Associative cards “Houses and Bridges”

Description

A set of “Houses and Bridges” cards may be used by psychologists, psychotherapists, and coaches both for professional purposes and for family and friendly activity as a way to know each other better, relieve each other of some secrets, discuss current problems or traits of some state of mind at the moment, and share them with those ones who you can trust and for whom it all makes sense.

“A Person, House and Tree” projective test is widely known and affords many opportunities for a psychological diagnosis for professional psychologists. Images of people and trees are already partly represented in projective card decks like “Facebook” (E. Morozovsky), “Family Album” (E. Morozovsky), “Mibi” (Itzik Shmulevich), “Persona” (Ely Raman), “An Advisor and Tree” (a group of authors). Only the image of the House that is a part of this popular test has not been used in projective cards earlier. “Houses and Bridges” deck improves this default. In contrast to “A Person, House and Tree” test that can be used with a good reason only by professionals, anyone can use “Houses and Bridges” deck for it requires no competency. Though, it should be noted that it’s not a psychognostic test featuring pre-determined interpretations of some certain elements. Work using projective cards should not be the basis for establishing diagnosis.
As it might be understood judging upon the name itself, the deck includes the Bridges symbolizing relations between peoples other than the Houses symbolizing human characters.

Certainly, the author of the deck has its own understanding of the images represented by each card. There are many self-explanatory images in the deck like a house in the course of building and bridge under construction, ruined house and drawbridge, very old house and decorative bridge, abandoned and unkempt house and bridge leading from nowhere to nowhere, sand castle and bridge where a newly married couple meet, wall-house and bridge across a dry river, house under restoration and completely disaster-ruined bridge. In the meantime, everyone understands these images in his own way that is of current concern for him and associates the details, environment and features of the same buildings and bridges in his own way as well. Your task is not to intrude your perception upon another person, though alternatively, to pay attention to the ideas that may be expressed, defined and explained by this person with the help of these images.

The cards symbolizing spiritual values ​​of different religions hold a special place among the Houses.

This deck is specially designed on the basis of photographs rather than paintings: it does not include fictional houses and fairytale bridges. The deck is very realistic just like photos of common people rather than photo models taken without retouching, and demonstrating their age and life experience. The same is true for the bridges.

Now then, the House – is a human character. Let loose your imagination. In fact, the background of this house doesn`t matter; it matters only the thoughts that run through your mind when you look at this image. Looking at the House card please discuss the following issues (think of answers):

– How old is the house? What about its background? Who lived there before and who lives there now?
– Architectural features like foundation, windows and doors (are they available there, are they large or small, are there many or few of them, are they accessible, what they look like).

– How many floors are there? What is the material: wood, boards, stone, sand, concrete, etc. Does the road lead to the house or pass by?

– Is the house surrounded by a fence, is the fence close boarded or thin?

– Landscape: is the house located on slope or below, is it surrounded by plants, is it shielded from the public eye, is the access to it blocked? Is it convenient to approach this house? Do you have any desire to approach it?

– Properties and accompaniment: are there any ornaments, optional components, sculptures, any unique components. What distinguishes it from other houses?

– Rare features: is it a wheelhouse (or a long-parked trailer), does it have a special location or purpose?

– Relation/pairing: if several houses are depicted on a card, please mention what house is a major one, and what houses surround it. If several houses are depicted, consider them as a couple of people like spouses/partners. What kind of relationships between people may such arrangement of houses represent relative to their location and appearance? If there are more than two houses, what may other houses represent and how the major house may be described relative to them?

The Bridge is a concept of communication, relationship between people. Please discuss:

– An obstacle over which the bridge is built (steep, river, bay, canal, highway, street). Is this obstacle actual at the moment (or, for example, the river is low and one may wade across it). Is it possible to pass under, along or across the bridge and in case it is possible who (how) is walking (riding) over the bridge, who (and how) is walking (riding or navigating) under the bridge.

– What objects are connected by the bridge? Are they homogeneous (for example, a brink and beach) or heterogeneous (for example, a house and street, brink and ship) objects. Are starting and destination points closed or open on both sides of the bridge (an example of the closed point is an aquarium, an example of the open point is the sea).

– Safety of the bridge, its solidity, construction materials, rails, width, height, and strength.

– “Special messages” of the bridge like graffiti, painting, information signs.

– Condition of the bridge, is it old, new, rusty, leaky, newly built, under repair.

– Restrictions of the bridge, is it designed for public use, what are the restriction cases, what transport is prohibited there.

– Perspective: is it possible to see the bridge from above, from below, sidewise, at full length, clearly or in outline (please mention here is it a day or night).

– Is it convenient to use the bridge, is it possible to estimate its length and steepness in advance.

Scope of use

– Myself in different situations: define when you act like different people when playing different social roles in different situations in your life and choose the images of the houses for each of these roles.

Please, leave your comment. Choose the bridges that link different aspects of your personality.

– Family: choose a house card for each family member and define relations between all family members with the help of the bridges.

– Partnership: choose a card depicting two or more houses and describe the objects surrounding the house and the way they are arranged relative to each other. How do they differ from each other and what is their similarity? Whether one house is located in the foreground and the other behind it? What is another possible perspective (context) of their neighborhood? What people could choose to live in one or another of these houses?

– Job/life goals selection: choose a card that may describe and represent you, then imagine each goal or each type of job as a separate house, choose bridges that connect you and these goals/ spheres/organizations and comment on it.

– Staff: choose a card for each staff member and analyze it in line with the above questions.

!! At the end of each work the bridge chosen at the beginning may be changed to another one if its use appears to be more comfortable.

!! Your imagination is not linear space where two permanent points can be connected by one method only. You are always free to choose several bridges and use them as the situation requires.

© Eva Morozovsky

www.ewacards.com