Issue #199 - January 2022 |
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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®.
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Seeking (and Finding) Wisdom in Our Community Suit |
Seena Frost, the founder of SoulCollage®, had a favorite suit. It’s the suit with which she began the SoulCollage® process—the Community Suit. This suit honors people, pets, and places that have touched, enriched, or challenged our lives, both past and present. It is the suit that represents the relational dimension within our decks.
I once heard Seena say that the Community Suit is for “people who have taken up residence in your heart.” This really struck me as it conjures up a beautiful image of my heart: wide open and spacious, inhabited by the essences of those I’ve loved alongside those who have loved me over the years.
In my heart space, I see places that I’ve met as holy ground, as well as pets who have nurtured me over the course of my journey in their own unique and loving ways. I see teachers whom I’ve never met but whose work has touched my life and transformed me. I see people I’ve loved who have died, and sometimes I even sense the essences of people I will know in the future. All of them there, together, residing in my heart.
When I first started SoulCollage® I focused on the Committee Suit - making and working with cards that represented my inner voices, the psychological aspects of my being. But over the years, I’ve slowly been building my Community Suit. There is something powerful and heart-expanding about drawing one or more of my Community cards in a reading. Their wisdom is there for me, right now in this moment, whether they have passed on or are still alive. Their wisdom and messages continue to be relevant and helpful whether they are in animal form, human form, or the form of a sacred place that speaks to my soul.
In A Natural History of Love, Diane Ackerman wrote, “The heart is a living museum. In each of its galleries, no matter how narrow or dimly lit, preserved forever like wondrous diatoms, are our moments of loving, and being loved.”
Whether you are a new or experienced SoulCollager, I urge you to give conscious attention to the Community Suit of your deck. Spend some time in silence this week, exploring the galleries of your own heart, your own living museum of love. What moments of loving have been preserved in your heart’s galleries? What moments of being loved are etched forever in the residence of your heart? Do you have Community cards to honor these people, animals, and places which have graced your life with such love? How can you continue to access their heartfelt wisdom even if your paths no longer touch?
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Time for Reflection
If you don’t have a lot of Community cards yet, make a list of some people, pets, and places that have brought you moments of loving and being loved. Whose wisdom would you like to see represented in your deck? Commit to creating one Community card per month to add to your deck.
If you already have a lot of Community cards, take them out of your deck and spread them around you in a circle, face up so you can see them all. Spend several minutes in silence, surrounded by your own unique community. You might choose to ask a question of these Neters as a whole, and allow them to answer with “Our answer to your question is this...” Open to the wisdom that they share, and notice how the experience softens and quiet your own heart.
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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 other books about SoulCollage® are available here.
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Is There A Neter Hiding in Your Card?
75-minute SoulCollage® tele-class
with SoulCollage® Facilitator
Susan Nutting from New Hampshire
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Date: Sunday, January 16, 2022
Time: 4 pm Eastern
Easily Accessible from Anywhere in the World!
Only $10 for non-members
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I am Cat Caracelo, M.A., a SoulCollage® Facilitator, depth coach and artist recently moved from Petaluma, California to Austin, Texas where I am offering my work individually and in global teaching forums. This column is for all of you who are exploring your creative and ready to discover more depth your SoulCollage® journey. |
Wisdom is found within the self and perceived through felt sense, memory, vision, intuition, creativity, expression and experience. The innate, inherent wisdom of innocence that lives inside of the child is ultimately tainted by life; at a certain point, inner knowing is diverted. The wise child, when exposed to rules, the hierarchy of “truth,” and the determination of what is “real” will recoil and slowly close the window to wisdom.
When shut away, wisdom can feel like doubt, fear, and confusion, which leads to a lack of trust that can become especially pronounced in our early years. The window to wisdom that is still inside us, is locked up tight. Without that source, we tend to seek information and connection outside of the self.
In the first half of life, some will sorely feel the absence of wisdom sooner than others, but most of us are not yet ready to know ourselves at that depth. There are so many ways to explore the self, yet our desperate doubt will cloud our ability to see where wisdom is alive, aligned and rising. Before mid-life, most of us have not discovered a way to reopen the window of wisdom, but many of us have found lots of external sources to soothe the soul.
