The Story & Details
The parts of yourself you avoid don't disappear. They wait.
The Shadow Work Self-Reflection Deck by Jor-El Caraballo, LMHC, is designed to turn your attention inwards, towards the emotions, experiences and patterns that can be easier to bury than understand.
Created by a licensed mental health counsellor, this deck uses guided prompts and questions to encourage thoughtful self-reflection, helping you explore your emotional responses, personal beliefs and the parts of yourself you may not always acknowledge.
Unlike a traditional tarot or oracle deck, this isn't about predicting the future or searching for messages from somewhere beyond yourself. It's about becoming curious about what is already there.
Why do certain situations trigger a strong reaction? Why do particular patterns keep appearing? What have you learned to hide, suppress or avoid?
These aren't necessarily comfortable questions. But they're worth exploring with patience, curiosity and a little compassion for yourself along the way.
What's Inside the Practice
- Guided prompts for personal reflection
- Exploration of emotions, beliefs and recurring patterns
- Questions designed to encourage greater self-awareness
- Opportunities for journalling and reflective discussion
- A structured starting point for exploring shadow work
Shadow Work Without the Performance
Shadow work draws inspiration from psychological ideas about the parts of ourselves that we may reject, suppress or struggle to acknowledge.
In contemporary spiritual and personal development practices, it is often approached through journalling, reflective exercises and examining recurring emotional or behavioural patterns.
This deck provides a practical way to begin that exploration without requiring an elaborate ritual, a particular spiritual belief or an existing knowledge of tarot.
Use the prompts individually, alongside a journal or as a starting point for thoughtful conversations. There's no requirement to work through everything at once, and it's perfectly reasonable to set a question aside if it feels overwhelming.
Please note: This is a self-reflection resource, not a replacement for therapy or professional mental health support. Some prompts may bring up difficult experiences or emotions.
Part of The Library at Crystal Asylum, where the uncomfortable questions are welcome and there's no requirement to pretend everything is love and light.