Soul Songs: Your SoulCollage NewsletterSoulSongs
Your SoulCollage® Newsletter

Enabling us to sing the songs
we were born to sing
through the practice
of SoulCollage®
Issue #71  May  2011 Theme:  Death
Welcome!

Greetings, and welcome to Soul Songs, the official KaleidoSoul Newsletter, and the only monthly newsletter that focuses exclusively on SoulCollage® ideas, resources and artists.

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.

View this newsletter as a web page with complete color and graphics.

If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, please subscribe here.

Read back issues of Soul Songs on this KaleidoSoul page.

Soul Singing with Anne Marie
Anne Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul.com
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.


Using SoulCollage® to Heal a Loss

About 20 years ago, Doug was the rector's assistant at the Episcopal Church I attended in Salem, Massachusetts. He touched my life in SO many ways. After a few years, his journey took him to another parish. We stayed in touch for a while, and he even sang at our wedding in 1995. Then our journeys just took us in different directions.

A few years ago, I learned that he had died that summer, at age 53, of inoperable brain cancer. I was shocked at the immediate grief that flooded me when I heard the news. I wept for his family, his students, and for the loss of him to this world.












I created this card to honor Doug, his place in my life so long ago, and his place in my life now, even though he is with us no longer in his body. As I was making it, I viscerally felt the sting of the empty space in my heart easing; I felt my sharp grief softening, releasing.

The stained glass window is there to remind me of the love of God which he brought to me and taught us all so lovingly, and with such vulnerability and grace. The butterfly of course stands for Resurrection and transformation. The lotus is there because one of his gifts to me was a rooted belief in the soul's right to growth even from muddy conditions. Why the seal and the white lion landed there... I don't know yet. I found them in my stack of treasured, saved images and they seemed to be telling me that they wanted to be on Doug's card, so I listened and heeded their advice.

Who are you? I am the one who is a Priest. I am the one who is a teacher. I am the one who rode a motorcycle and sang in a rock band and also loved people and God with a wild, spectacular love. I am the one who was never afraid to be myself up there in the pulpit or with the people. I am the one who sang at your wedding. I am the one who always looked at people with eyes of love. I am the one who is with you even now as you are writing this. I am the one who smiles to see this card you have made for me. I am the one who brings the light of God to you from the other side.

What do you have to give me? What I gave you then and what I give you now is the exact same thing: unconditional love. I give you light in your heart that comes straight from the heart of God. I give you reassurance that Death is not the end.. I give you a light heart, laughter, love, a reminder that joy is yours right now. Reach out and grab it, hold it, embrace it... it is easy, and it is yours. I give you the knowing that life is short. I give you a reminder that every tiny piece of life is important, blessed, wonderful.

What do you want from me? I want you to be yourself. I want you to remember me with love and happiness. I want you to not beat yourself up because we didn't stay in touch. I want you to know that our paths crossed, and then went in separate directions, for a reason. I want you to know that your writing touched my soul. I want you to know that your courage in taking on Jeff's children inspired me. I want you to know that even though you cannot see me, I am still with you. I want you to know that you are special, beloved, wonderful. I want you to know that your love crosses time and space and blesses me even now.
 


 
Anne Marie Bennett is a writer, self-taught artist, website goddess, cancer survivor, and SoulCollage® Facilitator / Trainer 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 Internet technology as a means to serve the world by putting SoulCollage® "out there" in a really big way with KaleidoSoul. Anne Marie is also the author of Bright Side of the Road.  She lives in eastern Massachusetts with her middle-aged husband, two elderly cats and one very youthful dog who keeps all of them young. You can read more about her on her website annemariebennett.com or on her blogs Inner Surprises, and Standing Still.
 
 OUR NEXT TELE-CLASS
 
with Dot Everhart,
SoulCollage® Facilitator in Pennsylvania

During this session, Dot will help us bring insight and wholeness to our Decks by leading a discussion on death as an archetype, fear of death, symbols on our Death cards, and what will happen to our SoulCollage® cards after our own deaths.
More information here.

