Issue #231 - September 2024

Theme: Time

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.

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Soul Singing with Anne Marie
Hi! I'm Anne Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul.com, and a SoulCollage® Facilitator in Massachusetts and worldwide online.

The Time is Now  

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Several years ago, a relative gave us Alexa, the little Amazon AI device who tells us the weather, what’s on TV tonight, how many teaspoons in a tablespoon and anything else we need to know. Well, those are some of the things we use it for, although the original intention was for Jeff’s 93-year-old mother to be able to call us easily (voice-activated) from next door if necessary. The funny thing is, no one ever figured out how to connect Alexa to the phone system, so Connie always used the regular phone instead!


The question we ask Alexa more frequently than any other (except maybe “What’s the weather tomorrow?”) is “What time is it?” Her response, as you may well know, begins like this, “The time is . . .” Talk about convenience—I hardly ever wear a watch anymore! It even works in the middle of the night when my eyes are too full of sleep to look at the bright neon alarm clock dial.


But I digress.


I’m writing about Alexa because a while back, I had a fascinating dream. In the dream, all kinds of things were going on, but I don’t remember exactly what was happening. What I do remember is that I called across the living room, “Alexa, what time is it?”


And she replied, “The time is now.” Not “The time is four-thirty pm” or “The time is twelve-twelve am.” Nope! The time is now. 


I don't remember many of my dreams lately, but that one is sticking like superglue to my mind and heart. To think that Spirit can even speak to us through electronic artificial intelligence gadgets!


As I ponder these words of wisdom—could there be any wiser words than the time is now?—I am remembering how I surfaced from my second major cancer journey in 2012 with a deepened sense of my own mortality, and an urgency to look back on my life’s dreams and a heightened resolve to put at least some of them into action.


In the years since then, I have made three of those dreams into reality. I introduced my big brother John to SoulCollage® and led several weekend retreats with him. I was props coordinator for a local theatre production of The Sound of Music. And I am writing and publishing novels!


It's more than a decade later, and Spirit is once again urging me to remember that now is the time. The past? The future? They are not mine. All I have is right now. The time is now. So I am spending time pondering the same questions that I pose to you in the next section. Spend some time journaling with a question that speaks to you this week, or just let the questions live within your soul and see where they take you!

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE


1. Look back over your life, what are some of your heart’s longings that you haven’t had time or resources (yet) to realize? Make a list. Choose one and take steps to put it into action. It might be something you’ve always wanted to learn, somewhere you’ve always wanted to go, someone you’ve always wanted to make amends with . . . or . . . or . . .


2. Go through your SoulCollage® cards. Are there any that have to do with time, staying present, creating a life that you love? Journal with them, or create a new card!


3. Do a reading where you draw three cards randomly and invite each one to answer this question: “What do you have to say about my relationship with time?” OR “What is the next step I need to take to give myself one of my heart’s longings?”

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.
Next Zoom For SoulCollagers
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Exploring Authenticity and Your Soul’s Essence  

90- minute SoulCollage® Zoom 

with SoulCollage® Facilitator 

Michele Manos from California


Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Time: 2pm Eastern


FR*EE for our

KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirit members.

Only $10 for non-members.

Easily Accessible from Anywhere in the World! 

Recording available if you can’t attend "live."


Visit this page for more info now.

Guest Columnist:  Cat Caracelo

I am Cat Caracelo, M.A., a SoulCollage® facilitator, depth coach and artist from Austin, Texas offering my work individually and in global teaching forums through JourneyPath Institute. This column is for all of you who are exploring your creativity and ready to discover more depth in your SoulCollage® journey.

Unwinding Time


Time is a strange and beautiful thing. It anchors us into a space, place and frame, yet it is constantly changing.


We say time flies. The memory comes and it can seem as if twenty or thirty years were just yesterday, or likeyesterday was a month ago or more. 


Although time flies, it also folds, stretches and spins – it is a fluid wild thing.


There are many kinds of time: Cosmic time, Kronos time, Kairos time, Mythic time, and more recently we all experienced Covid time. But the experience of time is unique and individualistic, so being open to the various kinds of time and what you call those experiences, is always what is most important.


