Inner Child Work ~ The Retrieval of Love

“Fairy stories serve as a stepping-stone between worlds of imagination and real-life lessons.” ~ Isha Lerner ~ from Inner Child Cards

Are you an Earth Orphan? Sometimes lonely, though surrounded by loving people? Magnetic and joyful, yet oddly melancholic for no apparent reason? Loved as a loyal friend, family member and confident leader, yet secretly feel disconnected from the norms of everyday society. If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you may be an Earth Orphan?

Symbolically, we are all Orphans. When the cosmic umbilical is severed at birth, we become a participant of earthly existence. The Universal Mother Womb is indeed our ultimate birther. We are made of Her stars, planetary dust, and heavenly particle. Upon our birth, our earthly family, gender, and genetics make up the karmic material of incarnation. These factors, including environmental influences, creates the framework for the soul to do good work; to fulfill a destiny.

I love this quote from the original tale of Beauty and the Beast, ‘A Broken Heart is an Open Heart.’ Fairy tales are made to lift the spirit by sharing treasured wisdom. As we explore our human emotion through fairy tales, myth and archetype, evolution through suffering may be the very way we retrieve love, compassion and empathy.

As I studied and researched the essence of fairy tale lore and it’s mystical meaning, I came to understand the significance of repeated characters in a story, be it the wicked witch, princess, prince, huntsman, and so on. They symbolize raw and powerful fractals of oneself, mirrored aspects of the initiations we face throughout a lifetime.

Within the context of tarot and fairy tale myth we find three major steps toward Soul Healing. These three stages are found within the twenty-two Major Arcana tarot cards and within fairy tale lore. They depict the organic transformations an individual will experience during momentous shifts of consciousness and maturation.

One, Birth, (the orphan stage), Two, Initiation, (work of the soul), and Three, Enchantment, (liberation, freedom, and awakening).

The first stage, Birth, is represented in most fairy tale stories as an ‘orphaned birth,’ and represented as the ‘Fool’ or ‘Hero’s Journey,’ number zero, in the Major Arcana. The orphaned birth is paramount; it urges growth when the process of individuation must begin. It invites one to explore expression through authenticity. The seed of genius, the magic of the genie, is planted within the garden of imagination. Events in stories, or, in real life, when we are lost, abandoned, or within the embrace of suffering, prompts us to find our 'own way.' The pursuit must be earnest, and to succeed, a willingness to endure future tasks is paramount.

The second phase, Initiation, fosters an active pursuit to seek inner nourishment through courage and willingness. In whatever manner the fragments of a shattered past have hardened or paralyzed the soul force, in this phase, the energy must be softened, reshaped, and made conscious. The tasks of Initiation are then rendered through service. The ‘work of soul;’ urges resolution, resolve, and understanding.

The third stage is Enchantment. This is the final breakthrough. At this stage, divine intervention and miraculous potential takes over. The individual has recognized and resolved the odds that had been stacked against them from past karmic patterns, childhood trauma, and limitations through fear and judgment.

This process breaks a spell, or curse, that had resided within the unconscious. The individual is offered a gift of rebirth and revelation! In fairy tales, the Enchantment phase is represented by the appearance of a genie, a frog turning into a prince, a loving kiss that awakens a sleeping princess from one hundred years of sleep, and so many other magical events that reshape reality.

As consciousness awakens, and as we find new forms of love and nourishment, a growing hunger for ‘enchantment’ or ‘rebirth’ knocks upon the door of the Soul. And, Once Upon a Time, a new chapter begins. A creative relationship with The Inner Child or Original Self is restored. This is a beautiful stepping stone toward the Retrieval of Love.

Inner Child Cards: A Fairy Tale Tarot by Isha Lerner