Pillars of the Inner Child

About the deck

A deck about what you can lean on inside, even when it feels as if there is nothing to lean on.

The deck holds 80 metaphorical associative cards with symbols, objects, buildings, bridges, situations and nature.

They all share one meaning: what is shown can become a support for the inner child living inside a grown person. Whether a person recognizes these supports or not, they exist.

The task of the deck is to help you see an inner support even if you have never felt one, and to recognize the qualities you can lean on and are worth strengthening.

What sets a support apart from a resource is steadiness: a resource fills you, a support holds you. A resource can run out; a support stays with a person even through a hard stretch.

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

With the “Pillars of the Inner Child” deck you can

• find and recognize your inner strength
• understand that a strong child with many skills lives inside you
• learn to trust your own qualities and make them your supports
• find the resource to move forward
• recognize strengths you never suspected you had
• understand which qualities are worth growing to become steadier
• decide which skill will come in useful for a particular task
• understand which actions will resolve the situation
• tell an inner support from dependence on outside circumstances
• put together a personal set of supports for any stretch of life

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 support is taken in well in a single session.

1. What can I lean on in this situation?
2. Where is my inner strength?
3. Which quality will help me manage?
4. What in me is reliable and never lets me down?
5. Which skill will come in useful now?
6. What held me through the hardest times?
7. Which quality is worth strengthening?
8. What do I actually lean on: myself or circumstances?
9. What will stay with me even if everything changes?
10. What in me is stronger than I think?
11. Which support did I have in childhood?
12. How can I support myself without anyone’s help?

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 →