Metaphorical associative cards are decks of images, sometimes paired with words, used in therapy to help people say things they do not yet have words for. A client draws a card, describes what they see, and the description turns out to be about them. That is the whole mechanism. The card has no fixed meaning and carries no message of its own. It is a starting point for a conversation that was difficult to start directly.
How we use them at Relationary
Our counsellors use metaphorical cards as one tool among many, not as a method in their own right. They are most useful when someone knows something is wrong but cannot name it, when talking directly about an event is still too much, or when a conversation between two people has settled into the same three arguments.
A card bypasses the part of us that has already rehearsed the answer. Asked how the week went, most people give the version they have told before. Asked to pick the image that feels like this week, they usually pick something more honest, then explain it, and the explanation is the real answer.
They are not a diagnostic instrument. Nothing about which card you choose tells us anything clinical. Anyone presenting them as a personality read or a predictive tool is not describing therapy. Where a validated assessment is the right instrument, we use a validated assessment.
In individual therapy
- Naming a feeling that has stayed vague
- Approaching a memory at a comfortable distance
- Working with children and teenagers who find direct questions hard
- Breaking a stuck point when sessions start to circle
In couples work
- Each partner describes the same card and hears a different reading
- Saying something difficult through an image rather than an accusation
- Showing how the relationship feels rather than arguing about facts
- Opening a subject that has become impossible to raise directly
Common questions
Are metaphorical cards the same as oracle or tarot cards?
No. Tarot and oracle decks assign fixed meanings to each card and are read for guidance or prediction. Metaphorical cards carry no assigned meaning at all. The image is deliberately open so that whatever you see in it comes from you, and that is the material the session works with. There is no interpretation the therapist knows and you do not.
What can I expect if my therapist uses metaphorical cards in a session?
You will usually be asked to choose an image, either face up or at random, and then simply say what you notice in it. There is no correct answer and nothing to prepare. Your counsellor will follow what you describe rather than analyse the card. If it does not help, you say so and the session continues another way. Cards are always optional.
How are metaphorical cards used in couples therapy?
Most often each partner chooses a card for the same question, such as how the relationship feels right now, and then describes it. Hearing your partner describe an image is different from hearing them state a position, because it is harder to argue with and easier to be curious about. It tends to surface what sits underneath a repeated argument rather than the argument itself.
What are OH Cards specifically?
OH Cards are the best known metaphorical deck, created in 1975 by artist Ely Raman with psychotherapist Moritz Egetmeyer, and they are the reason the wider category exists. They pair a card showing a small painted scene with a separate card showing a single word, so that the combination is different every time. In Russian, Ukrainian and Hebrew speaking practice the broader category is usually called metaphorical associative cards, or MAC cards.
Curious whether this would suit you?
Book a session and tell your counsellor what you are finding hard to put into words. They will pick the approach that fits, cards or otherwise.