Awaken your inner compass to see directly what is most valuable to you at any given moment
Story
The Inner Compass deck is an easy tool to rediscover your path and playfully change your being.
The cards share profound universal wisdom and symbolism to guide your personal growth and to make you feel at ease in the chaos, without being distracted. Awaken your inner compass to see directly what is most valuable to you at any given moment.
The design is done in a modern, crisp way – inviting regular use as well as complimenting any home.
What are these Inner Compass cards?
The Inner Compass deck consists of 49 cards and a booklet. Each card is printed on high quality, sustainable paper and contains one word and an image full of symbolism for you to explore. If you want, you can discover more depth to the card by reading its description in the booklet. Next to texts belonging to each of the 49 cards, the booklet also contains a short introduction and a clear user manual.
Like much of modern life, this entire project is eclectic in nature. Inspiration was found in sources ranging from philosophy, science, psychology and the natural world, to ancient wisdom from all ages, such as the Mayan culture, Taoism, Buddhism, and the I Ching. By arranging and categorizing these sources along a specific algorithm, one card contains many levels of depth and interconnectedness. All for you to explore during many years to come!
How it works
Some people like to use the deck every morning for a specific card to guide their day. Others might pick a card periodically, to shed light on an urgent issue or a question they might have. Sometimes you just want to know if you are heading the right way. At other times, you might need help to find a way out. Maybe you just want to leave it open, letting any associations come freely upon drawing a card.
Whatever the motive, after shuffling the deck with your focus and intention, just blindly pick one or more cards. Your intuition will guide you and find new patterns of meaning. It is impossible to choose the wrong card: the right one will always present itself!
The cards offer a precious way out of our scattered monkey minds. This is not the territory of any rational, logical, analytical brain. Rather, the ability to think intuitively and associatively takes over. And there is so much needed clarity in that!
By letting these archetypical motives prime your subconsciousness you will learn the potential of your inner compass.
In time, should you want more information about a card and what it represents, you can read its accompanying text in the booklet. Here you will unravel the deeper layers of every card, all to guide your next steps on your personal journey.
As you understand now, anyone can do this. Easily. Effortlessly. Insightful. And fun!
Why I started this
I proudly share that I have found the right track, my yellow brick road, and I would like you to find it too! Or be reminded to stay on it, when you already found it…
Besides, I strongly believe in a proactive start of the day, instead of waking up and directly reacting on things that do not belong to you essentially.
Most of our known inspiring leaders, sages and thinkers choose consciously to start every day with awareness from within, without being distracted by messages from the outside world.
The process so far
The idea of creating this transformational tool came the moment I realized how the daily use of spiritual ‘oracle cards’ had managed to change my life fundamentally and positively. By drawing a card every morning after (or instead of) meditation, I kept my attention on my own life, and became aware of the parts that were serving me and those that were holding me back. Soon, I wanted to share this with all my friends, but the decks available were so… let’s say esoteric. It felt like the time had come for a deck with a completely new design, style, images and another tone of voice. So I started gathering themes and before I even noticed, I was categorizing the material and writing texts about each card. And getting very, very inspired and enthusiastic!
From then the project grew like a seed grows into a tree: organically.
The topics and the writing came by themselves. Only when I felt the moment was right did I act to follow my guts, and one day I connected with the perfect designer. Together we did a huge research project to come to the best look, feel, and depth for the deck. It started off with many ideas and collages. After a while it was like she could hop into my head and just knew what needed to be done in terms of visuals. Furthermore, we explored deeply what would and would not work in terms of material, print and themes. And we came to many, many layers for each card, making sure that the Inner Compass Cards always grow with you. Even after using them for the next ten years, you will still find new levels, insights and interconnectedness.
The team
As this product grew organically, the team did as well. It all started with myself, gathering an abundance of insights along my journey, when I finally found a way to incorporate into a concept and then condense into 49 cards!
After I reached the point of getting ready for visual support for the themes, I met Anneliek. She is an experienced (>20 yrs) graphic designer, extremely talented in translating my visions into a complete new and particular style. Our creative minds think alike!
Larissa is the editor. She is one of those people who seem to be talented in whatever they do – which usually is a lot. A matter of enjoyment, perseverance and perfectionism, as she calls it herself. The moment I found out that she writes beautifully, as well as being the chief editor of an international magazine, I knew she was the one for this job. She is also deeply connected to the conscious themes of the cards.
Next to being a philosopher and entrepreneur, Martijn is an interdisciplinary scientist and highly intelligent in fields like algorithms and probabilities. He conjoins layers and makes the deck reflecting the profound depth of our psyches.
For more about Neel, click the ‘profile’ button, top left.
Why we need your help
We spent the last eight months on making this idea become physical. Now we only need new friends, those who choose to walk their own paths too!
We are not a fancy pancy company with large resources. Just a lady with a mission who asked a designer, an editor and a number cruncher to hop on board to form a super dedicated team. And an amazing one at that!
What we will use your help for
Finalizing the deck designs and texts Hiring the best as our final editor (meet Buffi: a well known English teacher and writer) Printing the deck Publishing it so you and others who you are ready to follow their inner compass can have access
+ If the success of this campaign becomes as big as we think it deserves, we have ideas to develop an IOS and Android app, making it possible to carry the deck with you on your phone.
Other details
Dimensions of the box: approx. 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches or 19 x 14 x 2.8 cm Dimensions of a card: approx. 5 x 3.5 inches or 12.7 x 8.9 cm
Retail price will be 40 euros, but will cost as low as 25 for early backers up to 35 for late backers
Available languages for the first edition: English and Dutch
Thanks a million to my dear friends you who made this campaign possible: Dennis Lubbers for directing en filming. Fabio, Jimmy, Chiel, Ruby, Marlou, Emily, Siebe, Marline, Raafje en Denise for playing your beautiful selfs in the movie. Anneliek for the amazing work you did so far. Larissa and Martijn for the wise words and limitless advice. And Marleen Visser for the great pictures!
I discovered and then followed my own inner compass to create these cards. So right now I have no distractions and my complete dedication comes effortlessly. The content, structure and interconnectedness of the 49 cards are already devised, the design direction envisioned, and the right people for the different jobs been found. We have enough experience in house to know what we’re doing and to overcome any unexpected obstacles. What remains is composing the remaining cards by diving deeper into their symbolism and finalizing the texts for the accompanying guide, followed by production and shipping.
Production and shipping will be simple, since we wanted the cards and the box to fit through the mailbox we will go for a relatively straightforward yet beautiful product. We won’t add any unnecessary fluff or complicated rewards that can potentially delay our project. We want you to enjoy the enrichment that engaging with inner compass cards gives as soon as possible.