't be sure) promised they'd really mess up his life, which they've already begun doing, and we have reason to believe has links to past events where he's been 'set-up'.

Basically, my husband(his son) wants to do a tarot spread to find out the identity of this person, in so far as it's possible to do so; and to find out *why* they're doing this. Plus, anything that's hidden about the situation and guidance on whether to act or not /what action to take.

I have abit more experience with Tarot then my partner, so I said I'd try to help out with the interpretation, but I don't want a spread that's gonna use lots of cards.
I was thinking of a three/five card spread, where as the reading unfolds, it'd be possible to 'pull' clarification cards where required.

So please, if anyone has any advice for using the cards to identify someone, and how to structure the questions as to find out the following:
*Who this person is.
*Why they're doing this (motive).
*Advice/Guidance in this situation.
*Poss. outcome.
or *any* guidance at all!, I'd be really grateful!.

My Thanx!
MM.

I'd maybe add in 'what aspect of his life is the person connected to him by' (to get a job/acquaintance/relative thing out of the way). For the advice you can narrow down to 'what's needed' or 'suggested action', as either of those might give more specifics along different lines. Otherwise I think you've got it covered. Hopefully you can get a handle on things.

Since he got a letter, I'd take a photocopy of it down to the police & register a complaint there, with the envelope it came in (postal mark gives date & city mailed from). Get it officially on record, he might need this further down the line as proof of harassment especially if the other person gets physical.

I completely agree with HudsonGray that the first thing you should do is to take this to the police, because it's a really serious situation, especially if you know this person has already begun doing your husband damage.

As for your reading, you can also try the Cross of Thor spread, which uses the five cards you want. Number 1 (influences) can be read as the motive, number 2 (obstacles) can be the person doing this to you, number 3 (forces on your favour) can be your guidance in this situation, number 4 (short-term consequences) can be the nearest outcome, number 5 (long-term consequences) can be read reversedly to find where in the past has this person crossed your husband's way.

Best of fortune to you and your husband.

Thankyou!

Hi to you both, and thankyou very much for posting a reply.
I've taken on board your suggestions, which have helped me along a bit with the spread.
Now to find a suitable moment in my busy day where we can do this reading!.

My Father-in-law really isn't too concerned about the threat made in this letter, as he can more than deal with it on a physical level, and he isn't one to let it work on his psyche (I know it'd work on mine!), and the police have looked at the letter; but we're still no closer to finding the perpetrator, hence the need for Tarot insight.

I would like to post the resulting spread if that's o.k?, for any possible feedback you could give.
I'd like to have as many views on this as possible!.

My Thanks to you both once more, and I'll be back soon with the spread!.

Kind regards,
MM.

I've moved the reading to the Your readings forum, since it's much more likely to get responses there. You can find it here.

Thankyou!

Hi Tarotlady.
I did wonder whether I should post this reading elsewhere, but decided that there was alot of background information that I'd already written here; but I can see that I might not get much response if I left it here! ;o)

So, my thanks to you for moving it!.
Kind Regards,
MM.