Sunday, May 15, 2011


Time:
7:00 pm Eastern, 6:00 pm Central,
5:00 pm Mountain, 4:00 pm Pacific,
2:00 pm Hawaiian, 12:00 pm in London,
Monday 9:00 am in Melbourne Australia
and Monday 11 pm in New Zealand

Please visit this page now for more information.
We hope you'll join us!
 
 New Online Workshop!
Rebirthing the Divine:
Restoring the Mother-Daughter Aspects of Self


Facilitated by
Mother-Daughter Team:
Cat Meehan Caracelo with Darcy Meehan Lubow


Starts June 5th

*** 7 tele-classes ***
*** 45 page e-book ***
*** personal consultation with Cat ***
*** art, myth, story, and SoulCollage® ***

NOTE: Kindred Spirit Members - Save $50
Use your special Coupon Code on the checkout screen. For more information about this course, please visit this KaleidoSoul page.
 
 

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. 




Death as Transformation

This is the story about how one of my SoulCollage® cards "spoke to me" as I was dealing with the loss of a dear friend. Lyn and I met and became friends when we shared a room at the June 2004 SoulCollage® Facilitator Training in California. We had stayed in touch via email and phone, sharing our cards and their meanings. Through these exchanged, we became great friends.

It is now three years since I received an email from Lyn's husband telling me the news that she had died. As I was reading the email from him (with tears streaming down my face) I received a synchronistic message that assisted me with my grieving/healing processes. My partner had a music video channel on in the next room and called me over to see the video that was on because it was a version of a song that she'd never seen before. When I went to see, it was Janet Jackson's song Together Again.

This song is one that holds great significance for me because it was a song which comforted me previously when a close friend had died. The lyrics are about losing a friend or lover and you can read the complete lyrics on this page.

Everywhere I go
Every smile I see
I know you are there
Smilin' back at me
Dancin' in the moonlight
I know you are free
'Cause I can see your star
Shinin' down on me



Hearing this special song was enough of a magic moment for me to feel a connection to a higher energy, but then I saw the imagery in the film clip which includes an empty cage and a butterfly! These are images I use a lot in my artwork and are very significant for me. It reminded me in particular of a SoulCollage® card which at the time I called Transformation, (see above) am now starting to sense it may in fact be my Death card. I felt drawn to spending time with this card and journaling with it after seeing the film clip.

My journaling with this Transformation/Death card included:

I am the one who is in a better place now. I am the one who has made my sacrifices and now is free. I am the one who has done the hard yards and am now ready to enjoy the peace. I am the one who is learning to let go and accept change gracefully.

This message was relevant on two levels. It felt like a message about Lyn, but it was also a message that was very relevant to my current life circumstances as well. Journaling with this card was a very powerful experience for me, and the synchronicities that brought me to create this card still give me goose bumps.

Another interesting moment of synchronicity occurred as I was preparing to write this column for Soul Songs. A couple of days ago I received an email from Lyn's husband to let me know he'd been looking through Lyn's SoulCollage® cards and had thought of me. As I had lost contact with him a couple of years ago, when both of us changed email addresses, this recent contact felt really special. I truly feel like someone is "shinin' down on" me.



Karen Mann is an artist, art teacher, Lifestyle Coach, FasterEFT Practitioner and SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer. Karen has been working with SoulCollage® since 2004. Karen offers regular workshops in Melbourne and Geelong, Australia and also runs SoulCollage® Facilitator Training weekends. Karen's passion is using SoulCollage® combined with FasterEFT to help others to gently remove unconscious blockages around food, weight and dieting. For more information, or to contact Karen, please visit her website, Flying Colours Creativity or her blog Stop Weighting, Start Living.
 

KaleidoSoul Creations
As promised, we are featuring SoulCollage® cards from our readers in each issue.

Each card below is one SoulCollager's expression of Death.  
  


