Using Tarot to divine a painful past

I was talking to my friend the other day who said he would like to have his cards read, since I obviously need practice I asked ok I could try to do it, do you want to know anything in particular (me thinking work, love, advice etc) and he said "yes the past." I said "the past of what? your past?" he said the past. Now I started thinking and in "the past" meaning a few years ago his brother was murdered (dont know anything about the circumstances) but he wasn't present or in the same country as his family. So I thought he must want to know something about that, to which i felt was...not dangerous but I just cant see myself reading on something like that. What would I say? how could I do it? I felt nervous and agitated all at once. I guess I'm just not ready for such a heavy reading and the responsibility of relaying this kind of information to someone, if at all an event like this can be read.

Have any of you had to do a difficult reading as this and if so how did you go about it. I thought well maybe I can try it when I'm alone but honestly I'm scared what I'll see or "discover" in the process and I feel is not my business to know really. I feel like knowing something in the past is almost scarier than knowing your "future" after all you cant change the past

Thoughts?

Paola

I wish your friend would've been more specific. Did he specify that he wanted to know about HIS past, or the past in general? For all you know, you could give him a reading on the Civil War. That's technically the past!

Perhaps you could try to find a spread that can talk about HIS past and his future, like focus on how despite a possible painful past experience, he's become better for it. That might take the focus off of any negative cards that appear.

yes you are right he shou've been, but in my heart I know that's what he wants to know about and I've never done any reading to contact a person whose passed, I know there are spreads but I think they should be left alone. I could do one like you suggested though about HIS past.
*Thank you*

Here's a thought, ask him to draw as many cards he feels like and then lay them out, see the way they play out and try connecting them to his past through your interpretation, make it interactive, and have him give his take on the cards and all.

hm that sounds like a good idea Sweet. thank you!

If you ask him to give his take, that's where you'll probably gain the most insight. It might not be as hard or scary a reading as you think. It may almost do itself.

hm. thanx solitaire, ill see what I can do...

Hmm, well I would simply do a very simple spread in this case.

Use rows of 7 cards. Each row of seven represents a period of seven years in a persons life. For example row one would represent age 1-7, row 2 age 8-14 etc etc, depending on how old the person is.

Now if the person is say 25, you would have 3 rows of 7 cards plus another smaller row of 4, make sense? (its 11pm here after a long day, so making sense is a plus)

Once you have dealt out those rows, place a single card at the end of each row from top to bottom. And set each of those cards apart somewhat from the rows so they are clear.

Each of these cards represents the lesson learned from that time frame. The last card at the end of the final row will be the current lesson needing to be learned.

Gosh I hope that makes sense, if not let me know and I'll zip out the cell phone camera and give you a picture. I know my explanations can be hellishly obtuse

That doesn't sound very simple to me. It sounds like a pretty big reading. It would probably yield a lot of information, but would take a long time to read. If the person is older than 24, especially, it would take a long time. Maybe shortening it to three cards or less for each life segment would help. Or asking him what part of his past he's interested in exploring---that would narrow it down a lot better. And if he wants to explore the death of his brother and you're not comfortable with doing that, there's nothing wrong with telling him so and declining to do the reading.

um...wow that actually is pretty complicated sounding storm! it sounds great but i'd have to see it i think to get a better idea. He is 23 thank god though it would still be a long one lol

you are right solitaire it might be better to tell him i dont feel comfortable. i guess i'll see... thank you everyone for your advice and feedback!