IDENTIFYING INNER IMAGES
Vignette 5: Rebecca
After her second therapy session, Rebecca was excited to discover the personality parts that were creating havoc in her inner life. She returned a week later with a crayon-and-marker drawing, clearly showing the commotion that was pulling her in different directions. A part called ‘‘Cuffed’’ with green shackled arms, said little more than, ‘‘Click. . . . You’re screwed.’’ There was a blue ‘‘Judge’’ with folded arms that
(Continued) Identifying Inner Images
Rebecca’s drawing (Figure 4.1) shows the full panorama of the triune personality, ready to be guided by inner Selves. There are thedirectors:‘‘Cuffed’’ controls, ‘‘The Judge’’ warns, and the critical ‘‘Mrs. Desirable’’ tries to squelch Rebecca, possibly into nonexistence, before she can be hurt by more vicious mudslingers in the real world. The nameless ‘‘Terrorist’’ encourages avoidance and may triggerdistractersto relieve anguish. ‘‘Past Bloom’’ and ‘‘Daddy’s Girl’’ are wells of hopeless,
scolded, ‘‘Tsk . . . Tsk . . . ’’ ‘‘What were you thinking?’’ ‘‘Haven’t you learned yet?’’ ‘‘Don’t you know!?’’ ‘‘Mrs. Desirable,’’ with her pretty face and makeup, seemed to go beyond the judge and snubbed, ‘‘You are so disgusting—kill yourself.’’ Worse yet was ‘‘The Terrorist,’’ a hollow-eyed ghoulish type that threatened not to speak his name and (perhaps) encouraged avoidance. No wonder ‘‘Past Bloom,’’ a dying rose, hopelessly moaned, ‘‘It’s not going to get better,’’ and ‘‘Daddy’s Girl’’ in pigtails with a tear-stained cheek pleaded, ‘‘I need help.’’ Where were the bright spots in this dreary collage?
‘‘Miss Ohh’’ wearing glasses to put things in perspective said, ‘‘Wow . . . (this problem) doesn’t really matter in comparison to the big picture.’’ Finally, ‘‘The Presence’’ consoled, ‘‘I’m always watching, always here to comfort your crying heart.’’
Figure 4.1 Rebecca’s Drawing (Exercise 7)
1. Controlling, protective, criticaldirectors:Cuffed, The Judge, Mrs. Desirable.
2. Avoidingdistracter:The Terrorist.
3. Hopeless, sademotional entities:Past Bloom, Daddy’s Girl.
4. InnerSelvesto guide and comfort: Miss Ohh, The Presence.
Identifying Inner Images
sademotions.They look to the past for comfort, while just above is ‘‘The Presence,’’ an observant Selfthat will always be there, but may be too awesome for guidance yet. More immediate, in the very center of the composition, is ‘‘Miss Ohh,’’ an intuitiveSelfthat can put puny problems in their place.
Just looking at Rebecca’s drawing has helped many of her therapist’s other clients recognize that they, too, have their own inner cast of characters.
TAROT IMAGES
It is not cheating to rely on the art of others when casting about for images of personality parts. If you have a wall hanging that gives you comfort or brings a smile to your face, it may be a good illustration for your core Self. Be aware of any pictures that remind you of your inner critic or a desperate, clingy facade.
A ready-made collection of artwork can be found in a tarot deck. Speculation on the origin of the word tarot is vast. There was an Egyptian mother goddess namedTarut. The Sanskrit wordToran means truth. Although some people have negative associations with cards used to tell fortunes, you will not be employing them for such a purpose.
The standard Rider-Waite deck was published in 1910 by Rider & Company in London. They were designed by Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith to communicate ancient principles through symbols. Although there are many varieties of tarot, it may be best to start with the Rider- Waite deck, which presents a balanced view of human nature and is not biased toward cats, angels, or fairy tales.
The Deck
A tarot deck consists of 78 cards. There are 22 majorarcane(secret natures) with pictures symbolizing strength, temperance, sun, moon, star, and so on. These represent universal patterns of human thought and emotions that must be endured before a person’s full potential can be reached. They aremirrorsthat reflect both unique individual interpretations and consistent, common reactions.
The rest of the deck is divided into four suits or lower natures—swords, cups, wands, and pentacles (or coins)—which correspond to the familiar spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. Each of the suits stands for a particular approach to life: (1) intellect, air, ego—swords; (2) emotion, water, feminine principle—cups; (3) action, fire, masculine principle—wands; and (4) security, earth, physical—pentacles.
The aces express the most positive force a suit has to offer; the middle cards examine all aspects of an approach in daily life; and the tens take the theme to its logical conclusion. If an ace introduces love, the ten will show the joy and peace of family life. The kings, queens, knights, and pages express ways of being in the world appropriate to their rank.
This collection of personal potentials, liabilities, life approaches, and maturity levels provides a wonderful array of images with which to identify facets of the personality. The less you know about tarot cards, the more useful a projection tool they will be; therefore, this description has been intentionally vague. Tarot decks can be purchased in almost any bookstore and on the Internet.
Images can be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider-Waite_tarot_deck.
Exercise 8
Many Mirrors of Tarot
Use masking tape to cover any card names. It is important that your responses not be influenced by conventional card labels. For many people, the card titled ‘‘strength’’ suggests compassion, patience, or
(Continued) Identifying Inner Images
Step (5) will be covered in more detail in Chapter 5. For now, simply prepare a deck with masking tape to cover words and divide it into director, distracter, emotional entity, and inner Self piles for times when inner terrorists and champions need to be identified. Notice how Alex (Vignette 3) and how Dulci (Vignette 6) began to expose major players in the battlefield of their minds and used the tarot as a tool to plum the depths of their psyches.
calm. Using your intuitive reaction, divide the deck into four piles: (1)Inner Selves—cards that suggest sources for guidance and support; (2)Directors—images that make you feel judged, controlled, and pushed, or show the need to please others; (3)Emotional entities—expressions of undefended feelings of hurt and fear; (4)Distracters—depictions of diversions from a goal or temptation. Lay any cards aside that do not fit into these categories. The cup suit can be confusing. Many of these cards are useful when placed in the director pile for inner pressures to please. When you are upset, use the following steps:
(1) Identify the misguided message a personality part might be using for humiliation, nagging, or taunting from Exercise 3.
(2) Choose cards from the director pile that might illustrate these words. If you are feeling bitter, resentful, or tempted to stray from your chosen path, you can start by choosing cards from the distracter pilethat show those urges. Lay them face up on the table in any position that seems right to you.
(3) It is not always necessary to choose cards from theemotional entitypile, but when these feelings are overwhelming you, find an image to represent them.
(4) Choose one or more cards from the inner Self pile that would be unaffected by your turmoil.
Also lay them face up on the table.
(5) The cards in theinner Selfpile offer guidance and support, but do not advise. They simply nar- rate—‘‘I know you’re trying to help Alex run away from tedious, trivial work’’ (see Vignette 3);
‘‘You have every right to feel fear. . . . I’ve always been there holding you every time you were terrified (hand holding a star).’’