Greetings, and welcome to Soul Songs, the official KaleidoSoul Newsletter, focusing on SoulCollage® ideas, resources and cards. Our intention is to fill each issue (and your life) with inspiration, soul-solace and delight.
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any friends, colleagues, or family members who will enjoy it.
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Hi! I'm Anne Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul.com, and a SoulCollage® Facilitator in Massachusetts and worldwide online. |
Guided Imagery to Spice Up the Imagination |
My first guided imagery experience was in 1969. I was 13 years old, lying on the hard floor of our middle school gymnasium. The PE teacher asked us to close our eyes. I remember that it was the middle of winter, bitter cold outside. But here… in our imaginations, she was leading us to a warm sunny meadow. I could see it. I could feel it. I wasn’t in wintry New England anymore. I was somewhere else entirely and I hadn’t even left the building! I was blown away by the fact that I could close my eyes and picture myself somewhere else.
I don’t remember the rest of the journey our teacher took us on that day. Heck, I don’t even remember why she did it in the first place! And I don’t recall it ever happening again while I was in school. But that experience has always stayed with me as the first time I purposely used my imagination to “go within.”
In my twenties, I was teaching second grade in a small country town in Virginia. I found a cassette tape of guided meditations for children and was thrilled to discover that they loved them as much as I did. Pretty soon I was making up my own stories and turning them into short “inner journeys” for my students.
Next, I discovered a recording of guided meditations by Alan Cohen, and listening to them pretty much saved my life during a very difficult time in my late twenties and early thirties. From then on, I was hooked. I found that guided imagery allowed me to “go inside” and explore my inner landscape; it helped me to transform areas of darkness into light, despair into hope, and confusion into peace. It was also a blessing because it encouraged me to stay connected to myself, and to Spirit.
When I began facilitating SoulCollage® in 2005, I realized what a perfect complement guided imagery would be to my workshops. The very first one I wrote was “Indra’s Net” and you can find the script here. I was leading a workshop on the Community Suit and wanted a way for the participants to really grasp the concept that we are all connected. This script is what came forth.
Someone once asked me why I call my guided imageries “Magical Inner Journeys.” They are MAGICAL because they invite you to use your imagination in a gentle, authentic way. Because of this transformation can begin, which often feels like magic. Each one is designed to take you INWARD, to the depths of your being, however deep you are willing to go. And each one takes you on an inner JOURNEY where you’ll discover parts of yourself perhaps long forgotten, gifts long neglected, and inner landscapes unexplored.
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Anne Marie Bennett is a SoulCollage® Facilitator / Trainer, published author, website goddess, and two-time cancer survivor who was mentored directly by Seena Frost.Anne Marie lives in eastern Massachusetts with her middle-aged husband, one adolescent feline, and a treasury of birds, squirrels and chipmunks who keep them hopping. Her books about SoulCollage® are available here.
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Living with the Mystery
of an Enigma Card
with SoulCollage® Facilitator
Lenore Walker from Canada
Monday, May 6
Time: 2 pm Eastern
FR*EE for our
Only $10 for non-members
Easily Accessible from Anywhere in the World!
Video recording available if you can’t attend
in-person.
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I’m Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD, SoulCollage® Trainer & Facilitator, Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator, writer, translator and creativity catalyst. As a practitioner of SoulCollage® and as a Facilitator, I love bearing witness to how personal and unique our relationship with the Trans-personal cards can become. |
Flexing Your Imaginal Cells with SoulCollage®
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We have an obligation to imagine. It is easy to pretend that nobody can change anything, that society is huge and the individual is less than nothing…But the truth is individuals make the future, and they do so by imagining that things can be different. (Neil Gaiman)
I believe in the goodness of the imagination.
(Sue Monk Kidd)
Near the end of “SoulCollage® Evolving,” Seena Frost expresses with poetic power her dream for SoulCollage®: “I like to think that SoulCollage® has become one of the ‘imaginal cells’ working within this still-cocooned ‘old caterpillar’ of a society to help it transform into the new ‘butterfly’ of a society that many are envisioning.” *
I can still remember, at the first Facilitator Training I attended in 2010, how compellingly Seena spoke to us about the mystery of what happens inside the chrysalis: the caterpillar’s cells have nothing in common with the cells of the butterfly which eventually emerges from the chrysalis. How then, does the caterpillar metamorphose into a butterfly?
Recently I listened to a fascinating podcast by the wonderful Michael Meade**. He describes with great excitement some recent scientific research about the “imaginal cells.” For the caterpillar to become a butterfly, inside the chrysalis a “tension of opposites at the cellular level” builds up. For the caterpillar to metamorphose into a butterfly, the cells of the future butterfly must overcome the resistance of cells produced by the immune system of the caterpillar. It is as if the awakening butterfly cells, the “imaginal cells,” have themselves got an imagination, enough imagination to believe that they can overcome the resistance of the caterpillar to its own transformation.
Michael Meade says: “Resistance turns out to be necessary to the awakening of the imaginal cells.”
Listening to this podcast, I saw in a new way a magnificent built-in benefit of our practice: it automatically fires up our imaginal cells! SoulCollage® sweeps us up into progressively attuning to our imagination, helping us to build a life-long love relationship with it. There are many enjoyable ways of exploring and further activating your imagination by practicing our magical process.
- Start by exploring your existing SoulCollage® deck. Get curious. Which Neters give you a clear statement about their connection with your imagination? Are there others which whisper to you a more elusive yet still clear message?
- Ease yourself playfully into nurturing your imagination. Alternate between journaling and creating SoulCollage® cards for/about the qualities and textures of your own imagination. Let yourself mull over questions such as: What fertilizes my imagination? Who supports me in engaging with my imagination?
