The Inner Child Cards are large cards with vibrant, attractive artwork in primary colours that looks a little like it was drawn with crayons. Journey into fairy tales, myths, and nature and back into childhood.
I am a collector of Tarot cards, more than I am a
reader of them. The oil painting-like artwork for this
deck is beautiful. The artist utilizes bold and rich
colors in keeping with its faerie tale theme.
Each card
in the deck represents a character in a folk or faery
tale. The Major Arcana runs its choices parallel to the
archetypes in the typical tarot. For instance, the Fool
card (Number Zero) is represented in this deck by
Little Red Cap (the forerunner to Red Riding Hood). The High Priestess is the Faery Godmother, the Moon is
represented by Cinderella, the Devil is represented by the Big
Bad Wolf (a foil to Red Riding Cap and the Three
Little Pigs, another card in the Major Arcana).
The
titles of the cards are the names of the characters, not
the archetypes (which are only noted in the book), so
parents won't need to be squeamish in trying to explain to
curious little seekers what the Magician means instead of
pointing out Aladdin's Genie. The cards themselves
are larger than normal decks (and harder to shuffle if
you have smaller hands) but very detailed.
The minor arcana does away
with the traditional court cards, meaning no kings or
queens, but rather replaced with cards like The Seeker of
Wands (all topped with butterfies) or the Guardian of
Crystals.
The accompanying book to the deck is a nice
read, but a thicker companion than many of the tarot
decks that are on the market right now. Experts may want
to skip to the source and insight areas detailing
each card. Beginners may be more interested in the
different layout and reading options.
This is a
good deck if you are a collector of childrens stories
or interested in folklore, and a fun one to look into
if you are looking for a bright
alternative/compliment to some more of the somber tarot decks that are
out there.
I actually found The Inner Child Cards here on this site. I was pretty much
running through the entire alphabetic list here and I happened upon them.
What first attracted me to the cards was the bright colors, since so many of
the more popular decks are rather somber. The artwork on the cards posted
on the web site was, in my opinion, incredible. Granted, the guy isn't
Picasso, but he blends the rainbow in a most aesthetic way.
The second thing I noticed (reading the other reviews and summaries) is that
the Major Arcana are all based on Fairy Tales (when you get the deck you
also see that the Court cards are based on a 'story' of some sort, as well).
Major Arcana is supposed to be kind of the story of life, from birth to
re-birth, and I could not *see* that in any other deck as well as I could
with the Major Arcana of the Inner Child Cards. The symbolism of each Fairy
Tale fit extremely well, and as I read through the book I also realized that
the stories had each been fully researched as far back as the beginnings of
the tale.
So, as they're not one of the more popular decks I had a hard time finding
it. I eventually found it at a store called Vision Quest here where I live
in Everett Washington. It was a little higher priced than
most decks I was looking at (34.50$ I think), but in my opinion well worth
it. You can't tell from just looking at the box but the book is very thick
and thorough. There are 2 - 3 pages on every major arcana and court card and a full page
devoted to each regular suit card, as well as a great foreword, which totally
shows how much the authors cared about their project. The authors were also
very thorough in adding numerology, astrology, and chakra points of view to
their layouts and definitions of the cards. The book also has some
deck-specific layouts that I had not seen before, including one that is fairly close to the the classic Celtic Cross, one devoted
to chakras, etc. The only thing I didn't like about this part is that they
were not as thorough as to what the positions meant, which I had gotten
quite used to. But the more I read with the cards the more I developed, in
my own head, what each position meant.
Each of the courts (Magic Wands-Fire-South, Swords of Truth-Air-East, Winged
Hearts-Water-West, and Earth Crystals-Earth-North) stay very true to their
Elemental associations, and where as some decks go a little cheesy with the
regular old number cards, each and every card in this deck has as much
powerful symbolism as the next. My favorite number cards would have to be
the Nine of Swords and the Ten of Swords, because in most decks the
symbolism never really got through to me, as much as in this deck, and those
are personally powerful cards to me.
The cards themselves are very large and sturdy, and learning to shuffle them
was... different... but since I couldn't shuffle before I got them, and now I
shuffle extremely well, I apparently got over that. (Bending them and
flexing them for the first five days really helped).
The Court cards are changed a bit from the average Tarot deck. Instead of
Page, Knight, Queen and King, they are Child, Seeker, Guide, and Guardian.
