Hawaiian Shaman Hank Wesselman teaches that every child who is born into this world has a bowl of perfect light within him/her. If the child lives from their center and honors this light, then he/she grows in strength, ability, and wisdom. However, if they do things against their light’s true nature, or if they allow feelings like hate, fear, or judgement to rule them, then a metaphorical stone is dropped into their bowl of light.

Every stone that is dropped into their bowl obscures some of the light in their bowl. If enough stones fall into that bowl, the light will eventually go out.

However, when the child is ready, all he or she needs to do is to practice Kalana, which means forgiveness of self and others. This practice (and it is a practice!) enables us to turn our bowls upside down and allow the stones to fall out, one by one—and sometimes all at once!

In her book, Girls Rising, Urana Jackson says that in the course of a human life, some experiences and events will inevitably lead us away from our highest nature. It is important to remember, however, that the core essence of who we are is exquisite and whole. Perhaps just knowing this is one of the essential ways of bringing us back to our own bowl of light.

In the northern hemisphere, we are approaching the season of Spring. The light is starting earlier in the morning and lasting a bit later in the evening. However, any time of year is fitting for looking into our metaphorical bowls and inquiring of ourselves what—if any—stones are in the way of our own intended light.

You could also think of this bowl of light as your SoulEssence. Each living being has this spark of the divine Source within them, including YOU. Kalana can become a simple daily practice to remove any stones that hold judgement of others, or any stones that represent events we need to forgive in ourselves or others.

Give yourself a restful five minutes today and listen to the song, Bowl of Light, performed by Trevor Hall.

In your journal, explore these questions, or any others that arise:

1.   Am I carrying stones in my own bowl of light?

2.   Can I name some of these stones right now?

3.   What would my life look like if I let go of some of these stones?

4.   What does my bowl of light look like?

Consider making a SoulCollage® card for your own bowl of light. Or make a card to honor one of the “stones” that you’ve let go of.

Anne Marie Bennett is a SoulCollage® Facilitator / Trainer, published author, website goddess, and two-time cancer survivor who was mentored directly by Seena Frost. In 2005, she fell in love with SoulCollage® and was inspired to use her professional experience along with web technology as a means to serve the world by putting SoulCollage® "out there" in a really big way with KaleidoSoul. Anne Marie lives in eastern Massachusetts with her middle-aged husband and two adolescent felines who keep them hopping. Anne Marie’s books about SoulCollage® are available here.

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What’s the very first thing you notice when you wake up in the morning, before you even open your eyes? Behind your closed lids, do you find yourself absorbing the quality of the light? As all life on Earth revolves around the core rhythm of light and darkness, this first intuitive sensing of the day may be something we share with many species of living beings as well as other humans.

The invention of electricity radically changed the rhythm of human life, shifting our relationship with light. Yet while we flood our environment with artificial light at any time of the day or night, we can see that many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), brought on by sunlight deficiency in northern winters. While we may not consciously be aware of it minute by minute, the quality of light is still central to our lives: the spring sunshine tends to raise our energy level, calling us to greater exuberance. We tend to be more inward-looking during the shorter days and longer nights of winter.

Poets, artists and other creatives (such as you!) can bring our sensitivity to the qualities of light into the foreground. Here’s Emily Dickinson on the winter light of the northeast United States:

There’s a certain Slant of light,

Winter Afternoons –

That oppresses, like the Heft

Of Cathedral Tunes –

And here she observes the tentative arrival of springtime:

A Light exists in Spring

Not present on the Year

At any other period —

When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad

On Solitary Fields

That Science cannot overtake

But Human Nature feels.

How beautifully she reminds us of our intuitive, often unconscious relationship with seasonal changes “That science cannot overtake/But Human Nature feels.”

SoulCollage® can be a fabulous process for tuning in to your unique relationship with light. Here are my suggestions for some light-oriented SoulCollage® activities:

1.   Start by spreading all your cards around you. Notice how light is already a presence in your deck. It may help you to begin your inquiry by answering some of these questions: Are most of your cards “set” in the daytime? What time of day? How does night-time appear in your deck? Which season(s) of the year do you tend to favor? Do some of your cards have a source of light in them? Pick out one card and imagine it onstage in a theatre: how is your card lit? From the front? From the side? From the back? Is the lighting in your card harsh or subdued, strong or subtle? White or mixed?

2.   Once you’ve done this, try speaking from or through the light in your cards, as if the light were the Neter of the card – rather like Emily Dickinson does. Here is one such “light-reading” from my own deck:

Having explored in these ways, how about making a quick list of anything concerning light which you’ve noticed as being absent in your deck? How about a Lighthouse card? A campfire maybe? Or some awe-inspiring light effects – the Northern Lights? A Rainbow card? Or perhaps some highpoints of the year - the Summer and Winter Solstices? Cards for special times of day such as dawn or dusk?

Here’s a card in my deck celebrating our global connection with rituals and traditions involving light:

I hope you enjoy following your curiosity and discovering lots of wonderful new ways to bring more light into your deck and into your life.

Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD is a SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer, writer, translator and creativity catalyst. Of South African origin, she usually enjoys living a dual-based life between the United Kingdom and Portugal, running SoulCollage® and creativity workshops, SoulCollage® Trainings, and retreats in both countries. For the duration of the pandemic she is in the UK, where she is exploring the intriguing experience of dwelling in one place for more than a few months at a time. She trained with Seena Frost as a Facilitator in 2010 and has been delving with enthusiasm into the depths of SoulCollage® and introducing others to this empowering process ever since. Learn more about Linda’s workshops, SoulCollage® Facilitator Trainings and retreats here.

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