Wisdom seeking can be fostered and developed. A deep desire to connect to one’s own source most often comes through a time of desperate separation from the soul’s knowing—when grief, loss, or despair drags our energy down to the ground. It is there in the depths of despair that the window of wisdom becomes visible again. Perhaps covered with dirt from years of neglect, this wisdom window offers us a way to see in a new way, and if the grime is wiped away, more of life begins to lift.
Now known, the opening itself offers fresh energy and new perspective. The opening also recalls the wisdom of innocence that once was held inside the young one. That essential energy awakens, and our own knowing is sparked and rekindled as wisdom rises within.
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This window, now cracked open, invites the winds of wisdom to move toward you. As wisdom spirals around one’s life, the whole self is being restored. Even when one is feeling wounded, shuttered or shut down, the winds of wisdom offer activation. It is here that the alchemy of wisdom will alter experience and offer transformation. Through confusion and loss, we usually become tempered, and we may find we are ready to hold this expanding wisdom.
To hold wisdom means to be awake and alive to our fullness, receptive to the spectrum of who we are as humans. There are many ways to access our own wisdom but know that you must open the window. Wisdom is embedded in the stories that are woven through our lives. Insight and experience move to meet us in ways that cannot be predicted.
Seek the sources of wisdom in your SoulCollage® cards! Find an image that reflects the Wise One Rising inside of you. Do you have a Wisdom Window card? Who is that that peeks through? Is she looking in or looking out? Create a connected story with your cards, or create one that holds deeper layers of discovery.
Find the Wise One Inside of Your Life!
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Cat Caracelo, M.A. is a Depth Coach and SoulCollage® Facilitator since 2007. Working with Jungian Depth, archetypal awareness, expressive arts and transformative process, she guides individual and group process internationally. Cat is the founder of JourneyPath® Institute. Her dynamic eCourses, Trainings, Programs, and Retreats offer art as process and mythic themes to explore and develop personal experience that guides choice, possibility and aligned transformation. Please visit Cat’s website to find articles and information about coaching, classes and more.
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The Great Big SoulCollage®
Goddess Gathering of 2022
8 Months * 8 Facilitators *
* 11 Goddesses *
Not Just for Women!
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This all-new, totally-unique SoulCollage® Zoom series is for you if:
… you are curious about the Divine Feminine and how the wisdom of our 11 chosen goddesses might apply to your life.
… you want to feel more connected to your own feminine nature (we all have the Divine Feminine AND the Divine Masculine within us!).
Kindred Spirits Save 50%
Use the special Kindred Spirits payment button when you register.
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Vision + Vitality for 2022!
with Cat Caracelo
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Are you feeling the need for personal connection, renewed focus, and a supportive energy that functions and flows?
If you have felt adrift and untethered, there is a window of opportunity opening, as this new year begins.
Bring your SoulCollage® practice to this series for a deep, divine, and revelatory art experience that will offer so much for the year ahead. Explore fresh options with lots of creative tools, as you release and step into a new story.
You are invited to join this juicy circle for an opportunity to explore, express, experience and discover what activation means for you. You are invited to use these new tools to seek, find and slide into life.
Visit this page for more details, dates and time zones for this brand-new creative interplay.
Value $259.00 * Only $99.00 with coupon code YES
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Here are some of our readers' cards on the theme of Wisdom. |
Inner Wisdom
Committee Suit
Peggy
Virginia
I am one who searches within for answers, knowing that is where they can be found. I may seek counsel from others on occasion, but I know that ultimately, I am the one who has the wisdom to make the right choices and decisions for myself.
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Wisdom Gatherer
Council
Karen
Ohio
I am one who gathers wisdom. I carry a basket as I move through the gardens of life, ready to pluck only the most exquisite blossoms from the ethers, acquiring more wisdom as I age. Wisdom accumulates and expands across time, places, and cultures, spiraling out into universal consciousness. Know that not all knowledge or data or experience constitutes wisdom. Learn to tell the difference. True wisdom is rare but enduring, carried from one lifetime to the next.
