How to help when the answer is "no"

Diessa

When someone comes for a reading, the hope for me is that there will be an answer that makes sense to the sitter. Usually, the person has an outcome in mind that will fix a life problem. Sometimes the answer to their hope is "no", what you hope will not happen. This man isn't coming back, you aren't going to get the job, etc.

I suppose unethical readers may ignore the clear "no", in hopes that the sitter will return if you tell them what they wish to hear. I don't believe in giving false hope, and I'm sure many people agree. The question for me is how to go beyond the "no", especially when someone really wants to go there and improve things.

When the answer is negative, and the person really wants to get beyond the negativity, but can't formulate a question or an intention to get there, (or even when they can, but you still don't see an answer) what's the right way to give direction?

I almost feel like there are times when things are so unusually negative there's something larger that needs to be addressed. I suppose many times it is the fault of the person, but to be honest, I have seen situations where the cards give no indication of personal fault. What is going on when the person is not to blame, and yet, there is so much negative stuff hitting them? I almost feel like there's a larger spiritual picture that needs to be addressed, and I am not sure how to address it.

I guess the question is how to address through a concrete spread what to ask when bad things happen to good people. I'm not sure anyone is the expert on that question, but perhaps someone has seen this, and has more insight on how to give the person the direction they are seeking.
 

barefootlife

When the answer is something the person doesn't want to hear, it can help to dig deeper into the meanings of the cards to provide reasons. But that won't always help, and as readers, we do have to understand that sometimes our sitters aren't going to like the answer, cause that's just life.

There's a thread going that I started about the questions we ask, and someone mentioned that the perfect question to ask in many, many cases is 'what does this person need to know?' That really resonated with me.

You should, of course, use a spread that works best with your reading. This is a spread I shared in one of Barleywine's posts and use for a lot of different readings where some digging for insight is needed. It's extremely flexible.

http://i.imgur.com/DsqGXvM.jpg

You might not need two of the #7 cards, but depending on how the reading goes I like to pull an oracle there sometimes as an extra guide.

I hope that helps a bit! Unfortunately, sometimes bad things just happen to good folks, or good folks are doing things that lead to bad outcomes, and all you can do is offer advice about how to move forward.
 

Diessa

Hey, I really like this spread! The contrasting perspective cards are a nice set up. I will try this and see how it works.