From the author: published on the author’s page A collection of figures and objects for a sand therapist is formally a working tool, like a phonendoscope for a doctor, a telescope for an astrologer, money for a businessman... But these are not exactly the same tools. The doctor takes off his white coat, goes home and, of course, doesn’t think about the phonendoscope, but a businessman thinks about money, for example, constantly. For him, money is a goal and a means at the same time. Likewise, a psychologist who works with sand, wherever he is, wherever life takes him, with the keen eye of a collector always notices something interesting, necessary for his collection. With me, for example, This is exactly what happens. When visiting, traveling, in shops and random stalls, I, no longer realizing it, keep my eyes sharply searching for something to profit from. The very first figures in my collection appeared as birthday gifts from friends and colleagues. It was a long time ago, we had just graduated, everything was still fresh and inspired. I myself asked to bring various figurines as gifts, and the guys reacted to this creatively and professionally. There has never been such a gift harvest, although clients sometimes bring something, replenishing my treasury, friends sometimes give it to me. It’s interesting to look at collections of figurines . Each therapist who works with sand, if it is a personal collection, can see its character, its leitmotif. Some themes or symbols predominate, others are in the minority. And your eyes widen with envy, looking at the collection of your colleagues! Oh, that’s what I would like, and I like it so much, and what a thing this is! When I started working, I discovered that I had a clear bias towards the “girlish theme” and a bias towards “beauty and homeliness”. Of course, this is a manifestation of my passions and traits. Having involved the male half of the family in the matter, through a joint effort they added boyishness - aggression, technology, soldiers, weapons... The more items in the sand therapist’s collection, the more opportunity the client has to choose “his” figurine, to work out his emotion or problem. But if suddenly something is not found, then it doesn’t matter, you can always find something similar and add the missing details to the image with words. It was interesting how one of the clients spent a long time looking for the figurine she needed, but for some reason it was not found. Finally, she chose a tramp, calling him “an old Jew who plays wonderful music on the violin and people are sad or dance to it.” And what’s amazing is that soon, in the most unexpected way, two glass figurines of Jews appeared in my collection - one really with a violin, the other with a candlestick. Or another metamorphosis - a woman chose a white peacock as a figurine of a storyteller and a wizard, and a preschool boy, having chosen the same bird, called it “my bride.” And with this diversity of personal associations and meanings, the peacock has rich symbolism in different cultures, which is also no less important for the subsequent analysis of the sand painting. Such versatility expands the understanding of the work of our turbulent unconscious, helps us better understand ourselves, our strengths, our limitations. Working with sand and figures is full of such accidents and miracles. They happen to clients, to the therapist, and to our environment. These “accidents” are the work of our unconscious, which frees itself from the glue of conventions or the burqa of habitual actions and we discover ourselves and the world from a different side. And he, in the person of our environment, responds to us with abundance and help. One client, having chosen a carousel for a sand painting, remembered a lot thanks to it and realized about her childhood. About which she later said: “I realized, thanks to that sand painting with a carousel, that it is never too late to have a happy childhood.” Collections accumulate over the years and are constantly replenished. After a few years, they are already worth a lot of money, and, as I see it, without losing their instrumental function, they become part of the therapist’s life, his independent hobby. And any passion, hobby, reveals new facets in a person, opens up access to his creativeimpulses and potential. .I admit, I incredibly love my collection and value it. I understand that there are richer treasures, but mine is the most dear to me. Once, changing my workspace, I had to work for a while in a colleague’s office. Everything went well, the place was convenient, the collection was interesting in many ways, but it was as if in someone else’s house I was using someone else’s refrigerator and other people’s things. And what’s interesting is that some clients complained about the lack of “their” figures - “we had such a thing there, I wish I had it now.” I now travel with an eye on them. We are going to Bali, and already at the airport I start looking closely at the souvenir stalls to see what I can get here. By the way, I brought a lot of wooden figures from Bali. Our local hostess was so inspired by my hobby that she went with us to wonderful Ubud and showed us the shops of local wood craftsmen. A laughing Buddha and a meditating, bent man, lovers, a dreamer, a wretched woman, a young family and other figures brought to the collection a significant presence of warm, beautiful Javanese wood and deep feelings. I also remember and significantly strengthened my collection, a foray into a flea market in Nice. There, on Mondays, either once a month or more often, in one of the squares of the old city, French ragpickers lay out their centuries-old bourgeois goods. From paintings, silverware and empire-style sets, to all sorts of small things. So I had a blast there! I spent almost all my cash. A wooden abbot, an antique porcelain lady with a gentleman, a herd of fine white porcelain horses, Marie Antoinette without a head, a tiny coffee pot, a coffee grinder, a bat lamp, a pair of traditional French geese, a lapdog with a collar, chalet houses and more a lot of different. They looked at me with surprise when I, dressed up, rummaged through boxes and nets with small things that stood under the counters, and then bargained for every euro. And the houses! Houses are my passion. The collection houses of Provence turned my wallet inside out, already significantly empty after the flea market. Queen Elizabeth, waving her regal hand from the window of a stylish hardware store, had already used her stash. After the French houses, the houses from Amsterdam - a hotel, a museum, a chocolate shop and an apartment building, for only five or six euros were simply a gift. And the fragile handmade ones a wooden bathhouse and a mill from Krupskaya, it’s just a miracle! I can’t list everything I love and what I was incredibly happy about when I bought it. You need to see it, hold it in your hands, be filled with inspiration and create your own world, your own story. I usually find some interesting figure and fantasize about how it can help express feelings, what insights it can evoke. I remember seeing a carousel in Bergamo (yes, yes, exactly the one that brought back a happy childhood to one beautiful woman) - colorful, with horses, just a sight for sore eyes. And the shop is still closed and closed, and we have to leave tomorrow. Well, how can I live without a carousel - it’s such an interesting symbol, and how good it is! Here you have fun, and a squirrel in a wheel, and routine, and carelessness, and vanity, and someone else’s holiday... In general, I was sad and dreamed of my carousel. And imagine, on the last day, when we were already leaving the old city with our things and passed by the shop, it was open. Then my whole family will scream - “carousel!!!” Now the Bergamo carousel is in my collection and works as a carousel for those who choose it. By the way, it turned out to be catchy, with music. Almost every figure from my collection has its own story of origin, inclusion in the collection, presence in clients’ sand compositions. Maybe it’s worth starting to write a new “Toy Story” from the world of sand therapy?! Figures they live and work, they are not museum exhibits, but living workers of beauty, creativity and spiritual search. There is a lot in my collection, but there is still a lot missing and many people want to add to their treasury. I want churches of different denominations, I see that rockets are very necessary for boys and astronauts, and a couple more Grannies Yozhek wouldn’t hurt to have,.