Our theme this month is the very broad topic of “Health.” What comes to my mind are the different aspects of health—physical, mental, and emotional. But what about creating healthy relationships?

In the late 1980's I signed up to hear author and speaker Robert Subby who was giving a talk in Rhode Island. At that time in my life, I was trying to extricate myself from a quickly deteriorating, long-term relationship with an alcoholic, and was intrigued by the title of Subby's talk, which was How to Have Healthy Intimate Relationships. 

I have to chuckle at myself now. I remember walking into the auditorium with my pen poised, ready to take notes. Eager and excited, I was going to write down every word he said because I truly wanted to know the secret to a healthy relationship.

I left the auditorium more puzzled than satisfied, though, and my notebook was empty. Subby had spent the entire two hours talking about things like: taking care of ourselves, meditation, drawing boundaries, and creating better physical and mental health by being honest about our feelings. I was really confused and disappointed, and I will admit—a part of me was angry and wanted my money back. He definitely hadn't delivered what I was looking for.

Or had he?

Many years later, now married (thankfully not to the alcoholic), I came across the ticket stub from the lecture and was jolted into a major realization. Subby certainly had been talking about creating healthy relationships that night in Providence, but at the time I just didn't “get” it.

Now I can see and claim the wisdom that his lecture contained: I can’t have a healthy relationship with someone else if I don't have one with myself first. 

Creating healthy relationships with ourselves is what SoulCollage® is all about. May we use this sacred process to know ourselves intimately, so that we can be in healthy and right relationship with others.

How healthy is your relationship with yourself this week? Has it been a while since you sorted through your saved images and made a SoulCollage® card to honor an inner voice, a guide, a family member, a friend, an archetype?

What about the health status of a few of your closest relationships? What can you do to deepen your intimacy with yourself this week so that you can deepen that other relationship as well?

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.

Date: Saturday, February 20, 2021

Time: 1pm Eastern

FR*EE for our KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirit members.

Visit this page for more info now.

When I first learned about the Companions Suit, it became a welcome container for my cast of animal spirit helpers. I appreciated the opportunity to include universal, non-human energies or “animal medicine” in my deck. More recently, as health and well-being are more challenging to control and maintain, I see them as crucial consultants. They have become a team of specialists to whom I can self-refer for assessments, examinations, insights and recommendations regarding my physical, emotional and spiritual health.

Seena Frost tells us these Neters reflect “the energies of your physical and subtle bodies.” The Companions anchor us to Nature, and provide a grounding force. They have the power to link us directly and energetically with the natural world, without human imposition or interference. Seena suggested that an animal (this includes any non-human natural beings) ally be identified for each of the seven chakras, creating a totem of sorts. Seena also suggested that regardless of whether chakra assignments are being used, each of our animal helpers may be included in our Companion suit.

The seven chakras certainly provide a useful system for organizing essential core energies, whether or not we assign Companions to them. In her book, SoulCollage® Evolving, Seena Frost provides a wise and provocative list of needs associated with each of the seven chakras. I’ve been using this list, along with my Companion Neters, to monitor my well-being and to gain wisdom about how to best care for myself during this pandemic. I’ll describe my process, and then share some of what I’ve learned. Here we go:

1. Regardless of whether your Companions are organized into chakras, collect them all for this exploration. You may want to journal or make an audio recording of your experiences.

2. Examine your current state of being with the list of needs in mind (see link above for the list). You may want to sit quietly, perhaps with your eyes closed, and conduct an assessment to identify your own needs that are most pronounced at this moment.

3. Choose one need that requires attention, assistance, nurturing, or understanding at this moment. Note that need and the associated chakra from Seena’s list.

4. If you have a Companion card(s) specific to that chakra, you will consult with that Neter(s). (If you do not yet have a card for that chakra, consider choosing a need within a chakra for which you do have a card.) If your Companions are not assigned to chakras (mine aren’t), consult them as a group, allowing one or more to come forward to speak.

5. Now ask for an expert opinion about your wellness and that specific need. Seek an understanding of your current condition and request a wellness plan. You may get started by asking the Neter to complete these prompts.

• I am …

• My specialty is …

• This need requires attention because…

• I can teach you to help yourself by…

• You can meet this need, in balance, …

• For your general welfare, I prescribe …

6. After your consultation has concluded, ask the Companion(s) whether there are any additional Neters (of any suit) in your deck with whom you should consult. If they offer a suggestion, ask how that Neter fits into your need and your wellness.

7. Seena reminds us that each of the listed needs can be “shadowed.” Consider that one can be unwell with “not enough” or with “too much.”

8. Repeat this exercise with other needs. Perhaps explore the needs of all seven chakras.

9. Do you work with the hand or foot chakras? If so, what needs reside there for you?

Now for my own examinations: my first assessment led me to the need to receive and give love. Since my Companions are not assigned to chakras, I invited whoever wanted to come forward for a consultation. It was Bear. “My specialty includes hugs, and the feeling of being embraced by unconditional support. This need requires attention because you are so very isolated.” He offered to teach me to appreciate the comfort of a warm winter home, and prescribed daily acts of self-compassion. Specifically, he suggested reading poetry to myself, starting with Shakespeare’s sonnets! He referred me to two Neters: my “Beloved Self” (Committee) and “Dairy Calves” (Community), suggesting that I keep these cards visible. I realized that these Neters reflect a crucial dichotomy: the hardest one to love (myself) and the beings that instantly make me ooze love and care (every calf I’ve ever met).

My next assessment was for the need of security and safety. Ironically, it was Bat who took over this consultation. Yes, Bat, the source of the virus that has brought us this pandemic. Bat had no interest in completing prompts or answering questions! “Chill. Just chill! Your understanding and scientific curiosity about me and my viruses is not always good medicine.” I was encouraged to take a break from being an expert, and to spend time “just being.” I look forward to balancing my isolation with safe journeys, and to tempering my sense of responsibility for the outcome of this pandemic.

May you find meaningful ways to consult with your Companions to nurture health in these uncertain times. The magic of SoulCollage® is always good medicine.

Dr. Michele Manos lives near Tucson, AZ and is the developer of SoulCollage® Card Games and Playing with a Full Deck Retreats. Learn more at her website.

$44.00  This Month Only  $34.00

……you are curious about Archetypes and want to learn more about how they work or apply to your life.

……you love to get insights on the cards in your SoulCollage® deck.

……you want to learn how to read and speak Archetype language.

……you know about some Archetypes but don’t really understand how they are activated in your life.

……you want to understand how Archetypes in society influence you.

Join us for Dancing with Archetypes 2021

Six 2-hour Zoom classes (March-May)

All classes recorded if you can’t come “live.”

Kindred Spirits Save 50.00

I am the one who reminds you that you have so many choices of food. I am the one who shows you the face of confusion, denial, misunderstanding that have been a part of you lately. I am the one who shows you the face and mouth of consumption, but asks where your will is placed in all of this, and decisions about what is right for you now. There are other cards in the deck that will support you in your food goals right now. Go gently with this, it's been a difficult year.

Future themes include:

March: Light

April: Community Suit Pets

KaleidoSoul - Spinning the fragments of your world into wholeness and beauty through SoulCollage®.

SoulCollage.com - The official website of SoulCollage® Inc.