Death
Council Suit (Archetype)
Nancy
New Jersey

 I am the one who has died but is not dead.
I am the one who represents the cycle of life.
I am the one who is transformed but not alone.





Death
Council Suit
Shiloh
Idaho

I am Death.
I am Transformation.
I am both the End and the Beginning.
In some ways I am a rebirth.
I am a journey from one phase into the next.
I remind you how fragile your mortality really is.
I am inevitable.
I am Unknown to you.





Death's Invitation
Anne
Massachusetts

I am the one who invites you to eternity.
I am the one who frees your spirit from the weight of your body.
I am the one who helps you climb out.
I am the one who removes the veil.
I am the one who opens your eyes.





Death Smiles
Council
Dawn Z
New York

I am the One Who smiles in my repose. I have lived a good life and have now moved on. I make the Way for others to come through. Embrace your deaths for they are a part of Life.





Death
Council Suit
Marti
Illinois

I am the one who midwifes you into your next existence, who reverently delivers you back into Eternal life.
I am the One who will be your steadfast companion, offering you peace, meaning, beauty, love and comfort for all of your days.





Death
Council Suit
Rhoda
Washington

 I am the boatman who carries you Home, your body decaying but bedecked with the blessings and fruits of your earthly life. You are Spirit now.


 



Please feel free to submit one of your cards for a future issue by sending a reply email to this newsletter.


Future themes include:
Hero/Heroine Archetype
Wild Woman Archetype
Money
 
 

KaleidoSoul Notes
KaleidoSoul Notes

Noteworthy resources for anyone interested in SoulCollage®

Facilitator TrainingsFacilitator Trainings: Information about content and dates/locations of upcoming trainings of SoulCollage® Facilitators.


SoulCollage websiteSoulCollage 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®!

 

Upcoming SoulCollage® Retreats
MASSACHUSETTS

Turning Towards Peace:  3 Night Retreat for Women - 3 spaces left!
Rolling Ridge Retreat Center, Andover MA
June 15 - 18, 2011
Facilitators: Anne Marie Bennett, Anne Boedecker

There will be LOTS of time for card making, sharing our SoulCollage® cards and card making ideas, as well as doing readings with our Decks. The card making tables will be set up round the clock all three days, so you can make SoulCollage® cards while breakout sessions are going on, in the middle of the night, and in your jammies by the light of the moon if you want! The focus of our breakout sessions during this retreat will be using our cards to deepen our own sense of inner peace via journaling, movement, and readings. We'll be building relationships with our cards as we work with them in various ways: writing, movement, and readings. $799- all inclusive.

Visit this KaleidoSoul page now.

 
CONNECTICUT with SEENA!

The Three Faces of Silence: The Transpersonal Cards
Willimantic, Connecticut
July 22-24, 2011
Facilitator: Seena Frost and Mariabruna Sirabella

This is a weekend of reflection, contemplation, and silence in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. This silent retreat will be a time of honoring the Transpersonal Dimension as we take inspiration from the three silent cards of Source, SoulEssence, and Witness. It will be a sacred time of connecting with Spirit through poetry, music, reflections, and an extended period of silence. Come and let your soul expand as you rekindle your connection to the Source! Only 3 spaces available, register soon.

Interested? Contact Barbara, bmmarston@yahoo.com


NEW MEXICO

SoulCollage® at Ghost Ranch
Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico
October 2-8, 2011
Facilitator: Kat Kirby

Immerse yourself in the soul-satisfying process of SoulCollage® for a wonderful week in the beautiful landscape of northern New Mexico. This is Georgia O'Keeffe country, where she lived and painted. Discover your soul's true voice as you enter the beautiful world of imagery and intuition. You will learn how you can consult your cards for self-exploration and understanding. The SoulCollage® process recognizes the One-ness of our existence as well as the Many parts of ourselves. This workshop is perfect for beginners and for those who have already started their SoulCollage® journey. Kat Kirby, Registered Art Therapist, SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer, and workshop leader from San Diego, will be your guide. $360 plus housing.  Registration Info Here
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.