There was a recent request for a reading for Sierra Lamar, who disappeared a year ago, with a focus on what Sierra was thinking at the time this happened, and possibly, the cause of death. I can certainly try this, and see what the Tarot has to say about those things.
This is rather a disturbing reading. It starts with the Emperor crossed by Temperance. The Emperor is the "father" card of the Tarot, and as he falls reversed here, I am going to assume that he is favorably disposed toward Sierra. Temperance is a card of good combinations and relationships, so it would seem that Sierra's father or someone who served as a father figure in her life had recently given Sierra some advice concerning boyfriends, drugs, or underage drinking. Beneath this, we find the six of swords, upside down. When this card falls upright, it is a card of travel. We see it reversed, here, which means that Sierra did not travel far, if at all, on the last day she was seen alive. It also tells of situations that have no escape, and it looks as if she was warned by her father about this particular possibility. The World also appears in Sierra's past, immediately before she disappeared. She had apparently just decided to do something that she saw as a positive step, or move, in her life. The five of swords overpowered her, though. Anger and revenge were involved. The Page of Wands appears as a message she was waiting to read or hear, but never got to see. Perhaps this was when her phone was taken from her. It seems that Sierra's last thoughts had to do with texts, messages, communication, and probably her phone.
The Hirophant, a card of tradition and sometimes of marriage, figured heavily into Sierra's fears. This is a bit unexpected, because Sierra was so young. The Knight of Cups, a romantic contact, occupied her thoughts. The Queen of Swords, reversed, was another aspect of Sierra's fears. There was a feminine influence here. The Queen of Swords reversed is intolerant and violent. The placement of all the cards from the suit of swords in this reading suggests strangulation or suffocation, as Swords' element is Air. Of course, the meaning could be more literal and suggest actual knives, too, but I tend to think strangulation. Justice, reversed, falls as the final outcome. Excessive severity, unjust punitive actions, and injustice in general is the meaning here. Sierra had either overstepped a boundery, or was perceived to have done so, and someone (or possibly two someones....a male and a female) about whom the Emperor had warned her decided to seek revenge. It does not appear that Sierra expected this, or saw it coming.