Kronos Time is the tick tock of the clock, which feels as if time is made to be a task master, harping at one to catch up, be exact or complete an assignment. Kronos can be represented by the archetype of the harsh parent, the uncompromising boss, the admired but a little scary educator. Kronos is generally about the modern manipulation of time to serve expectation.

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Artists often experience altered time or what might be explored as time out of time. This can be explored as a reflection of Kairos Time, which I think of as time beyond time, dreaming time, traveling time. This is the archetypal experience of the dreamer, the seer, the artist or the visionary. This kind of time unwinds and may be experienced as an inner state but one that seems directly connected with Cosmic Time or Mythic Time. The powerful pull of Untethered Time is where one can experience how time can fold, spin, and stretch. 


Covid Time became an unexpected isolation chamber experience where time was sucked out of reality and disorientation became the norm. Time turned into adaptation, having been so abruptly changed through the perception of what it meant to be human and vulnerable. Access to others was so limited and overlayed with fear and anxiety that time was changed by circumstance within the collective.


Consider kinds of time you feel as being important to you: Twilight Time, The Golden Hour, Nap Time. What happens to you where you are held there in those moments of connection?


We do not tend to time the way our ancestors did, but many of us yearn to meet the seasons, phases of the moon, and rising sun with a renewed reverence. Physicists are now questioning time and unraveling it back to what it might be—an illusion. Perhaps at a deep place of inner awareness we are being called once again to enter a mythic space where mists are opening the veil for us to meet time and space in a new way. 


As modern mystics or artists of life, many of us seek wisdom through symbols and are often moved when dreaming, met by magic or held within the mythic reverie of artmaking. 


Ask yourself, if you like, to meet the deeper questions:

  • Is Time necessary, fundamental, actualized in all my experiences? 
  • Does Time stretch, spin, shift? 
  • Can I untangle time, or move into a new field of being outside of time, to have new experiences when I need to or want to? 
  • Is Time an ultimate absolute in my day-to-day reality or does it flow and fold? 


Physicists and philosophers suspect that time emerges out of something nontemporal, not continuous but ephemeral. Perhaps time is generated in the mythic realm, in the creative, collective space of growing closer to a knowing that we experience outside of our brains and body. Maybe time has another way to be perceived that we cannot see or sense yet.

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Create with the kinds of Time you find most appealing! Pluck the names of specific ways of experiencing time that have been explored within this essay, and find your story of how time is shaped and seen, felt and perceived. 


Maybe include creating a card that might be called Finding Time, Making Space, or Untethered Time. Be curious about who holds the connection to time in your life, and if parts of your self will emerge that want something different or express new ways in which you are ready to meet, greet, and apply time in your life. 


Look for different opportunities to be inside of time…

Cat Caracelo, M.A. is a SoulCollage® Facilitator since 2007. Cat is the founder of JourneyPath® Institute and is dedicated to creative inquiry, healing, transformation, and depth. She guides, coaches, and mentors individuals and leads groups worldwide, incorporating expressive arts and transformative process into all facets of her offerings. Please visit Cat’s website to explore art-as-process and personal myth along with information about coaching, classes, trainings, and retreats.

Cards from Readers

Here are some of our readers' cards on the theme of Time.

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Time Traveling

Suit Unknown

Maggie

Washington 


I am the one who has traveled across many years. I am the one who carefully selects which doors to pass through and yet am often amazed by what I find on the other side. I am the one who is often astounded by how much time has passed and how little time may be available as I move forward on my journey.


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Balance 

Suit Unknown

Sylvia

California


I am the one who strives to balance my time. I am the one who wants to have it all together and be on top of everything. I am the one who procrastinates, thinking there will be more time later to accomplish large tasks and my list gets longer and more overwhelming. I am the one who thought I would be settled and have everything together by the age of 30 years old. I am the one who missed my opportunity to be 30, flirty and thriving but still has time to get to where I want to be.


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Resisting 

Committee Suit

Jennifer

Canada


I am One Who has dark circles under her eyes. I am always squishing myself smaller so I can get more done, faster. It feels like the Task Master uses time to push me harder, further, faster. Then I breathe in, I allow nature's rhythm and cycles to inhabit my body. I am resisting the push and rush of Time.


