Soul Shrinker

[Tarot Sparrow]

I just want to add that his image isn't all too pleasing at first--but going by description and personality, I love the Soul Shrinker, because he embodies everything I hate and to no fault of his own. You have to admire the poor guy for taking all that undeserved, harsh reality upon himself just to show us the way.

[sagitarian]

Originally posted by Alissa
And then, he showed you that by learning to change your perspective, he was suddenly not a monster at all! And neither is the monster you faced in the mirror! When you can learn to willfully change your perspective, you are free.

Have i told you recently how much i love your perspective on these cards? Giggles, b/c you truly do have a beautiful perspective, and interpretation on these cards, and how to relate them to soul full meanings (soul food?). Giggles. Love you sis!

[ScarabFlight]

I too, picked poor Soul Shrinker as my least favorite card. Now that I know more about him I'm quite ashamed of myself. (I did have to pick one of the cards. I'm not sure which was harder: one to be the least favorite or just one to be your favorite?)

Anyway, I think just by picking him you learn a lesson from him. Isn't that what he's all about? to be kind to others no matter what and I would add not to judge a book (or faery) by it's cover. It sure does make you think twice about saying not so nice things about others. ::gulp:: I hope that by my choosing him I didn't make him even uglier!?! Hopefully loving him will make him more beautiful. (Actually I think I see him softening up moment by moment.)

Choosing this card was one of the most simple complex lessons I've learned. If that makes any sense?! Hopefully my words don't get in the way of what I've meant to say.

[Jewel]

Originally posted by ScarabFlight

Anyway, I think just by picking him you learn a lesson from him. Isn't that what he's all about? to be kind to others no matter what and I would add not to judge a book (or faery) by it's cover.

I would like to add, he also teaches us not to be ugly to ourselves as well.

[Namaste]

Forgive me, dear friends, if this has been said before, but these thoughts I just have to share with you.

As I do every morning when I ask what faery will accompany me during the day, and what it is he/she/they wish to tell me, Soul Shrinker showed up this morning.

It suddenly dawned on me that he is really Soul Expander, telling me, gently, mind you, to be honest with myself. You know, to strive beyond the denial that is our first reaction when we know fully well we ought to be ashamed of ourselves, or when we try to deny our shadow side, knowing we are just fooling ourselves.

I was encouraged to take a good look at my ethics and whether I am consequent with them at all times, and to make sure that I had better damned well try to be consequent.

Thus did I see the little bodhisattva as the expander of my soul.

Love you, little big one, for being the better part of me!

[diane drizzy]

Yes, I too picked SS as my least favorite card.
But I have reconsidered after reading all your posts and now I feel guilty.
I must say though that it was a gut reaction when I saw him, just like The Green Woman made me laugh. But then again that's what I love about The FO, it's a deck that you can grow and learn from.

[ncefafn]

Maybe I shouldn't have read this thread before getting my deck, but I did, so I can't say how much what's been written here influenced my reaction. However, when I first came across Soul Shrinker, he looked to me like a beast in pain. Perhaps motivated by Sagitarian's comments, I stroked his nose, rubbed the spot between his eyes, and scratched beneath his chin. He seemed to feel better after that.

Kim

[jema]

I did the exercise, wrote down the keywords in my little journal and thought about him a long time before actually opening the book to read about him and I found that my view of him is a bit different then that of the author and from all of you.

these were my key-words:
Needy.
Dependant on others for nourishment, is no one all by himself.
We give him power.
Encourages me to ask for what I need.
Vampyre. Passive-Agressive.
No sharing, no outpouring. All in one direction yet never "full"
Primitive - knows what he needs and takes it. Survivor.

***

Above all I see him as one that does not really communicate at all other on a pure emotional level.
Now, two days later I added some words for him:
"Petrified, turning into stone, stuck in a mold"
And these words are still not right, I also see him as this primitive baby and as such someone that can be changed, shaped and molded.
Or maybe those concepts actually DO work together... I feel I am not yet finished with him for sure.

I still don't really "get" the book-meaning for him at all.
I guess in some areas I do touch base with the book here but well, I don't think I will place too much value on the book here but rather go with my own feelings.
The book focuses on the use of words, but "my" Soul-Shrinker is not about words at all - quite the opposit.

[Jewel]

Jema, I think your concepts do tie well together. Soul Shrinker is most definetly someone you will want to spend more time with. He has a very powerful message and it is one he shares by experiencing it with you.

I believe most of us that have become quite attached to the little guy, have a spin-off what the book says, and do not quite agree with the book, or perhaps it is that we have gone deeper.

Please keep sharing your feelings on SS as you work with him. I have found him to be one of the most powerful faeries (in a gentle way), and one that helped me make a paradigm shift and learn to be a better person.

[oceanpoetry]

I have just purchased the "Faeries Oracle" - it is pretty amazing! I started with exercise to get to know the cards and chose SS as my least favorite card. In my journal, I wrote about Soul Shrinker "desolate, wasteland, despair, lonlieness" with physical manifestations of illness and anxiety. Now reading this thread I realize Soul Shrinker is the teacher and protector of all these things. SS takes them on so we can transform them, and know ourselves better. I also love the image of SS as a misunderstood creature, being shunned because of appearances. In what ways have I turned away -and not faced - those things that I should view with love?