Soul Singing with Anne Marie |
Hi!
I'm Anne Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul.com, and a
SoulCollage® facilitator in Massachusetts. If you're
just starting to sing your song with SoulCollage®, this column is
especially for you.
Three Bright Ancestors
My oldest brother Joe has always been the historian in our family, the "keeper of the family history." I have never been interested in family trees or who begat whom much beyond my grandparents on either side. I understand the need to know, to define, to understand one's origins. It's just that the details never really called to me or drew me in. Because of this, I've felt somewhat disconnected from my "family heritage" so to speak.
And then I made this SoulCollage® card (ah, isn't that the way all good stories begin?!).
At first, this card seemed to be about the woman on the left. Whenever I drew it, she spoke to me about body image and distress/shame over the disfigurement of my left breast from cancer.
But then about a year ago, I found myself face to face with this card during a daily reading, and the stone figures on the right dominated the energy of the card in a way that I could not ignore. I couldn't get them to "talk" to me right away, so I wrote a detailed description of the card to get the imaginative juices flowing.
There is a nude woman in this card, standing behind what looks like shattered glass. On the right side of the card are 3 stone figures. They are not looking at the woman. They are looking beyond her. They are bathed in light of different colors- golden brown, bluish green, and yellowish green.
After this, the words flowed more easily and this is what they said to me:
We are here to represent 3 of the Bright Ancestors who are watching over you at all times. We know that you feel like your body is disfigured. We know that you don't like how your body looks when you see yourself in the mirror. But we are looking beyond that. We are looking past it, over it, beyond it... to something bigger. We can see the Bigger Picture. We see Spirit. Spirit is the Big Picture. Spirit holds the Mirror.
We invite you today to stop looking down. To look up at your beautiful self in the Mirror, to nod affirmation of your beauty, and then to look up and Beyond as we are doing. We invite you to do this because seeing the Big Picture changes everything. Seeing the Big Picture changes how you see yourself, and how you see and respond to Life. We know that you are a loving, giving, creative, joyful being of Spirit. We know you. You are of us. You are known and loved exactly as you are. Can you take comfort in that? Can you allow this knowledge to give you courage to look at yourself in the mirror and name yourself as Beautiful?
Well, as you can imagine, I was blown away by this reading. For someone who never paid much attention to my ancestors, I sure was feeling connected to them now!
So my suggestion to you, dear reader is this: Even if you have never been concerned with your ancestors or couldn't care less about your place in the Family Tree, take a look through your SoulCollage® Deck, or through the stacks of images you are collecting. Are there any that might be whispering to you of love and ancestry? Pay attention as you allow these images to speak to you. Because you ARE connected to those who have gone before you, in deep and intimate ways. And SoulCollage® is the perfect medium for them to reach out and touch you, now, in this moment.
Anne Marie Bennett is a freelance writer,
self-taught artist, SoulCollage® Facilitator and Facilitator
Trainer who trained with Seena Frost. Her background is elementary
education, computer software training, writing, and mixed media
art. She lives, laughs, writes, and sings (and makes her own
SoulCollage® cards!) in Beverly, MA. More of Anne Marie's
cards/interpretations are available on her blog, Inner
Surprises.
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Our Next Tele-Class
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Led by SoulCollage® Facilitator Gail Warner
Click here to see the SoulCollage® cards and some
of the poems
that Gail will share with us during
this wonderful tele-class.
Time:
7:00 pm Eastern, 6:00 pm Central,
5:00 pm Mountain, 4:00 pm Pacific,
2:00 pm Hawaiian, midnight in London,
Monday 11:00 am. in Melbourne Australia
and Monday 1:00 pm in New Zealand
Please visit this page
now for more information.
We hope you'll join us!
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Soul Symphonies with Karen |
My name is Karen Mann and I'm a SoulCollage® facilitator from
Melbourne, Australia. This column is for those of you who have
already made some cards & are ready to discover the symphony of
voices inside of you and around you.
Another Thing My Grandfather Taught Me
I only have one card in my SoulCollage® deck (out of about 300 cards) that represents any sort of ancestor. I made this card for my maternal grandfather and it includes photos of him that are strong parts of my memory of him. Johan Huizinga says,
History is the interpretation of the significance that the past has for us. This is the role that my SoulCollage® for my grandfather plays- it is my version of who I remember my grandfather to be.
While I do not remember a lot about my grandfather's life, I still feel a sense of connection with him when I draw his SoulCollage® card in a reading. I may not know exactly where he went to school or where he grew up or remember the names of all his siblings. However, I do still remember his intelligence, his sense of humour, his sense of right and wrong and his musical ability. When I draw his card in a reading, I feel as though I can connect with the essence of him, as I remember it. I trust that the message I need to hear, will allow itself to be heard.
