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.
I can have fear, but I need not be fear,
if I am willing to stand someplace else
in my inner landscape. ~ Parker Palmer
Transforming Fear
A few weeks ago, I put a notice up on our KaleidoSoul Yahoo Group, that I needed cards on the theme of Fear for this issue of
Soul Songs. Usually I get anywhere from 2-6 responses, depending on the theme. How many cards did I get on the topic of Fear: MORE THAN TWENTY!
As they kept pouring into my email box (and many people submitted more than one!), I was led to realize that I'd hit a nerve of some sort. I can see very clearly now how Fear plays a distinct (yet sometimes subtle) role in ALL of our lives.
And SoulCollage® is the perfect vehicle for us to give voice to our Fears, AND for us to begin to transform fear, to uncover Fear's many gifts.
Making a Fear Card
The impact of Fear holds true in my own life as well. Last year, after much inner work and outer guidance, I began to see more clearly the patterns of Fear that have been with me since childhood, passed on to me invisibly by an extremely fearful and overprotective mother. At a SoulCollage® workshop I attended last fall, I found some images that resonated with me about this flock of Fears in my inner world, and I intentionally made a card to honor them (see above).
We are the ones who are hiding out behind the windows and doors of your psyche. We are the ones (and there are many of us) who are afraid, who huddle together in your mind and whisper fears to you as you sleep and while you are awake.
We are the ones who have been with you since childhood. You inherited us from your mother. We were her fears too.
We speak to you of powerlessness and joylessness. We paralyze you with our scary stories that are mostly false.
We give you a sense of ancestral lineage... we give you a closeness to your mother that you never felt while she was alive. We give you something to think about and focus on besides joy. We give you huge distraction from the present moment. Sometimes, when the fear is valid, we give you time and a way to prepare, a way to meet the fearful thing or person.
I felt much more at peace after making and working with this card. There is something very powerful about giving our Fears image and voice. They become less powerful. We see that they are only one of the many, that they are not the ONLY voices inside of us.
Making a Fearless Card
At that same workshop, I made several other cards, and one of them was this one. As often happens with intuitive cards, I didn't know what I was creating until I let it "speak" to me. This one spoke to me of Fearlessness, which just about gave me goosebumps considering I was so focused on expressing my Fears. Evidently, there ARE other voices inside of me that do not buy into my Fear messengers from within!
I am the one who breathes fire, who plunges forward without looking. I am the one who bravely flies through the air, knowing and trusting that I will be caught. I am the one whose body is strong and tall and who stands and moves proudly through life.
I give you strength and I give you courage. I give you fearless energy to move through your life. I give you joy in the moving forward.
I want you to not hold back. I want you to JUST DO IT! I want you to move forward with trust and strength. I want you to leave your fears behind. I want you to know that you CAN do whatever you set your mind and body to.
Transforming Fear
In January I was led to do a three-card reading with my Deck, where I asked my Neters, "Who has wisdom to give me about how to transform fear in my life? When I start to have fearful thoughts, what can I do to be sure that Fear doesn't paralyze me?"
I drew 3 cards and was deeply amazed and wonderfully surprised at the 3 answers
I received. I believe that the answers might just speak to some of you as well,
so I posted the cards I drew, and their responses on my blog, Inner Surprises,
and you can read them here.
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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with Liz Fulcher
aka "The Fragrant Muse,"
a 20-year veteran Aromatherapist
and SoulCollage® Facilitator
in Pennsylvania
Bring your journal, your sense of smell, a bit of aromatic botanical material and an open mind to this fun class and discover the fragrant muse that lives in your soul! Liz will share simple techniques for connecting with plant energies and ideas for creating and using aromatically-inspired SoulCollage cards.
More information here.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
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.
Facing My Fear
Dictionary.com defines fear as "a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined..." This definition really highlights one of the interesting things about fear, which is that often we are afraid of things because we imagine the worst case scenario, and then let this possibility paralyse us with fear. What we are afraid of might not be real, or there may only be a slim possibility it will happen, or we imagine the situation to be more dangerous, painful or distressing than the actual experience ends up being. As Dale Carnegie said,
"Fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind."
When I made this SoulCollage® card about fear it felt quite overwhelming:
I am the one who is scared, alone and vulnerable. I huddle up and hug myself, trying to stay safe. I am scared of all the nasty things that may hurt me. I feel naked and terrified.
As I continued to journal with this card I noticed a couple of things that have helped me many times since, when I have experienced fear in my own life. Firstly, I noticed the scale of the images in the card. I noticed that compared to the flying bats (in the background) and the shadowy figure in the corner, the figure of the naked woman actually was so much bigger than these aspects, reminding me that in most circumstances, my fears are not bigger than me.
