The Inner Child Deck

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Aug 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Royal Cat	02 Aug 2002
Hi all, There seems to be several people that own and use this deck so I thought I would try to start a new topic on it. :) This was the first deck I owned (a friend bought it for me) and it is still the deck I use most often. Background: The Inner Child Cards are by Isha and Mark Lerner, Illustrated by Christopher Guilfoil with a beautiful 'oil painting' look. The cards are LARGE and that can make them a bit difficult to shuffle, but the size really brings out the beautiful coloring in each image. The cards are based on fairy tales and myths and are very 'user friendly' -great for use with children or people who are uneasy with traditional tarot cards. The Major Arcana are each based on a fairy tale. For example: Little Red Cap (Little Red Riding Hood)= Fool, Sleeping Beauty=Death, The Fairy Godmother=The High Priestess, Cinderella=Moon... The Minor Arcana are: The Winged Hearts=Cups The Earth Crystals=Coins/pent's The Magic Wands are topped with butterfly's The Swords of Truth The Court Cards are: Child, Seeker, Guide and Guardian So, to start off the discussion... I'm curious what are your favorite and least liked cards of the Minor or Major cards in this particular deck. I'll post mine just below. :) Cat

Royal Cat	02 Aug 2002
My favorite cards of this particular deck are: The Fairy Godmother (High Priestess). I just love her - the cloak, the key in her hand, the little mouse in the number at the top. Such a beautiful card. :) Also, I really like the Nine of Hearts. I think of it as the "My Cup Runth Over" card and, for me, it represents joyful abundace, fullfilled dreams and wishes. The card that gives me the creeps is: The Earth Child (The World). I know, I know... what a strange card to hate! :( But the image of that bluish-tinge baby floating around in space just gives me the creeps. Is it suffocating? Low on oxygen and turning blue!? Ick! So, what are yours? Do tell! :) Cat

truthsayer	02 Aug 2002
hi royal cat! i love this deck so i'll try to play along w/ you. my fav is XVIII cinderella. i don't usually pick the moon card in a deck but i love the fairy tale cinderella. i love the golden moon w/ the purple sky. the girl looking wistfully upward as the birds bring her a new dress. beside the tree you see a grave which i presume is that of her mother. it reminds me of how there are often gifts hidden in the dark night of the soul that i often perceive the moon as being. second is 0 little red cap. this is another fav fairy tale but i particularly like how innocent she looks even w/ the hidden dangers she is unaware. she holds the butterfly so gently. it reminds me of simpler times that i wasn't aware of all the "wolves" out there. 3rd 2 of wands this is such a beautiful cards. the colors and design reminds me of monet's painting on waterlillies. i love the reflctions of the fairy girl, rabbit bird and swan on the water. just a serence scene of nature.<<>> 8 of hearts--i love this new interpretation of the 8 of cups. it's just so sweet that the girl and boy merchildren are making beautiful music under the light of the setting sun. so romantic! next post--what i don't like

truthsayer	02 Aug 2002
what i don't like: VI hansel & gretel--it just bothers me that this card has a brother and sister rather than adults who are lovers. the writer explains why she did this quite well but it still bothers me. i wish she'd use them for another card. III mother goose--this is a butt ugly card to me--bottom line. after all that beautiful artwork the empress is wasted on an ugly design. i'd probably feel better if it had been chosen as a minor arcana card. all in all, i have more likes than dislikes in this deck. one thing i've being experimenting w/ is after a reading w/ a regular deck, i follow up by throwing a few of these cards to look at any possible archetypes playing out in the Q's or my own life. the results are often quite interesting.

truthsayer	03 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Royal Cat The card that gives me the creeps is: The Earth Child (The World). I know, I know... what a strange card to hate! :( But the image of that bluish-tinge baby floating around in space just gives me the creeps. Is it suffocating? Low on oxygen and turning blue!? Ick! i looked closely at this card and true the baby appears to be blue. however, one thing that artists often do is make shadows from another source that light is coming from. the sun is behind the earth. what the image shows of the earth is blue. therefore, if i were painting this picture, logically the baby would have a blue reflection/shadow. i think the artist was trying to indicate the blue shadow of earth but i can see why you'd see the baby as suffocating and turning blue. the card probably should have been done w/ less blue on the baby. at least the baby could have slightly pink cheeks. it does look a bit creepy if i forget what i know about art.

