Dark secrets in my family's past? Suggestions wanted.

Richard Pickman

I have a suspicion that there may be some dark secrets in my family's past, from my early childhood. I'm over 50 years old, so this was a long time ago.

I think there may have been some things that happened that I don't remember, or was never aware of in the first place.

I looking for a spread that might be helpful in gaining some insight on this topic.
 

Dolphin_Dreamer

I forgot to mention that there are some spreads in the spread index. There are also spreads for that specific question, or I've tweaked them. I know I have used a spread and really focused and concentrated on the time... if you read the responses to rw's spread, you'll see that someone has used it that way too, that's one of the ways I plan to try it out also hehe

good luck
 

The crowned one

This might be a question best answered or explored with one card to start.

A single card often offers clearer insight then a big spread to establish if there is a dark secret or something worth exploring. If the card indicates there is, then draw more.
 

KCB

alternatively, you can work from whatever it is that is making you think of cleaning out the closets. So for example if a family member wont talk about a particular time, or event, you could look for a spread that might help you explore that little bit first. I've never had to think of this because I was the family silence!
 

Clear Autumn

Sometimes a secret is better left burried. Perhaps you could do a Two Options Spread first to see if it's good for you to find out the secrets?
 

Richard Pickman

First, thank you for your comments an suggestions. After some careful thought, I devised my own spread for this:

Dark Secrets in Our Past (for family or other closely-related group of people)

1357 Person (now)
2468 Hidden Secret (past)
(Additional card(s) may be added to the right of the spread for more information, as needed)

The cards are to be read in pairs, vertically, one pair for each family member. In my family the pairs would be like this: 1/2 father, 3/4 mother, 5/6 me, 7/8 sister. Of course, not all families have a mom and dad, but to me this spread makes most sense if you lay it out with parent(s)/guardian(s) first, then children in descending order by age. Other orders could work just as well, however-- the main thing is that each person is represented by a pair of cards, as indicated above.

Additionally, I would think that this spread could work not just for a family, but for any closely-related group of people.
 

rwcarter

Hi Richard,

One of the problems I have with the spread (and I've read the reading you did with this spread, but my feedback is specifically about the spread, so responding here) is that you're assuming that each person involved has some kind of hidden secret. That may or may not be the case. I mean we all have secrets that range from the "no big deal" category all the way to "if this comes out, I'm in so much trouble...." category. I don't think you're trying to get at the no big deal secrets with this spread though.

The way the spread is constructed, it also seems like there's one big family secret that everyone has a part of instead of people having individual secrets that may or may not be related. Let's say that the spread indicated that one of your parents cheated on the other one or that your parents never loved each other. Is that really any business of yours? There's a fine line between finding out info that may be relevant to your life and snooping.

For the sake of argument, let's say that one of your parents did do something to you. The other parent could know about it but be sticking their head in the sand. But the other parent could honestly have no idea about it. Again for the sake of argument, let's say one parent did something and the other parent found out about it. Your sister overheard them arguing about something related to you, but she doesn't know what. Does that actually count as a hidden secret for your sister?

That points back to the fact that you're going into the spread with the belief that there ARE family secrets. So any cards that come up become self-fulfilling prophecies where that might not be the case.

I discourage Yes/No questions, but feel that in cases such as this, you need to come up with some way of finding out IF there is a family secret. If the answer is Yes, then you can do another reading to find out what the secret may be. I don't have a lot of input on how to construct such a spread though. But since you use reversals, maybe lay down three cards to answer the question if there is a family secret. First and third positions count as one, middle position counts as two. So then you'd determine yes or no as follows:
  • all upright would be a definite Yes
  • all reversed would be a definite No
  • if the flanking cards have the same orientation and the center card has a different orientation then it's a toss up
  • if the center card and one flanking card are the same orientation and the other flanking card is a different orientation, then the orientation of central card determines the answer.

Then you can interpret the three cards to get additional information on why the answer is Yes or No. Depending on that result, you can then use your spread or some other one to find out what, if any, part each of the players has in a family secret.

This was intended as constructive criticism, and I hope it helps.

Rodney
 
First Blood 'Butterfly' Spread Double Celtic Cross.