I also noticed that the central figure was actually looking towards the bats, and that while she may be huddled for protection and feeling a little vulnerable, she actually was able to look at her fears (the bats) and see them for what they truly are, and not what she imagined they were. By facing her fears she was able to then make informed decisions about what is really happening and gather up her courage and move forwards.
Christian Nestell Bovee said We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them and this card really illustrates this point. This card reminds me that if I have the courage to truly examine my fears, and see them for what they are, I will often find that what I'm afraid of is not nearly as scary as I'd first imagined. If I commit to facing my fear and start understanding what it is that I am really afraid of, then often I will see that it is not insurmountable or anywhere near as overwhelming as I first thought.
One example of how I have built this understanding into my life is my new approach to my previously debilitating fear of public speaking. I have learned that I can be scared of public speaking but now I don't allow it to hold me back. I now see that what I'm afraid of is mainly in my own head, that it's not huge or possibly not even real and that I actually can make informative presentations while feeling scared. For example, I can look at the bats, see them as a bit scary, and not let them stop me from doing what I need to do.
Nelson Mandela said I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
I have learned this too, in my own way... and my SoulCollage® card has definitely helped me to have this realization.
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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Exciting News!
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All New!
Partner with Us to
Spread SoulCollage® In Our All-New
KaleidoSoul Affiliate Program
KaleidoSoul invites you to partner with us in our brand new Affiliate Program, which we have created with great love, generosity and good energy. Our KaleidoSoul mission is to share SoulCollage® with as many people as we can in the world, and we believe that this program will help us to do exactly that.
And the best part is that YOU earn money for partnering with us in this way.
It's very simple, and it's also simple to place the links and images on your site for people to find and click on. We'll show you how and guide you every step of the way. You can also place links to our SoulCollage® products in your emails and on your Facebook posts. Each time someone clicks to KaleidoSoul from your link and buys something (within three months), YOU earn money.
How much money are we talking about?
Kindred Spirit Members* earn --- 25% Non-Members earn ---------------- 10%
*Currently, this program is only open to Kindred Spirit Members. Please visit this
KaleidoSoul
page for more information.
We are very excited about partnering with you in order to pass SoulCollage® on to others, while at the same time bringing you the gift of abundance and joy.
There is more information about our Affiliate Partnership Program here.
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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 Fear.
Unnamed Fears
Alison
Byron Bay, Australia
We are the ones who visit you in the early hours of the morning. We make you feel uneasy and fearful of the future. We are hard to pin down and name. When you look closely at us we just look silly rather than truly scary!
Untitled
Committee Suit
Nancy
New Jersey
I am the one who hides. I am the one who looks out for danger. I am the one who is afraid to go outside. I am the one who wants to leave this fortress, but is trapped inside.
Facing Fear
Jazz
Texas
I am one who strives to face my fears with calm resolution – close my eyes and let the fear slip across my face in an embrace that leaves each of us intimate with the contours of the other; no room left for exaggerated menace – fear becomes just another creature. I could brush it away but let it stay now that it knows that I know it is harmless.
Collective Terror
Council Suit
Tamara
Colorado
I am the one who is a collection of all the fears of all humans past and present. I am so humongous and so overwhelming that I create paralysis in my victims.
The Cat Who Ate the Moon
Laurie
Ohio
I am the source of fear and rebirth. Howl like the wind in a storm. Meditate on fear.
To see LOTS more SoulCollage® cards on Fear 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: 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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Australia SoulCollage® Facilitator Training |
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Fri March 25 - Sun March 27 Led by Karen Mann & Norma Budinski
Join a growing community of Australian SoulCollage® Facilitators and learn to help others to connect with their creativity, intuition and inner wisdom.
Topics include:
* How to facilitate SoulCollage® card-making
to encourage self-discovery, without doing therapy
* Ways to adapt the process to work with different issues and populations
* Demonstration of ceremonial work with SoulCollage® cards
* Creating a plan for facilitating SoulCollage® that fits your own passions, intentions, and competencies
*How to use the internet to support and build your business
We will make cards, share cards, and use our own processes as teaching examples.
EARLY BIRD PRICE available until February 19th.
Visit this page for more info now.
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Special Offers |
44 Page E-Book
Only 16.00
on this page of the KaleidoSoul Shop
Recommended by Seena Frost!
This popular e-book offers you lots of ideas for getting started
and walks you through the interpretation process step by step,
including much detail and abundant examples.
It also includes:
* specific suggestions for interpreting cards from different suits,
* several ideas for organizing your interpretations,
* several Frequently Asked Questions about SoulCollage® card interpretation.
Note: Kindred Spirit Members, be sure to use your 50% discount coupon code to purchase this e-book. Only $8.00. All of your Coupon Codes are on your Members Home Page.
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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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