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. Whether you are new to SoulCollage®, or already immersed in the creation of your deck, Soul Songs is for you!
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. This column is all about presenting ways to get your soul singing with the deep, wide, wonder-full process that is SoulCollage®. |
Goddess of Never Not Broken |
The Goddess of Never Not Broken is Akhilandeshvari. In Sanskrit, her name translates to The Always Broken Goddess. I love this because I don't know about you, but many times throughout my life, I have felt broken- on the inside as well as in my physical body. But the kind of brokenness that Akhilandeshvari displays is not the kind that indicates weakness or terror. In fact, she gets her power from the very fact that she is broken.
Imagine that! Her power comes from the fact that, being broken, she has a choice. She can stay broken in pieces, mired in pain and disillusionment, or she can find new ways to move forward, put herself back together, and look at her future. I have seen this pattern of power repeated in many a chapter of my own story. There have been broken relationships, shattered dreams, jobs lost, and physical losses due to cancer. But, when I look carefully, each brokenness reveals to me a strength.
In the original story about this goddess, she rides a crocodile on a river. Listen to what Julie Peters has to say about this:
Crocodiles are interesting in two ways: firstly... the crocodile represents our reptilian brain, which is where we feel fear. Secondly, the predatory power of a crocodile is not located in their huge jaws, but rather that they pluck their prey from the banks of the river, take it into the water, and spin it until it is disoriented. . . . they use the power of spin rather than brute force to feed themselves.
By riding on this spinning, predatory creature, Akhilandeshvari refuses to reject her fear, nor does she let it control her. She rides on it. She gets on this animal that lives inside the river, inside the flow. She takes her fear down to the river and uses its power to navigate the waves, and spins in the never-not-broken water. She shows us that this is beautiful.
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In light of this goddess who teaches us that being broken is natural, is strong, is a point of power . . . I have created my own Goddess of Never Not Broken SoulCollage® card. She says to me:
I am the one who is cracked, imperfect, broken. I am the one who is peaceful and content in spite of this. I am the one whose cracks, wounds and scars let the divine light shine through me.
I give you strength and power to stand up when you are feeling confused and broken, sad or fearful. I give you the power to make the choice to stand tall, to create a new future from the ashes of your old expectations.
I want you to remember that brokenness does not mean ugliness, does not mean giving up, does not mean the end of your dreams. I want you to know that you are not done being broken, that shattering is a part of the human life journey.
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1. Are there or have there been places in your life where you feel or have felt broken? Journal about them in the light of the wisdom that this goddess offers.
2. What does it mean to you to “get your power from your broken places?”
3. Consider making a card to honor the Goddess of Never Not Broken, and listen to her wisdom for your life.
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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. 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, 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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90-minute SoulCollage® Zoom
with Facilitator
Christy Wesselman from Ohio
Date: Thursday, March 30, 2023
Time: 2 pm Eastern
FR*EE for our
Only $10 for non-members
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The Goddess & The Atheist
What does the Goddess mean to someone who doesn’t believe in personified deities? This is the story of how I, an atheist, reconciled these questions within me, and how SoulCollage® helped me get there.
I was raised by an atheist and an agnostic, parents who allowed me to explore spirituality according to my interests, but offered no guidance on the subject. As a result, my spiritual development was paradoxically spacious in the freedom I had to explore different systems of thought, and constrained by the absence of direct experience. From a young age I was drawn to spirituality, and for most of my life explored it primarily through my intellect.
My studies gravitated towards the many forms of the Goddess within cultures around the world. As an artist, I love the rich narratives and exquisite imagery of the Goddess. But in the absence of practice, this knowledge-gathering didn’t result in the spiritual connection and deep relationship with the Goddess that I saw in others. I felt trapped between my head and heart, my beliefs and feelings, and had not yet found a way to reconcile what seemed like two equally true and yet opposing perceptions: my strong belief that the divine does not exist as personified deities, and how accurately the depictions of so many goddesses reflect the landscape of my own heart. And because I could not accept the idea of a literal personified divine being, my heart could not fully open to the depth of wisdom and experience that depictions of the Goddess invite.
Looking back from the perspective of time and experience, I can see now how rigidly dualistic I was. A subconscious part of me believed that in order to build a relationship with the Goddess, I was required to accept that there were actual human-like beings named Brigid, Kwan Yin, Amaterasu, Gaia, and Mami Wata existing just out of the reach of my mortal eyes. I didn’t take issue with the people around me who do believe this, in fact I envied them. I just didn’t have any direct experience showing me this was true. So, I lived for years with a feeling of spiritual isolation, of looking longingly through the window of a beautiful home that was locked to me. I felt this way even as I joined communities of people focused on working with the Goddess, and this was a source of much dissatisfaction in my life for a long time.
