Inner Child Cards: A Fairy Tale Tarot

~*~Velvet Angel ~*~

Inner Child Cards

~A Fairy Tale Tarot~

~*~ This deck is suitable for any question you wish to ask of the Tarot. ~*~

Deck by Mark and Isha Lerner. Artist is Christopher Guilfoil
(Isha Lerner is also author of the Power of Flowers Deck.)

This is a deck which authors Mark and Isha Lerner designed to be suitable for use with children. I can see how the fairy tale theme presented in the cards -- with pictures that are cheery and bright and nothing intimidating -- could serve that purpose well. This Tarot set is also an interesting change of pace for anyone who wants a deck that has no nudity or anything that might be construed as threatening. Although the purpose of Tarot is never to frighten anyone or to be intimidating, those who are unfamiliar with Tarot can take things in the wrong way -- especially considering the misused and negative portrayal of Tarot by the media!

In the Inner Child Cards, the traditional court cards are renamed. The Page is called the "Child," the Knight is the "Seeker," the Queen has become the "Guide", and the King is called the "Guardian."

The borders of the cards are designed according to the suit as follows:

Hearts -- bordered with seahorses, seashells, fish, and turtles.
Wands -- bordered in flowers and caterpillars.
Swords -- bordered with sun and clouds, wind, and birds.
Crystals -- bordered in green leaves, mushrooms, frogs, and snails.
The Major Arcana are bordered in muted primary colors of a rainbow (blues, greens, yellows, and orange) along with the sun.
The top of each card has a circle which encloses the suit or major emblem.

A 291-page book accompanies the cards which devotes 2-1/2 pages of text for each card of the Major Arcana plus a full page that displays a black and white image of the card. Minors are presented with text information on a full page along with a page for the card image in black and white. The Lerners also included some Tarot layouts at the beginning of the book after the introduction and preface that talks about the history of the Inner Child Cards. It seems to be a thoughtful and well-written book.

The cards are quite large and rather awkward to handle until you become more familiar with them by shuffling and working with them for a few days. The cards are about 1-1/2 times the size of a regular deck. Even scanning these cards was a time-consuming process for me due to the size. I could only fit 3 cards at a time on the bed of the scanner. So it took me twice as long to get the deck scanned. The accompanying book explains the reasoning behind the over-sized cards. Children use big pencils, crayons, and wide-lined writing paper or tablets. So this is actually a charming aspect of the cards that keeps them in the theme of the dekc. In fact, the first time you handle the cards and begin shuffling, you may feel that you are being taken back to childhood days when you had to learn how to use everyday tools properly -- and when things seemed rather large in a small set of hands :-) The cards are no doubt awkward to handle in the beginning . . . but practice makes perfect.

I will say that as bright and attractive as the cards are, they do not seem particularly sturdy to me, and I think that has a lot to do with their being so over-sized. So one should just use some extra care when handling them. They are not flimsy, yet when taking into account the large size, they would probably have fared better had the card stock been a bit sturdier. Of course, this may have created an even bigger challenge when it comes to shuffling!

The Lerners indicate that through childhood stories, we are able to discover the creativity within ourselves. We enter the stories through the eyes of a child, and slowly we come to terms with the internal messages -- with the archetypes of love, humor, healing, the need for change, and so forth. The images of the cards are much like the art found in children's books -- simple, yet magical. The pictures in the cards can certainly bring a smile and offer a sense of humor . . . and sometimes that is exactly what is needed in a situation. The art is definitely not fancy, but it is well done and seems to be just the right style for this card set.

I am a firm believer in reading with reversed cards -- with the exception of just a few decks. Other readers choose to read only with upright cards. Either methods is acceptable; it's a matter of personal choice for each Tarot reader. The authors of this deck do not recommend the use of reversals for the Inner Child Cards. But again, it's a personal choice, and reversals can be used with this deck if one wanted to. Due to the very large size of the deck, I tend to follow the advice of the Lerners and read these cards without reversals. It is quite difficult to shuffle them, let alone ensure that reversals have a chance to show up. Reversals don't have to take on a whole new meaning, nor do they have to indicate the exact opposite of the upright meaning. They can simply represent blocked energy. So with this deck, if a card or cards do happen to end up reversed, I read them as blocked energy in relation to the upright card's meaning.

Overall, this is a fun deck to work with, allowing you to look through the eyes of a child and gain the insight needed to approach any issue of concern. The cards are bright and attractive; they are enjoyable to work with. And even with a fun deck, you still attain a meaningful message from Tarot. With fairy tale characters appearing in the cards, there is opportunity for insight in comparing the pictures to characters and events in fairy tales and how it relates personally in "real" life.

Number of Cards in Deck: 78 (22 Major/56 Minor)

Size of Cards: 3-7/8" x 6-1/4"

Included with deck: Title card plus 291-page instruction book.

Major Arcana:
Little Red Cap, Aladdin & the Magic Lamp, Fairy Godmother, Mother Goose,
Emperor's New Clothers, Wizard, Hansel & Gretel, Peter Pan, Beauty & the Beast,
Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Midas Touch, Jack & the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty,
Guardian Angel, Big Bad Wolf, Rapunzel, Wishing Upon a Star, Cinderella,
Yellow Brick Road, Three Little Pigs, Earth Child

Suit Names: Hearts (Cups), Wands, Swords, Crystals (Pentacles)

Court Cards: Guardian (King), Guide (Queen), Seeker (Knight), Child (Page)

Back Design of Cards: