Soul Shrinker

Babylon_Jasmine

I picked Soul Shrinker as my least favorite and I don't feel guilty for it. On the other hand i do feel that he has been far more help in giving readings than the card i picked as my favorite (the faerie who was kissed by the pixies) he tends to be much more blunt and to the point and has been a great help as far as pointing out obstacles. He also has a wicked sense of humor, as far as I have seen, and has shown me the cruel joy of feeling better than someone by mocking them, and how that can, in its proper place, even be a positive thing.
 

sagitarian

it's so strange how these cards change meaning on you. From when I first started this post, to now, soul shrinker has really changed and transformed meaning.

Now I don't so much have a dialogue with him, like I once felt. His meaning to me now is that representation of someone feeling small inside him or her self. Hence the name "soul shrinker" when you feel very tiny inside of yourself, or the representation that someone feels insulted and emotionally hurt by another.

Sagitarian
 

oceanpoetry

yes, Sagitarian, I think that's what makes this deck so special! each card is full of so much meaning and depth, it is to draw a multitude of meaning from each deck.
 

SunChariot

I am glad someone wrote this post. He is one of my favourites now.

Actually, I call him Jesse. We seem to be on a first name basis. :) I learnt about a month into the deck, that if anyone shrunk my soul it was me not him, by making poor life choices. For me, he is the one who saves me, shows me where I went wrong and how to correct it. If anything, he does what he can to improve upon my soul.

One day day I told him I cannot call you Soul Shrinker because that is not at all what you are to me. I asked what to call him and immediately the name Jesse came to mind. :) Which is kindof cool because later, when I thought of it, the initials SS are embedded in it (which is cool cause I see him as a soul saver) and at the beginning is Je (like Gee maybe you're not so bad after all) :)

You just have to feel such empathy for him and for what we have done to him and a desire to undo it. I just want to help him. And his message just makes me a better person, and lift my soul to a higher plane.

Thanks Jesse!

Bar
 

sagitarian

I know exactly what you mean Sunchariot. He's the representation of showing us that we have shrunken ourselves. I dont' blame him at all, he only shows us what we've done, our own poor choices in life, as you put it. I've seem him come out with warning though too, he almost look to me like a dog, growling at something, and then to find out, someone was trying to break into your house, or something of the sort. He's warned me about situations in past readings (before they happend) that I was in danger. Because of this I also see him as a dual, protector and the representation of feeling so small inside ourselves. I don't believe that it's always what we've "choosen" to do. For instance, a good friend of mine, her boyfriend is playing mass head games with her, and although they are apart now, no one ever thought that this guy would do what he did to her, no one. Just soooo shocking. Take care, and thanks for adding your thoughts to this precious faery friend/protector.

Sagitarian
 

sagewriter

when i first saw soul shrinker, it did terrify me. more than the death card (even though i had dreamed of that image before having seen the death card). it does look terrifying, full of malice. but as i studied it more closely, i though how sad it looked. and swore i could see a tear. maybe he is crying out in saddness? i don't know. i don't know if he is my least favourite card, he's just the one that makes me think of negative emotions, which is why he is my negative power card.
 

SunChariot

sagewriter said:
when i first saw soul shrinker, it did terrify me. more than the death card (even though i had dreamed of that image before having seen the death card). it does look terrifying, full of malice. but as i studied it more closely, i though how sad it looked. and swore i could see a tear. maybe he is crying out in saddness? i don't know. i don't know if he is my least favourite card, he's just the one that makes me think of negative emotions, which is why he is my negative power card.


Me too, he pulls out my mothering instinct. I just want take him in my arms and tell him that things will be alright and that there is hope and I will learn his lesson and never do that that to him again. Pretty good lesson that he teaches too.:)

Bar
 

PlatinumDove

(an insert from my kitten Mysti, who I named after 27 - The Alchemyst: uiiiiiiiiiiiiiiivgbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbiiiiiiiiirrfirdffm ,cc,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,nnnnnnnnnnnnn ,)

Can you tell she's learning to type? lol.

Yup, Soul Shrinker is my least favorite card. Not reading anything about him, just the idea I get from the name Soul Shrinker, it reminds me of what hate and jealousy do to your soul. Now I'm going to have to go read about him!
 

LixiPixi

Resurrecting the thread....

Yes, I too, chose the Soul Shrinker as my least favorite card. I have to admit that my first impression of him was VERY different from the book's description, which i didn't read until after the exercise was complete.

Like many of you, I felt a sense of guilt after reading the description in the book, and even moreso after reading the posts here about him.

I must say, though, while I can now see a different side to him, I haven't learned his lesson for me yet. I'm very new to FaeryWorld, so there is plenty of time for me to learn (I hope), but for now he still looks like that very frightening, blood-sucking, soul-sucking alien from War of the Worlds.

I pulled a Daily Draw card this afternoon and received Epona's Wild Daughter. Again, my impression of her was nothing similar to the book. But oddly enough, was just about spot-on to my feelings of SS. Hmm....something tells me there's a connection there....

Here's to continuing my journey :CL I sure don't want the Soul Shrinker to dislike me! I'm trying to keep an open mind :)

LP~
 

Jewel

LixiPixi said:
Like many of you, I felt a sense of guilt after reading the description in the book, and even moreso after reading the posts here about him.

I must say, though, while I can now see a different side to him, I haven't learned his lesson for me yet. I'm very new to FaeryWorld, so there is plenty of time for me to learn (I hope), but for now he still looks like that very frightening, blood-sucking, soul-sucking alien from War of the Worlds.

First I would like to applaud that you resisted temptation to look up the book meaning before doing the exercise. Makes the exercises much more personal and real to you. The book just contains Jessica's experiences and what she sees, the most important meanings will be those that you arrive at on your own. The ones the Faeries teach you.

There is no reason to feel guilty. Soul Shrinker is a faerie challenger. As such right now he is showing you what you fear - putting you face to face with it. It is once you work through those fears, and look deep inside yourself if you are possibly projecting some of your own thoughts onto him that you begin to see his other side. Then again, you might never see it.

Please note that many posts written in this thread came after we had gotten to KNOW Soul Shrinker. We spent quite a bit of time with him and had in the case of Alissa, Sage, and myself had had the deck for over a year working with it very regularly.

One of the most interesting features of this deck as a whole is that as you get to know and experience the fey many of your perceptions and understandings of them will change over time. You grow with them. It is an amazing experience. It is like a rose bud ufolding its petals. The deck is not static it is ever changing.

Today Soul Shrinker continues to be one of my favorites, he challenges me to be the best me I can be, and to be true to myself as well. I do hope some day you get to experience this side of him, but do not try to force it. When you experience him you will know it. From what I have seen it usually results in a paradigm shift.

As Alissa pointed out, he has one of the strongest messages of any of the faeries and a real challenge in getting us to hear it as his looks are a barrier we must first overcome. But don't take our word for it, let your own experiences guide you.

I really hope you enjoy the Faeries, and keep sharing your thoughts here in the study group.