I plan to make cards for my other grandparents over time, and I'm now thinking about the possibility of making some cards for their parents too. I will set aside some time to talk to my parents to find out their memories of these people are, which will be interesting in itself. But then I will trust that whatever images I find, whether family photos or from found images, will be just the right images to capture my interpretation of these ancestors.
I will not get caught up in trying to recreate historically correct illustrations; I will work intuitively to capture the essence of their energy from my perspective. After all, my SoulCollage® deck is
my version of my story, with each card adding a new piece to the puzzle.
Karen Mann is an artist, art teacher, Lifestyle
Coach, yoga and meditation teacher, and SoulCollage® facilitator.
Karen has been working with SoulCollage® cards for more than four
years and facilitates a variety of SoulCollage® Groups. Karen also
runs SoulCollage® Facilitator Training weekends. Karen offers
regular workshops in Melbourne and Geelong, Australia, and is also
available to travel to other regions in Australia. For more
information, or to contact Karen, please visit her
website,Flying Colours
Creativity.
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Special Offers
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Are you new to SoulCollage® and wondering how to get started?
Or maybe you'd like a simple, inexpensive refresher course
to get your creative juices flowing again?
Look no further! We've got a two-class online series just for you!
Sundays- January 23 and January 30, 2011
4 pm Eastern * 3 pm Central * 1 pm Pacific
75 minute classes * We'll send recordings if you can't attend "live."
Investment: $45 - Includes, both classes, recordings of both classes, lots of support from Anne Marie, and a SoulCollage® Starter Kit (100 images, 10 mats, 7 handouts, and layout frame) PLUS Fr*ee Shipping.
Kindred Spirits:
Save $10 Use your special Coupon Code for your discount. Send a
reply email to this newsletter if you are a Kindred Spirit member and need
your Coupon Code.
EARLY BIRD DEADLINE: Saturday January 8. Price goes up to $55.
Visit this KaleidoSoul page for more information now.
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KaleidoSoul Creations |
As promised, we are featuring
SoulCollage® cards from our readers in each issue.
Each card below is one SoulCollager's expression of Ancestors.
Ancestral Lineage
Jenni
Colorado
I am the one who walks
on the death of my past, standing
on the lives of others
those who came before
ancestral linage
growing through time
humanity; a leaf on my family tree
generation through generation,
from death, through life, to me.
I am the one who is birthed
over and over again,
fragile, amazing, raw
part of a larger story
a faceless entity, rebirthing
a seed of the past
rooted in the now
growing through infinity.
Dream Swimmer
Stephanie
North Carolina
I Am One Who swims in the murky waters of feeling, encountering my ancestors and guides
in dreamtime, until I obtain clarity.
The Ancestors
Jill
British Columbia, Canada
I am the one who embraces you fully and tenderly watches over you.
I am the one who knows and shares your deepest instinctual nature.
I am a guide to your deeper knowing and I reside deep inside your bones.
I bring to you the gift of "Entelechy" - the realization of your potential.
Grandmother Wisdom
Marti
Illinois
I Am the One Who has spent lifetimes
receiving wisdom from those who have gone before me
and transmitting it to the seven generations who follow me.
I am Grandmother Wisdom.
Ancestor
Sue
California
I Am One Who archives the lesser and Greater stories of existence. The quality of every Conscious and unconscious thought eases or complicates the journey of those with whom you share your days on Earth, as well as all who came before and are to follow. You, too, shall pass. Carry forward in each encounter our eyes of compassion, our hands of blessing, our voice of kindness.
To see a few more SoulCollage® cards on Ancestors from our readers, please visit
this KaleidoSoul page.
Please feel free to submit one of your cards for a
future issue by sending a reply email to this
newsletter.
Future themes include: Fear
Animal Companions: Air
The Goddess
Music
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KaleidoSoul Notes
Noteworthy
resources for anyone interested in SoulCollage®
Facilitator
Trainings: Information about content and
dates/locations of upcoming trainings of SoulCollage®
Facilitators.
SoulCollage
website - Seena Frost created the process of
SoulCollage®, and this is her website.
KaleidoSoul -
Spinning the fragments of your world into wholeness and beauty
through SoulCollage®.
Kindred
Spirits Join our fast-growing worldwide
membership of people who put the "soul" in SoulCollage®!
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Soul Songs
Back Issues - Read back issues of Soul Songs on
this
KaleidoSoul page.
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®,
please visit her
website.
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.
All articles in SOUL SONGS are copyrighted
2011,
by Anne Marie Bennett and Karen
Mann.
Articles may be reprinted by permission
only.
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