Anchors of the Past

About the deck

A deck about situations from the past that ended long ago and still hold a person in place.

The deck holds 160 metaphorical associative cards. Eighty of them illustrate situations a person could have met in childhood: the ones that were not resolved as they needed to be and left a mark on memory and on the soul.

The other eighty are strips describing such situations in words. This double arrangement lets a professional choose the way of working that suits each client: some respond to an image, some to precise wording.

An anchor is not simply a memory but a situation that goes on taking energy and shaping the behavior of a grown person today.

The task of the work is to see the past not through a child’s eyes but with an adult’s view, to change how you relate to it and to take back the energy that goes there.

The deck can be used as a deep diagnostic, clarifying, deepening, transformational and supporting tool in counseling, therapy, training and psychological transformation games.

With the “Anchors of the Past” deck you can

• find the painful situations of the past and work them through
• remember what has been forgotten and still shapes the present
• see the real reasons situations keep repeating
• get free of the weight of the past
• heal old wounds
• understand what keeps you from moving toward your goal
• look at the past with an adult’s view rather than a child’s
• see where your energy goes and why there is never enough of it
• change how you relate to an event that cannot be changed
• take back the qualities you lost in that situation

Questions to ask the deck

Work starts from these questions. Choose one, the one that speaks to you more strongly than the rest, and work with it, because only one anchor is worked through well in a single session.

1. Where does my energy go?
2. Which situation is it important to sort out right now?
3. What is it time to let go of?
4. What keeps me from moving on?
5. What do I need to change in how I relate to the past?
6. Where were my important qualities lost?
7. Which situation am I stuck in that gets in my way today?
8. Which situation do I need to relate to differently?
9. Which anchor have I carried the longest?
10. What am I still proving to the past?
11. Who in the past do I still owe something to?
12. What will change in my life once I let this go?

The whole series

“World of the Inner Child” is 12 decks that work as a single system: anchors of the past, deficits, childhood influences, psychological defenses, healing, beliefs, limitations, resources and pillars.

See the whole series →