LeoLady	03 Aug 2002
I've had a look at this deck on the net, and it does seem very nice, not sure if I could relate to it tho. However having said that, i thought the Dragon Tarot and Celtic Dragon Tarot would have jumped out at me to be read, but when i got them, all i saw were pretty pics of Dragons! Am keeping the decks cos i do like them. I might get some pic frames and build a collage with them x

Royal Cat	03 Aug 2002
Thruthsayer - thanks for playing along! :) I agree completely on the Mother Goose card!!! I understand why it was drawn that way (the egg symbolism) and why they chose Mother Goose for this card, but, come on! It's just an ugly card - especially compared to all beautiful images this deck has like the 2wands. :) Could you explain a little more of how you use this deck after a reading with a "regular deck" ? It sounds very interesting. :)

Royal Cat	03 Aug 2002
I'm also curious how other's use this deck's given meanings compared to another deck. Some of the meanings given in the book for Inner Child are very... um, "deep" - very psychological and generally much more positive. For example, the 10swords in Rider-Waite is a gruesome looking card, swords out of the man's back, blood on the ground... For me the meaning is: victim mentality, bottoming out and 'when you hit bottom the only way out is up' However, the image in the Inner Child deck is one of the boy conquering his fears/limited thinking, becoming a hero instead of a victim. He succeeds by turning the situation around and taking control. When you are reading with different (RW based) decks do you blend all the meanings that you have in your head from different decks to come up with the best meaning to fit the situation... or do you use different meanings depending on which deck you are using? I hope that made sense!! I've confused myself while writing it! :confused: Cat

Royal Cat	03 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by truthsayer second is 0 little red cap. this is another fav fairy tale but i particularly like how innocent she looks even w/ the hidden dangers she is unaware. she holds the butterfly so gently. it reminds me of simpler times that i wasn't aware of all the "wolves" out there. I've found it interesting to follow the path of the wolf through the deck. There are cards that I wouldn't expect to see him in where he is peeking out from behind something or playing an active role. It does add a new level of meaning, for example, to the Fool card or Judgement (IMHO). I like how the creators if this deck show the tower off in the distance on the Big Bad Wolf card... with the path illuminated by moonlight... for me that is very symbolic of the 'dark side' of our soul, the fears and demons that we hide inside... and what we need to get through/beyond to reach the sun. :) Cat

truthsayer	03 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Royal Cat Thruthsayer - thanks for playing along! :) Could you explain a little more of how you use this deck after a reading with a "regular deck" ? It sounds very interesting. :) after i do a reading w/ a major spread, i usually draw at least 3 cards i call "clarifiers". instead of using the same deck for the clarifiers, i use inner child cards instead. my rationale is that what we call the id is also the inner child. the problems we have are often related to wishes or dreams or games from childhood. the regular decks don't really give me this info. we are all joined by the collective unconscious. archetypes are the language of the unconscious. fairy tales and myths are the vehicles that archetypes are expressed in human language. to understand which ones we are unconsciously playing out or need gives us an upperhand on motivations we hadn't previously thought we had but were there all the time. the other reason is that i'm given a chance to play w/ this really cool deck!! LOL

Starfish	03 Aug 2002
Cat - I have really enjoyed reading the posts in this thread. I just recently received this deck and book set in trade and am planning on looking at it more in depth this evening and tomorrow (I currently have my 21 month old nephew (he's a pistol!) spending some time with us and haven't been able to really look at this deck). How do you personally shuffle/mix up this deck for readings? :TEMPS Starfish