It was SoulCollage® that first began to help me reconcile this disconnection within me. Naturally, I gravitated to goddess images in my cards. Over time, I began to notice that for every Council card I made of a goddess, there was at least one corresponding Committee card representing aspects of myself that reflect the attributes of that goddess.
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I first noticed this with the pair of cards Kali (Council) and The Gift of My Anger (Committee). I made these two cards at different times with no intentional connection between them; yet the visual similarities between them jumped right out of my deck. When Council Goddess Kali speaks “I am one whose raging fire and destruction clears the way for new life to emerge,” the Committee part of me that is also Kali replies, “I am one who has suffered by holding back the fire of my anger, believing it to be bad and wrong. When given room and oxygen to burn away all that is in the way of what needs to be expressed, I find my calm and clear Center within.”
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When my card Gaia (Council) says “I am one who is held in loving embrace by the whole Universe,” my Committee card She Who Walks Upon the Earth replies “I am one whose feet walk upon my Mother with Love and the promise to care for Her.”
I saw this pattern again and again, the visual and narrative connections between my Goddess cards and aspects of myself that express deep connection to the world, to myself and to others.
At the same time, my practice of the system of Reiki from its Japanese origins was giving me direct, embodied experiences of the divine within and around me, and softening my attachment to intellectual understandings of the divine. Slowly, the dualistic divide I had long held between my love of Goddesses and my rejection of the concept of personified deities dissolved.
As I continue to work with my cards and meditation practices, it feels more and more true that the magic and mystery embodied in the Goddess and Her many manifestations is a reflection of the mystery within each of us and the miraculous world all around us. The human names and forms we give Her help us to connect to the miracles inside us.
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Michaela Daystar trained as a SoulCollage® Facilitator in 2013 with Mariabruna Sirabella and Seena Frost, and since then has brought SoulCollage® into myriad spaces, from college classrooms to government agencies. Michaela is also trained in the Japanese origins of the system of Reiki through the International House of Reiki, and teaches all levels of Reiki at her wellness studio in Davis, California, as well as on-line. Visit Michaela at her website, HeartScapes.
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Here are some of our readers' cards on the theme of Goddesses. |
Flora
Council Suit
Karen
Ohio
I am Flora, Roman goddess of flowers. Spring is my season, a time when Earth blooms. I clothe myself in nature’s bounty, flowers woven into my garments by my handmaidens. They dance and frolic in front of my temple during the festival that honors me, Floralia, which you know today as May Day. Be indulgent by surrounding yourself with flowers and plants. Take time to smell flowers’ delicate or heady fragrances. When you inhale springtime, you breathe in beauty.
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Never-Not-Broken Goddess
Council Suit
Natalie
Colorado
I am one who is always broken, just as the world is always broken. But brokenness doesn't mean that I can't achieve much in life. Life can be repaired and regenerated and always changed for the better.
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Young Aphrodite
Council Suit
Jennifer
Canada
I Am One Who loves nature in all its aspects. I Am One Who is connected to the life energy inside all beings. I Am One Who cares for the young and tender ones. I Am One whose symbol is the dove of peace
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Hestia
Council Suit
Bethann
Georgia
I am the one who helps you create beautiful, enchanting homes: the museum of all your love and loving. I am the one who stands at the hearth with you as we prepare healthy comfort food for family and friends. I am warmth that enfolds you in your home.
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Ostara (Eostre)
Council Suit
Stephanie
North Carolina
I am the one who emerges in the springtime after a long winter's nap. I am feeling my youthful vigor and vitality as I walk upon the greening earth and smell the flowers along the way. I frolic with the March Hare and bring you brightly colored eggs on Easter to remind you it is a time of rebirth, a time to rejoice and play. Wake up from your hibernation, leave the cave, and join me in the dance of life!
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Goddess of Home and Hearth
Council Suit
Jo
Australia
I am one who holds a sacred space full of hope that all may have a safe, warm, comfortable home. I am one who reminds you to feel at home wherever you are.
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The Great Mother
Council Suit
Marianne
Pennsylvania
I am One Who loves you to your core – mind, body, spirit. I am the Great Mother and I enfold you and care for you beyond what any human mother is capable of doing. I have loved you from your beginning, and I hold you in your times of joy and in your suffering, as well.