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Racing the Clock

Suit Unknown

Karen

Australia


I am one who races the clock. I am one who holds on tightly. I am one who seeks thrills. I am one who turns things upside down.


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Time Waits for No One 

Committee Suit

Christy

Ohio


I am one who is timeless, who is young AND old. I am one who rests in liminal space and in nonlinear time. I am one who knows the time is now because time waits for no one. Be here now.


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Time is Fleeting 

Committtee/Council Suits

Sharyn

Washington


Preparing to have my lung removed, I remind myself that time is fleeting and today is what I have to work with. I can choose. Waste or find value, like the little female Red Wing Blackbird who accepts the support of the lily pad, and probes the closed lotus bud for hidden insect treasures. I look for the hidden gems. I will accept support. I will not waste time. 

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All Ages Beautiful

Committee Suit

Jenn

New Hampshire

  

I am the one who holds the mirror and reminds you not to be afraid of what you see. The lines across your face tell the story of a Life, time-bound like every other. There is beauty in every age; if you will just look, you'll see. 

Please feel free to submit one of your cards for a future issue by sending a reply email to this newsletter.


Future themes include:


October: Fear

November: Forgiveness

4-Hour SoulCollage® Zoom Retreat
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It's Time for Our Annual

KaleidoSoul SoulCollage®

Zoom 4-Hour Retreat!


Akhilandeshvari: Goddess of Never Not Broken

with Facilitator Anne Marie Bennett

* Saturday September 21 *

12 - 4 pm Eastern


Have you ever felt like your life was “going to pieces” or falling apart? Did you ever wonder how to access the power and resilience to put yourself back together? And what does your Inner Perfectionist have to do with all of this?



For four hours we’ll gather in community via Zoom, or you can call in via phone. There will be time for a bit of teaching, lots of journaling, and community sharing as well as time for card making and working with your cards! Recording will be available after, so if you can’t attend “live,” you’ll still be able to enjoy it.


Kindred Spirits members, be sure to use your special coupon code to save 50%


*** More info here *** 

Upcoming SoulCollage® In-Person Retreats & Trainings

MASSACHUSETTS

SoulCollage® Facilitator Training

Westfield, Massachusetts

October 30-November 3

Trainer: Isabel Phillips


This is a four-night, four-day, in-person SoulCollage® Facilitator Training held in a beautiful retreat setting in western Massachusetts. Participants in this Training will develop the skills needed to share the powerful SoulCollage® process in the world: how to prepare and offer a variety of workshops, how to create brave space to empower participants, and how to adapt workshops to match the needs of different audiences. The Training covers business and ethical considerations, and new Facilitators will leave with the clarity, competence, and inspiration to become part of a global community of over 5,000 Facilitators serving the world! Visit this page for more info now.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 25

ARIZONA

Art Journal and SoulCollage® Retreat

Carefree, Arizona

March 2 - 6, 2025

Facilitator: Kat Kirby


Discover your unique creative style through SoulCollage® and art journaling in the beautiful desert town of Carefree! Join Kat at Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center to awaken your senses, ignite your imagination, and connect with like-hearted women. We will focus our attention on creating a visual story, both through SoulCollage® and journaling in our handmade books. For new as well as experienced SoulCollagers. If you're new to SoulCollage, you can begin your deck at this retreat. We’ll create and explore and discover and relax. This retreat is for YOU. Self-care is so important, and you deserve some “Me” time! More information here.  

ARIZONA

Living as Instruments of Peace

Scottsdale, Arizona

March 7-9, 2025

Facilitator: Michele Manos


Peace often feels elusive, both within and in our tumultuous world. Peace requires intention, attention, dedication, and practice. It may begin by resolving conflicts within. SoulCollage® can help us "tune" ourselves as instruments of peace, ministering to our own souls in preparation for peacemaking. The beloved Casa, dedicated to Francis of Assisi, is the ideal sanctuary in which to explore and embrace peace. We’ll explore diverse teachings, tap into our own wisdom, and consult SoulCollage® cards old and new. This special weekend in the desert offers a perfect blend of a retreat, workshop, conclave of peers, and meeting of friends. More information here.



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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.

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