truthsayer	03 Aug 2002
to me, inner child cards are only loosely tarot so i really can't use my previous understanding of tarot to read these cards. but if they are really tarot cards them i would have to see them as a step beyond traditional meaning in the card. for example, the 10 of swords that you brought up earlier. it's often seen as victim consciousness. however, the inner child card response is a step beyond victim consciousness. the child has changed his role from victim to hero. doing a card by card comparision b/t this one and a rws clone would be interesting but time consuming. when i use this deck i look up each card b/c i'm not familiar enough w/ their meanings to go off on my own. i'm still learning what a step beyond is in each card. i enjoy reading the book, too. lots of insight and things i haven't thought about. i have a long time interest in archetypal psychology and how it's expressed in stories. i taught one class around 6 years ago on it. i hope to teach another this fall. one of my plans is to use inner child cards as a guide for students to write or draw or help them find their own personal stories. i thought about using the whimsical but it falls more in the tarot category so it won't really do what i need it to do. i haven't noticed the wolf interspersed thru the deck before. now that you bring it up i think i'll check that out later. i think you are absolutely right about the meaning of the wolf. royal cat, i really enjoy talking about this deck. you've pointed some things out to me all ready that i had not thought. i think this will help me plan my class.

truthsayer	03 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Starfish [b how do you personally shuffle/mix up this deck for readings? :temps starfish [/b] i set up 7 separate piles of cards and put one on each until i've used up the deck. then i randomly stack the piles together. i might do this 2 or 3 times until i feel like the cards are mixed. the creators meantioned that they made the cards large like they would be used as if they would be used by the small hands of a child. however, the fact the cards are so large and difficult to shuffle is a reason more ppl don't like this deck. i can remember some games for kids being larger but i'm not sure i agree that small hands need large cards. it seems like the opposite would be true. on the positive side, the larger side makes it easier to get lost in the gorgeous artwork. there's few art decks out that i'd love to see blown up to this size.

Keslynn	03 Aug 2002
I just got this deck too and I was blown away by the artwork! I will only buy large decks that are worth the extra effort to shuffle (if that makes any sense ;)). I haven't had a chance to really delve into it though because I've got to catch up on all the summer reading I haven't done. I've worked out a reward system where I get to read parts of tarot books if I do the dry stuff first. lol Eventually, I'll get to the Inner Child book and look more through the deck. Now I'm all excited to do just that! I'll definitely have to look into the wolf thing. Thanks for the tip. Oh yeah, Starfish, for shuffling you could try the swirl method where you just put all the cards face down and swirl them around. It will make some of them reversed, but if you don't like that, then you can just make sure to put them right side up when you're reforming a stack. That's what I do even with the smaller cards though I usually shuffle those normally after swirling. :TQW Kes

Starfish	03 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Keslynn Oh yeah, Starfish, for shuffling you could try the swirl method where you just put all the cards face down and swirl them around. It will make some of them reversed, but if you don't like that, then you can just make sure to put them right side up when you're reforming a stack. That's what I do even with the smaller cards though I usually shuffle those normally after swirling. I've never tried this method before (this is my first large deck. I'll definitely try it with this deck. I also think the artwork is absolutely phenominal - it blows me away too - there's so much to see in each card. :TEMPS Starfish

Keslynn	03 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Starfish I also think the artwork is absolutely phenominal - it blows me away too - there's so much to see in each card. :TEMPS Starfish I love the artwork as well. I kinda got the deck on a whim because it was extremely cheap on eBay, but when I got it, I was really glad I did. Some of the pictures made me coo out loud. The mermaid ones in particular are quite charming. I also love the bright colors which are a big draw for me in any deck. However, I must agree with Royal Cat that the big blue baby is a little scary. Oh well. The rest of the deck more than makes up for it. Oh! And I got a lovely faery queen bag for it from Tarot Totes. They have a pretty good selection of bags for all those giant decks. :TQW Kes

Starfish	03 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Keslynn However, I must agree with Royal Cat that the big blue baby is a little scary. Oh well. The rest of the deck more than makes up for it. Oh! And I got a lovely faery queen bag for it from Tarot Totes. They have a pretty good selection of bags for all those giant decks. The Big Blue Baby is my least favorite card too. It's just too... strange. I've ordered the Sacred Spirals (orange, coral and magenta) bag for it - it's a large bag and I thought the colors would work well with the deck. :TEMPS Starfish

