Metaphorical Cards - Wings of Windmills

Artist: Astridnova Irina

Set: a deck of 64 cards, methodological guide (120 pages)

The deck «Wings of Windmills» works excellently with the current state, with the archetype-shadow theme, with requests about relationships, purpose, issues related to lineage, and situations requiring decision-making. The cards will help see the necessary and available resources. Suitable for both self-work and working with a specialist: psychologist, coach, school psychologist, art therapist.

The deck «Wings of Windmills» is a tool that allows one to connect with their inner world, addressing the resources of the unconscious to solve pressing questions and life situations. All the answers are already within us, and the cards will help bring them to light.
Why «Wings of Windmills»? First of all, it's beautiful, it refers us to the creativity of the Russian folk-rock band Melnitsa, tenderly and infinitely loved by us. Secondly, the windmill − a symbol of perseverance, forward movement, success, changing seasons, cyclical nature, continuity, and the legacy of previous generations – we encounter in many cultures, see in films, read in stories, and listen to in the tales and legends of our ancestors. Thirdly, the windmill is what happens to us daily: we spin in the whirlpool of events, notice changes in weather, mood, feelings; sometimes we fight (like Don Quixote with windmills), sometimes we create and grow fruit, trusting time to grind them into flour, the taste of which inevitably teaches us a lesson and calls us to life! The windmill embodies images that touch everyone, interweaving the lives of many generations. Why did we decide that the worlds of the band Melnitsa would suit a deck of metaphorical associative cards? Because the card primarily carries an image that can evoke various associations and resonate with a person's life. If we take a scale of imagery from 0 to 100, the imagery of windmill songs will exceed these marks, overflow, surpass all measures, and subtly flow into you, smoothly yet accurately navigating through the halls of memory and subconscious, swirling and spinning on its wings. The songs of the band are imbued with fairy tales, legends, myths, symbols, references, and allegories, which is the experience, wisdom, and memory of peoples, ancestors, coded in our genes (collective unconscious). Can we say more? Of course, we can infinitely marvel, admire, and draw inspiration from images from the world of Melnitsa. We invite you to immerse yourself in them with us.  
The images of the cards in the deck call upon the deepest corners of our subconscious: they refer to familial and cultural values, familiar childhood scenes of nature, archetypes absorbed from our cultural environment, literature, fairy tales, and songs. It works excellently with the current state, with the archetype-shadow theme, with requests regarding relationships with oneself and others, purpose, questions related to lineage, as well as situations requiring decision-making. The cards will help to see the necessary and available resources.
Features. The cards of the deck are numbered. The instructions for the deck contain a message for each card, making it convenient to use, for example, for working with clients on social networks as a message for the day, week, etc. For self-work, the instructions describe 3 techniques, allowing even a newcomer to the world of metaphorical associative cards to immediately start using the deck. The illustrations of the deck are based on the images from the songs of the Russian folk-rock band «Melnitsa».
The set consists of 5 thematic subsections
1. Working with Trauma (cards 1-15)
2. Resources (cards 16-27)
3. Actions (cards 28-40)
4. Totem Animals (cards 41-52)
5. Guardian Plants (cards 53-64)
This division is conditional and can be applied in individual and group offline work when focusing on a specific request.
Techniques: For self-work, a request can be formulated. What does it imply? A request is a current story for you, where it is important to find an answer. There are three main rules for formulating a request: it should not contain the question «when», it should not be answerable with «yes» or «no», and it should not concern other people, meaning the work is done only through the «I-position».
1. First Technique. Involves working only with the first 15 cards.
You formulate a request. Draw a card from the deck and look for its description by the number of the drawn card in part № 1 of these instructions. Then read the message, questions, and perform the task for the card.
2. Second Technique. Working on finding solutions, all cards are involved.
a) You formulate a request and draw two cards from the deck face down (back up). Open the first card, which will indicate the «Current Situation». You need to study the card, understand what it means in the context of your request. Work with the universal questions for metaphorical associative cards.
1. What is depicted on the card? What do I see?
2. What do I feel looking at the card?
3. Am I on the card or am I an observer?
4. What action is taking place on the card?
5. How does this relate to my life?
6. What on the card is about me, and what is not?
7. What do I want to do looking at this picture?
8. What would I change looking at this card?
9. What name would I give the card?
10. What message does the card carry in response to my request?
b) Then you open the second card – «Desired Situation» or «Solution to the Problem». Look at every detail of the card, study, catch the first associations, analyze in the context of how you want to solve your situation, what might help.
c) Next, it is essential to consider the steps that will lead you to the desired situation: what will help resolve the situation indicated in the request. For this, you need to draw 3 cards from the deck. In the first card, we look for ourselves, our situation, and the prompt for a step that needs to be taken first to move forward. The second card – the second step towards solving the problem (where you, your problem, surrounding people, etc. are located). The third card – the third step to the solution (what first associations arise when we talk about the step towards the solution, what could it be).
d) Think again about the work done and draw conclusions for yourself. You can record your answers, ideas, and observations on paper.
P.S. This method will help you to look where you haven't looked before. Solutions generated by the subconscious often lead to unexpected results.