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Insight
Council Suit
Danette
Illinois
I am the one who does not jump through hoops, but instead goes within, closes my eyes, and sees clearly. I am the one who has a tough wrinkly skin through which the outer world cannot touch the wise self underneath. I am the one who knows surroundings that are calm and peaceful, reflecting my inner state, and wise decisions come easily.
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Wisdom
Suit Unknown
Cate
Illinois
I am the one who sees above, beneath and all around you ... and opens my window to invite you to share the view. I am the one who knows the depth of your heart and your life; always seeing a path for you where the two are as one. I am the one who is always available to you, offering the depths of my compassion, understanding and perspective.
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Wisdom
Council Suit
Loralee
Wisconsin
I am the one who is sought for observations on the lived experiences of humanity. I am one who always seeks, who always desires to learn from my surroundings.
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The Sky's the Limit
Suit Unknown
Janet
Massachusetts
I am one who is vastly knowledgeable. I am one who has enormous resources. I am one who is nourished by nature. I am one who is not afraid to access what is out of reach. I am one who appreciates the unexpected.
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Sophia
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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The Mentor
Council Suit
Cari
Tennessee
I am the one who knows you can do this, whatever it is. You have more wisdom than you give yourself credit for, and I’m not going to let you forget that. I want you to feel my calm and loving presence whenever you have doubts and remember that my wisdom and confidence are yours.
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Inner Wisdom
Suit Unknown
Laura
Idaho
I am the one who holds your inner wisdom - the light inside - and cracks you open to let it out. I am the one who carries the wisdom of breaking wide open when the darkness seems to envelope you. I need you to remember that the light within you helps light the world around you, and I need you to remember to connect. I want you to know that although cracking open might feel like it breaks you, it won’t destroy you. Your inner wisdom and light will expand and grow.
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Just Play
Committee Suit
Jo
Australia
I am one who reminds you what wisdom there is to playing when it gives you so much joy and reminds you of your inner child and what she loved to do that you still love now. The bird asks you to use your instincts and look for fun, playful times wherever you can find them.
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Animal Champions: A Fresh Take on the SoulCollage® Companions Suit
Online Class with
Facilitators Jessica Snow and Somsara Rielly
February 5, 2022 * 1-3 pm Eastern
Connect with your Animal Spirit Helpers. A special part of the SoulCollage® practice is the way it facilitates our connection with Animal Companions for each of our energetic (chakra) centers. These are lifetime Companions (different for every person) that offer support, wisdom and power in different areas as we move through our life’s journey. Join Somsara and Jessica as they talk about the Companions Suit, guide you through their exclusive CREATURE meditation so you can find your own Animal Companions and then… MAKE GLORIOUS CARDS for them! $40.00
* Kindred Spirits- use your code to save $10.00. *
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SoulCollage® + Expressive Writing:
A Path to Serenity
Zoom Class with
Facilitator Kimberly Lee from California
February 5, 2022 * 12 - 2 pm Eastern
Among other things, SoulCollage® is an effective method for enhancing creativity and shifting our mood during challenging times. When combined with expressive writing exercises, the impact can be even more powerful. In this Zoom workshop, we’ll experience a number of unique and delightful journaling techniques designed to uplift and inspire, and we’ll engage with our SoulCollage® cards or images using a variety of imaginative prompts. A background in writing is not required—everyone can enjoy and benefit from these useful practices! Beginning and experienced SoulCollagers welcome. $30.00
* Kindred Spirits- use your code SERENITY to save $5.00 *
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NEW MEXICO
Beyond the Surface Art Retreat
Taos, New Mexico
November 30 – December 4, 2022
Facilitator: Kat Kirby, Deborah Milosevich
We’ve opened a second retreat in Taos! If you’d love some dedicated creative time, with a group of like-hearted women, join us in the magical landscape of Taos. Creative expression is settling down with your Inner Child, allowing yourself to create without expectation or judgement. And maybe do a little holiday shopping while you’re there! We’ll be making hand-made journals, SoulCollage® cards, Spirit Wands, Santos, and other soul-nourishing projects. We’ll also have “open studio” space for you to experiment with abundant art materials. Discover your own expressive style; develop and enhance your creative process in guided studio sessions.
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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 2022,
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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