- Flex your “imaginal cells” by doing some SoulCollage® readings to support and strengthen their development. I did a reading myself, asking the question “What do you have to show me about my imagination?” I drew my cards randomly, with my eyes closed. My Neters revealed facets of my imagination quite different from what I might have “thought of” by sitting down with a pen and paper – as if I were being given a series of “close-ups” of what goes on in the delicate and subtle simmering of my “imaginal cells.” Here are two of the cards I drew:
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Shyness
(Committee Suit)
I am one who is shy. It takes courage for me to come out of hiding. Being in and with your imagination also takes courage, the courage to emerge from the hiding-place of all that is safe and familiar. Treat yourself gently as you play in the fiery tulip fields of your imagination.
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Daydreamer
(Committee Suit)
I am one who is both ethereal and earthy. Trust the spiral journey. It is wired into your DNA to have an imagination. Trust the strength and inner solidity of your imagination. It is as much a part of you as your eyes, nose, and inner physical organs.
If, as Neil Gaiman suggests, we have “an obligation to imagine,” and personally I agree with him, then let’s embrace SoulCollage® as a wonderful way to cultivate an illuminated – and joyful - relationship with the potentially life-changing realm of our imagination. What question might your imaginal cells be calling on you to ask right now?
* Seena Frost, “SoulCollage® Evolving,” p.181 Hanford Mead Publishers, Inc.
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Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD is a SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer, Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator, writer, translator and creativity catalyst. She leads a dual-based life between the United Kingdom and Portugal, running SoulCollage® and creativity workshops, SoulCollage® Trainings, and retreats in both countries. She trained with Seena Frost as a SoulCollage® Facilitator in 2010 and has been a SoulCollage® Trainer since 2014. She loves delving into the depths of SoulCollage® and introducing others to our empowering process. To find out more about Linda’s workshops, SoulCollage® Facilitator Trainings and retreats visit her website.
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Here are some of our readers' Imagination cards: |
Freedom Granted
Committee
Michele
California
I am one who was granted the freedom to imagine I could do anything. I still love imagining that!
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Imagination
Committee Suit
Cari
New York
I am one who loves following imagination wherever it leads. Reading, experimenting, playing with ideas. My gift to you is the permission to let your imagination run wild. I want you to relax and play, spend time reading and daydreaming, because it feeds your creativity and brings you joy.
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Wonderment
Suit Unknown
Janith
Iowa
I am one who looks up at the stars and sees you looking back at me from your star planet. I am one who always sees the wonderment of the natural world.
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Imagination and Me
Council Suit
Anne Marie
Massachusetts
I am the archetypal energy of capital-I Imagination. I am the one who has been with you since birth. I am the one who helped you name your teddy bear when you were four years old. I am the one who has guided every aspect of your life, from childhood through your teaching and consulting career, and within every job you’ve ever had. I am the one who invites you into the magical realm of what might be. I am the one who inspires the stories and novels that you write.
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Catherine Anderson
Community Suit
Dot
Pennsylvania
I Am One Who finds many ways to express my imagination. I am one who believes we all can be creative and imaginative if we allow ourselves to express our inner artist. I am one who shares my creativity and imagination generously with others through my photography books, my classes, my retreats, and my encouragement.
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Make a Wish
Committee Suit
Susan
Massachusetts
I am the one who makes wishes when I blow dandelion fuzz into the air. Moths tickle my fancy and stimulate my imagination. When I squat down and observe precious things, my imagination is alight!
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Please feel free to submit one of your cards for a future issue by sending a reply email to this newsletter.
Future themes include:
June: Authenticity
July: Topic TBA
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Celebrate This Book Birthday with Huge Discounts |
Let Your Imagination Soar!
Anne Marie weaves a gentle wondrous journey in these scripts. I love her imagery, and what a powerful set up for SoulCollage®. I will use these again and again! ~ Jennifer Louden, Author
Wonderfully imaginative! Anne Marie’s Magical Inner Journeys invite deep experiences and unearth truly magical wisdom. ~ Jill Badonsky, author & SoulCollage® Facilitator
Offer ends
May 31, 2024.
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ReStorying the Sacred Body
This ALL-NEW eCourse is an intentional way to meet your body with open arms, honoring, listening, acknowledging and celebrating. We’ll explore exciting new creative ideas for SoulCollage® JourneyCircles™, Mixed Media, Art Journaling, Altered Books, Pocket Maps, and more.
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Just look for whatever SoulCollage® topic you are interested in,
and read to your heart's content!
SoulCollage® is a trademarked process created by Seena B. Frost.
For more information about Seena and the origins of SoulCollage®,
SoulCollage® cards are made either from one's own art or from images found in materials which have been bought by or given to the SoulCollage® card maker. These collaged cards are used only for the cardmaker's own inner exploration. SoulCollage® cards are not sold, traded, bartered, or copied (except as a back-up for the cardmakers own use) as is stated in the "Principles of SoulCollage®."
Where SoulCollage® cards are available to be seen by others, it is for the purposes either of demonstrating the SoulCollage® process or of sharing the cardmakers' inner process in the context of community. SoulCollage® is grateful to the artists and photographers who make this deep awakening process possible and in all ways SoulCollage® seeks to be respectful of their rights.
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All articles in SOUL SONGS are copyrighted 2024,
by Anne Marie Bennett, Cat Caracelo, Linda Woolfson,
Michaela Daystar, or Michele Manos.
Articles may be reprinted by permission only.
Image of singing birds Copyright: Kudryashka from Deposit Photos.
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