Royal Cat	03 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Starfish How do you personally shuffle/mix up this deck for readings? What works for me is to take a selection of cards from the back and while holding the deck loosely, gently slid the cards in all throughout the deck. I repeat this about 5-8 times until I think they are mixed up well. Every so often I will also 'smear' them around on the table or floor and then jumble them all together again and that gets them mixed well. As a side note, this was my first deck and I had it for many, many months before acquiring a Universal Rider-Waite deck... those URW seemed so SMALL! I had gotten so used to shuffling huge cards. LOL :) Quote: Originally posted by truthsayer after i do a reading w/ a major spread, i usually draw at least 3 cards i call "clarifiers". instead of using the same deck for the clarifiers, i use inner child cards instead. my rationale is that what we call the id is also the inner child. the problems we have are often related to wishes or dreams or games from childhood. the regular decks don't really give me this info. Truthsayer, I really like this method and plan to give it a try soon. Thank you for describing it. :) Cat

Royal Cat	03 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Starfish The Big Blue Baby is my least favorite card too. It's just too... strange. :D I'm so glad it's not just me! LOL Cat

truthsayer	03 Aug 2002
i hope what i said about the blue baby didn't sound like i'm invalidating how y'all feel about that card. i'm an artist so naturally i felt like i had to defend and explain what i saw the artist as doing. so many of artists have that "just visiting this planet" mentality about us. i understand what you mean about the blue baby. but then the medical training in me takes over and says the baby could be blue b/c it hasn't been born yet. i don't know if unborn babies are blue but i know blood is blue until it is exposed to oxygen. i don't know if there is a parallel there or not. ok, logic defies me. yes, the blue baby is unsettling to me, too! but it does appear to be alive. ;) the lovers(hansel and gretel) still bother me more. i guess it's the incest taboo that i'm reminded-- even tho the creator explains well why the siblings are appropriate for #6.

Royal Cat	04 Aug 2002
No worries. :) I appreciate your artist's perspective - I never would've thought of the 'blue baby' in that way until you explained it. Very valid points and insightful comments. :) Cat

Violet Gargoyle	04 Aug 2002
Does anyone have plans to get the workbook that is coming out for the deck? I would be interested in what kind of excercises are in it. Something I always recommend is the Whimsicle Deck. It is the same sort of premise as the I.C. cards, but there are different choices in the archtype. To me the Whimsicle is also a good sort of bridge between the IC and more traditional tarot decks. My favorite card artwise is Little Red Cap. It's a pretty intense card for a Fool card, but I love it. I also have a fondness, sort of, for the Devil card which is the big bad wolf. Mainly because he is the villian in more than one tale and so represents different inner demons for different people. The lovers card is a strange choice. I always saw Beauty and the Beast, or its different versions, as a better idea. The Hansel and Gretel idea doesnt seem as strange to me as the version I have of the Rock and Roll deck, which has David Bowie and Ziggy Stardust.

Starfish	04 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Violet Gargoyle Does anyone have plans to get the workbook that is coming out for the deck? I would be interested in what kind of excercises are in it. I am. I want to flip through it first. :TSTRE Starfish

truthsayer	04 Aug 2002
i was thinking about getting the workbook, too. this is a deck that has so many layers to explore that a guide would be nice.

oriel	04 Aug 2002
i'm eager for the workbook to come out! the cards are wonderful...i do like Mother Goose as the Empress! My favorite is Little Red Cap. My least favorite is Hansel and Gretel for The Lovers. But I think I may be able to adjust to the card.

Royal Cat	05 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Violet Gargoyle Does anyone have plans to get the workbook that is coming out for the deck? I would be interested in what kind of excercises are in it. Could you tell me where I can read more about or see the workbook? I didn't know they were coming out with one! Thanks! Cat

Starfish	05 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Royal Cat Could you tell me where I can read more about or see the workbook? I didn't know they were coming out with one! Here you are, Cat! Inner Child Tarot Workbook Blessings - :TEMPS Starfish

Royal Cat	05 Aug 2002
Thanks for the link! Sounds great... I'll have to add it to my LONG wish list. :) Cat

The The Inner Child Deck thread was originally posted on 02 Aug 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.