Wherever you go, there you are! Archetype Alley is a way to combine storytelling, card play and SoulCollage® - and it's a perfect way for a group to get to know each other. All you need is your Council Cards, some memories, and a willingness to share them.

I created this game for our Windy City Card Games retreat in 2018, and we just played it at "The Best of SoulCollage® Card Games" weekend intensive last weekend. People have been asking me for instructions for many months - so, here they are!

The core principle of this game is to recall and tell the story of how two archetypes were at play during an experience or event of your lifetime. It can be from any time period of your life, even going back to childhood. It may be humorous, ironic, or even tragic. The game is diagrammed in the figure below.

The leader starts the process with two Council cards and an associated story. In this example, Intuition and The Fool were placed on the playground (the floor or a table) and a brief story was told about how The Fool came forth to make it clear just how "correct" it was to risk letting Intuition lead the decision about an important staff hire.

From this point, there is no order to the players. People rise or say "I've got a story" whenever they wish. It's helpful to let people who've not yet played before someone plays an additional time.

The second player brings two archetypes: he'll present one Council card to "match" one of the existing two cards and "up" with a Council card representing a third archetype that's not yet on the board. He will tell his story, interweaving his two archetypes - in this example, The Fool and Justice. He places his Fool card atop the existing Fool card, and Justice beside it. 

The third player now has three choices to match, and must also add another. In this example, they first ask whether they may play "Athena" to match Justice (it's the leader's discretion, and she allows it). The player places Athena atop Justice adds Woman Warrior nearby - then she tells her story.

Now there are 4 archetypes to match. The next player matches one of those, adds a new one, and tells their story. Then there are five archetypes to play on......

This process continues, with the Leader arbitrating any questions about "matches." The more archetypes to play off, the more people retrieve stories and find they have related Council cards.

Optional: You may use 5 x 8 inch index cards as placeholders for cards people haven't made yet. They can write the name of an archetype they've not yet made a card for and use the placeholder as if an actual card.

Another possibility: You could play this game using only index cards upon which people would write the names of archetypes. Although it would not be as interesting visually, or personally, it could be played without the context of SoulCollage®.

​For me personally (based on my birthdate), I'm finishing up a growth cycle of Art/Temperance (XIV) and will transit into The Devil on my birthday at the end of January. Can't wait to see what that brings! I've yet to make a Council card for that energy, but I've got several Committee cards that evoke Pan/Devil. 

"Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins."

This is a SoulCollage® card I made in response to the tragedies of the past week.  It's not much of a collage really, just the addition of a small image to a larger one. It's called "Other People's Moccasins."  READ THE WONDERFUL POEM BEHIND THIS SAYING HERE (my other blog page).

The moment I met Madagascar character, King Julien, I fell in love with him. Not only do "I like to move it, move it," but I enjoy being as absolutely silly as he is, particularly as a leader. In the recent months, I felt compelled to include him on a card and to explore this fascination further. I finally found an appealing image of him, but it wasn't clear to me where he belonged - a new card?

I usually review my deck before making an "intentional" card, particularly a Committee or Council card. This is to refine and specify the energy and to see how it relates to other aspects already settled into my deck. As I revisited my "Playful Self" card (left), which I made about 8 years ago, it was screaming for King Julien to join it. This card's (right) refreshed, more true-to-me, energy is SO MUCH FUN! A more authentic Playful Self is now in place, and this inner clown is feeling inspired and ready to MOVE IT  - using humor to move obstacles from the path to happiness!

For the past 20 weeks, I've participated in Stephanie Ladd's 22 week SoulCollage® Tarot Journey which is internet-based through Facebook discussions and emailed materials.

It has been a wonderful trip through the 22 cards of the Major Arcana, which reflects inter-related archetypal energies in the pathway of psychic development. Each week with the new Tarot card wisdom that Steph shared, people showed and wrote about cards they were inspired to make and/or cards already existing in their deck. A community grew within the secret Facebook page, and it was a delight.

As you might expect, I mostly searched my deck for cards that corresponded to the Tarot cards - yes, a Card Game of sorts! But some new cards also came forth and they were meaningful and timely.
 I created a figure that shows my evolving view of the relationship between the underlying structures of the SoulCollage® and Tarot decks. I hope this is useful to you.

As I continue to develop SoulCollage® Card Games to dig deep, take inventory, and get the most from our decks, I plan to incorporate the wisdom of Tarot. I am particularly fond of Angeles Arrien's work with Tarot, as it speaks clearly and practically about the psycho-spiritual applications.

There is so much wisdom to draw upon in this world, and we must make time to allow ourselves to meet, greet, and incorporate it as we learn to survive and even thrive in this disenchanting era!

I'm grateful to Steph for the course she offered, and highly recommend it when she next makes it available! Thanks also to all those who participated in the course and shared in such deep and authentic ways.