Each of these cards hold a fairy tale of their own, the Pied Piper, Dorothy,
the Tin Man, and the Cowardly lion, and St. Nicholas make appearances. I
didn't think I would be able to connect well with the difference but it
ended up working better for me.
I think if I had to pick one specific thing I did not like about this deck
it would be the use of angels in some of the cards. Raphael, Michael and
Gabriel (Changed to Gabrielle) to be specific. I, along with allot of people
in alternative religions do *not* connect well with the symbolism of angels.
But since the angels do come with a 'story' of their own, I think it still
fits with the theme, and if I ignore the whole religion thing, I still
manage to deal well with the symbolism, it is still an archetype after all.
So in an over-all review of this deck: If you love bright colors, bouncing
on beds, laughing and playing in the park, you might want to give these
cards a try. They really can brighten your day.
The Inner Child Cards are a fantasy deck which
takes you on a journey into fairytale, myth and nature.
The pretty colourful cards look like crayonned
paintings, a nice touch that complements the child
connection.
The cards are very large (5cm x 15.5cm) making them
quite difficult to shuffle, but on the other hand the
larger size helps you to see the detailed artwork very
clearly.
The Major Arcana is designed to assist exploration of
the mystery of the Divine Child who lives within each
one of us. It takes us on a journey into a fairytale
world inhabited by dragons,handsome princes, enchanters,
big bad wolves and wicked witches, as well as many
other traditional storybook characters.
These cards
have rainbow hued borders, with the number of the card
(Roman numerals) inset in a circle at the top. The title
appears on the bottom border, but all 22 cards have been
renamed, and I found it somewhat difficult to remember
which of the traditional cards each one related to. It
was easy enough to make the connection between the
Fairy Godmother and High Priestess, Big Bad Wolf and The
Devil, Sleeping Beauty and Death, Hansel & Gretel and The
Lovers. But the connection between Three Little Pigs and
Judgement, and Peter Pan and The Chariot was somewhat obscure
and the connection not instantly made.
The design of
this deck incorporates a very important change within
the tarot, in that the Minor Arcana, projects a strong
spiritual energy and presence. It is as though the magic
and mystery of the Major Arcana has impregnated the
Minor Cards, lifting them out of their usual supporting
role.
The very pretty Magic Wands (Wands) show
fairies and butterflies within borders of flowers and
caterpillars. The Swords show children on adventures. Their borders
show birds flying through purple skies bedecked with
gold clouds. Winged Hearts (Cups) feature mermaids
within borders of seashells, seahorses, turtles, starfish
and goldfish. The Crystals (Pentacles) show gnomes in
a border of acorns, oakleaves, toadstools, frogs and
snails.
The traditional court figures have been renamed: the
Page is now the Child, the Knight is called the Seeker,
the Queen has become the Guide and the King is the
Guardian.
Gaia, Caretake of the Earth appears as Guardian of the
Crystals, with three Archangels as the remaining Guardians.
Archangel Raphael, guardian to all travellers and people on
religious pilgrimages and often depicted with a staff, is
the Guardian of the Magic Wands. Archangel Michael
who captains the heavenly hosts and carries the Sword
of Truth is shown here as the Guardian of Swords. Archangel Gabriel, the revealer of divine mysteries to humanity is the Guardian of Winged Hearts.
Both Major and Minor Arcana cards have a sense of innocence and wonder
about them and the borders give a sense of stepping into
a scene from the pages of a storybook.
The Inner Child cards are a gateway to the lost innoncence of
childhood, and are eminently suitable for
reflective/meditative work aimed at contacting the wounded child within.
I found them to also be a very accurate predictive
tool, whilst projecting a sense of light heartedness and
fun into readings.
A thoughtful and well written book accompanies this deck. There were several new spreads,
charmingly named in keeping with the "child" theme. Simple to
layout, and easy to remember, there was great depth to
many of them. I particularly liked the 5 card spread
entitled "Child", in which each of the cards represents an
aspect of yourself. "C" shaped liked the crescent moon
represents your receptivity to the world around you. "H"
shaped like a ladder reveals how you climb higher within
yourself to reach new spiritual undertaking. "I" is the
central letter in the word "Child" and denotes a central
reality or special goal. "L" stands for new life and
represents the future, and finally "D" is for doorway which
signifies the quintessential you - that unique aspect of
your life that is hard to fathom and impossible to
describe.
The Inner Child cards are a magical deck. Approach
with childlike wonder. 4 stars.
