About the OH Cards Institute
The purpose of the OH Cards Institute (OHCI) is to provide a home for ideas and methods about the OH Cards genre of metaphoric associative cards. The popularity of the OH Cards genre has grown organically from a small seed into a large community spanning many countries, cultures, languages, and professions. During the decades spent creating and distributing OH, the wish has developed to be of service to the OH community by sharing the growing body of information about ways the cards are used.
Our aim is to connect you with resources and colleagues so you can learn what others are doing with the cards in professional environments. We would like to support mutually beneficial connections between OH Card users. By doing so, we further aim to clarify and explore the phenomenon of metaphoric cards of association. The OH Cards Institute is non-profit. We collect, assess, organize, and spread resources. Our focus is on quality and scope.
New material is automatically catalogued within the Methods, Studies, and Context areas. A single post may relate to more than one topic, and can be found in multiple locations within the website.
Methods – organizes information about OH based on areas of use, from therapy to creativity. This is the place to look for an Introduction to the OH Cards.
Context – provides a view of OH Cards in their surroundings, in historical, artistic, personal, and cultural contexts.
Publications – focuses on formats, from academic journals to popular press, books, and videos.
About the OH Cards publisher: Moritz Egetmeyer
OH Cards Etiquette
As with any tool, proper use of OH Cards is important. OH Card etiquette protects and facilitates openness and creates an atmosphere of trust and safety. Playing with OH Cards is not a competitive contest but an organic, open-ended process that can satisfy curiosity and deepen understanding.
Situations where OH Cards are used are poor forums for generalizations, philosophy, and ideology. Use of OH Cards is most satisfying when participants speak subjectively, without detaching their words from themselves under the guise of objectivity. Personal associations are the most interesting, revealing, and moving – especially when they relate to current feelings or events.
For the OH Cards to unfold their special richness, we recommend these guidelines for all uses:
- In OH, we honor each other’s privacy. I may choose to pass, to not play the cards drawn. I can do this with or without explanation, revealing my cards or not. You may not challenge or question my right to pass.
- In OH, we honor each other’s time. I will not interrupt you.
- In OH, we honor each other’s intelligence and imagination. I do not re-interpret (or interpret) your cards. We keep in mind that there are no “correct” interpretations of the cards.
- In OH, we honor each other’s integrity. I do not contradict you or argue about your interpretations. But I will express my curiosity about something you said, or ask you to clarify something so that I can know you better. And I will support your imaginative leaps as best I can.
- In OH, we honor each other’s individuality. When I play my OH Cards I do not assume that you see what I see, read what I read.