Metaphorical cards for beginners: your first session

What you need

Ten quiet minutes without interruptions. Paper and a pen: without writing the work falls apart, and this is the first thing people skip. A deck, physical or online; any universal one will do.

What you do not need: special knowledge, a psychology degree, candles or a particular mood. The method runs on ordinary attention rather than on a state.

A first session in ten minutes

Five steps in a row, without pausing to wonder whether you are doing it right. You are, if you reach step five.

1
Write the situation in one sentence
Not a question to the cards but a description: "I have been putting off a conversation with my sister for a month". Keep the sheet in front of you until the end.
2
Draw one card blind
Face down, without picking with your eyes. Online a button does it; with a paper deck, shuffle and take the top one.
3
Just look at it for half a minute
No comments, no conclusions. This is the silliest-sounding part of the instruction and the one that works: start explaining right away and you only hear what you already knew.
4
Answer three questions, aloud or on paper
What do I see here. What did I feel. How does this resemble my situation. In that order.
5
Write one sentence and stop
One line as the result, then put the card away. Do not draw a second one even if you want to. Coming back to the note in a week is more interesting than getting more today.

That is the technique One card: here and now. After it only the number of cards and the questions change; the mechanics stay.

Five first-time mistakes

None of them ruins the method for good, but each one makes today's session pointless.

Starting without a question

You can draw a card just to look, but that gives you a nice picture. Sense appears only next to your own request.

Looking the meaning up online

Metaphorical cards have no table of meanings, and other people's interpretations drown out your own answer. More on that on the page about reading a card.

Drawing until a pleasant card appears

Searching devalues the first card, which was usually the accurate one. One card per session, even if you dislike it.

Writing nothing down

A day later all that remains is a sense that it was interesting. A written sentence stays a sentence.

Starting with a heavy topic

The first time is better spent on something ordinary. Heavy material needs both skill and a sense of where to stop.

What to write down and why

Writing is half the method, and it is also the half people skip most often. Four lines are enough: the date, the question, which card came up, and that closing sentence. A minute and a half.

The point is not an archive but two other things. First, while you word the sentence for the note, the work gets finished. Without that step you keep a sense of an important conversation rather than a result. Second, after a month the notes start showing repeats. The same answer to different questions is no longer a coincidence but a theme worth looking at separately.

The format does not matter: a notebook, notes on your phone, a file. What matters is that they live in one place and you can scroll back through them.

A paper deck or online

The method does not differ: projection does not depend on the medium. What differs is friction. A paper deck has to be bought, waited for, laid out and put away; an online one opens in ten seconds, which is why more people reach a first session with it.

Paper has its advantage: you can hold the card and leave it on the table until evening. Online has its own: the shuffle is honest, there is no temptation to peek, and notes do not get lost. For a first time online is simpler; after that, whatever suits you.

If you work in a pair or a group, online solves a separate problem: everyone sees one table instead of a forwarded photo of a card.

How often, and what comes next

Once a week is enough; every day is not needed. Answers start repeating and attention dulls. A good rhythm is one session for a specific situation rather than a daily ritual.

When one card stops being enough, move to three: the timeline and the fork are just as simple but show the situation in motion. Schemes of four cards and up are collected in layouts.

One limit worth knowing before the first card: working alone does not suit an acute state, the first days after a hard event, or thoughts of self-harm. No one is next to you to help hold what comes up. More on the page about the limits of the method.

FAQ

How do I use metaphorical cards for the first time?

Write the situation in one sentence, draw one card blind, look at it in silence for half a minute, answer three questions and write the result as one line. Ten minutes in total.

Do I need instructions for a deck?

A deck leaflet usually describes its theme and card groups, but it does not replace a technique. The order of questions matters more than the deck, and it is the same for any set: describe, feel, link to your situation.

Can I work with cards without a psychologist?

For short reflection practices, yes: the sequence of questions stands in for a facilitator. For traumatic experience and acute states, no, and that is not about the difficulty of the method.

Is this fortune telling?

No. Divination answers "what will happen"; a card here shows how you see the situation now. The method has no lookup table, and the sense appears in your description of the picture rather than in a table of meanings. More in the piece on reading a card.

Which deck should a beginner take?

A universal one, holding portraits, scenes and resource images alike. Choosing by task is covered on which deck to choose.

How long does a session take?

From 5 to 25 minutes depending on the technique. The shortest runs on one card, the longest on seven. Each technique in the list shows its duration.

Draw your first card

Start free

Next: what MAC cards are, how to frame a question, how to read a card, 14 techniques.

How to start working with cards