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Bastet, Egyptian Cat Goddess
Council Suit
Dee
Wisconsin
I am one who is a protector by nature. I watch over other feline beings, particularly mothers and kittens. What I give you is assurance that there is life after the death of the body—for animals as well as humans. Know that your fur babies reside in another realm alive in a different manner—safe, protected, and comforted just as they comforted their human companions on the earthly plane. Come to my temple when you have need, may you find solace in the company of cats - always.
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Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom
Council Suit
Ann
California
I am the one who holds the belief that all is well. I am the one who is the Unseen and the Invisible. I am always here even when you don’t notice me.
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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:
April: Relationships
May: The Moon/Night
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Noteworthy resources for anyone interested in SoulCollage®
KaleidoSoul - Spinning the fragments of your world into wholeness and beauty through SoulCollage®.
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Deep, Dynamic Wisdom:
Listening to Your SoulCollage® Cards in New Ways
with Michele Manos
April 15, April 22, May 1
Beyond “I Am One Who …” and “About your question …” is a bounty of ways to access wisdom with your SoulCollage® cards. From questions to prompts to short forms of writing, many innovative possibilities await you. Experience imaginative approaches to gain relevant, poignant insights from your Neters and learn to create questions and prompts to serve your specific goals. Get the most from your card consultations by requesting the guidance you seek! Topics include getting to know new cards, including light and shadow; tailoring questions by suit; refreshing your deck through intentional listening; focused, unambiguous prompts for multi-card readings.
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Exploring the Archetypes of Midlife
with Cat Caracelo
Starts March 31, 2023
This is a brand-new four-month eCourse and dynamic program for women of many ages to gather in creative community and experience the depth, delight, and empowerment of circling with your stories. You will be meeting nine unique and evocative Archetypes of Midlife, developing a deeper awareness of how archetypal presence, patterns, and allies serve, support and guide your life.
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MASSACHUSETTS
SoulCollage® Facilitator Training
Westfield, Massachusetts
May 17-21, 2023
Facilitator: Isabel Phillps
Early Bird Deadline April 1 (Save $100). Empower others to grow and flourish into their full soul expression as a SoulCollage® Facilitator. All you need is a desire to deepen your own SoulCollage® practice and to share the process with the communities of your choice. If you have experienced the transformational power of SoulCollage® to unlock your wisdom and unleash your creativity, this troubled world needs you! Isabel trained as a SoulCollage® Facilitator in 2011 with Mariabruna Sirabella, and became a Trainer in 2019. She is also a Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness Meditation teacher, doing what she can to promote emotional resilience, connection, and spiritual community in our complicated, ramped-up world. Visit this page for lots more info now.
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OHIO
Re-Ignite Your Inner Spark!
A SoulCollage® Women’s Retreat
Dayton, Ohio
June 2 – 4, 2023
Facilitator: Pamela Hubbard, Barbara Miller
No matter where life is taking you right now, this retreat will help you move forward with purpose and joy. Maybe you’ve forgotten who you really are, or perhaps you’re re-imagining who you want to be as you go into a new phase. Maybe you want to explore how to share your passion with the world. This will be a weekend of SoulCollage® card-making, creativity, soul-touching reflection, playful exploration, and fun activities within the circle of positive, supportive women! Visit this page for lots more info now.
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ONTARIO, CANADA
SoulCollage® Facilitator Training
Ontario, Canada
August 9-13, 2023
Facilitator: Jennifer Boire, Kellie McComb
Do you love SoulCollage® and want to learn how to share it with others? Do you enjoy exploring your creative self with intuition, images and imagination? Then come train as a SoulCollage® Facilitator this summer at the Galilee Center, in Arnprior, Ontario, on the banks of the Ottawa River, west of Ottawa. The prerequisites are listed on my website. Early Bird Deadline April 30, 2023.
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TEXAS
Art and Soul Equinox Retreat
Austin Hill Country, Texas
September 24-28, 2023
Facilitator: Cat Caracelo
Experience the pleasure of coming into a creative community as we explore and embrace joy in the journey. Feel the energy of renewal, expand your soul stories, experience creative curiosity and sacred play in the verdant landscape, where we celebrate the shifting energies of the Autumn Equinox. Gather with kindred women for an immersive and expanded experience. Explore creative play, expressive arts with SoulCollage® and more. Work with archetypal presence and elemental energies that will enliven your life and spark possibilities. Visit this page for lots more info now.
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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 2023,
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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