October 21, 2005
Welcome!
Greetings and welcome to Soul Songs, the official KaleidoSoul newsletter, and the only newsletter which features SoulCollage® artists and ideas.
Our goal is to fill each issue(and your life) with inspiration, challenge, and delight. Whether you are new to SoulCollage® or already immersed in the creation of your deck, we’re glad you’re here!
Please feel free to forward this ezine to any friends or family members who will enjoy it as well.
May we allow SoulCollage® to transform us from the inside out, so that we are able to sing the songs we were born to sing, every day of our lives.
I wish you peace and joy on your journey,
Anne Marie
To see this newsletter as a web page with complete color and graphics, please click here.
Contents of this issue:
And The Winner Is...
KaleidoSoul Café
Soul Singers with Anne Marie (if you're new
or not so new)
Soul Symphonies with Karen
KaleidoSoul Creates
KaleidoSoul Notes
And The Winner Is.....
Elaine Vallante, from Massachusetts is the creative winner of our Name the Newsletter Contest! Thank you Elaine, for a beautiful name that is soft, lyrical, picturesque, and strong all at the same time. 
And for reminding us that SoulCollage® is the perfect tool to help us sing our own songs and make our own kind of music, whatever that may be for each of us.
It wasn't easy to choose because there were so many awesome entries!
Other winners:
We are using the following names as headlines of some of the monthly columns in SoulSongs:
KaleidoSoul Café- Sharry
KaleidoSoul Creations- Neith, Maria, Ann, and Cheryl
Winners, please take note, and email me with your preferred Gentle Reminder e-course so I can send it to you right away!
KaleidoSoul Café
Grab a cup of your favorite hot drink and cozy up to the computer while you browse around our website. Here are some things that you may not have noticed:
There are quite a few additions to our new Art Gallery.
Have you taken a look at the Creative Writing page yet? These ideas are guaranteed to get your creative juices flowing even more!
Check out our new series of e-courses called Gentle Reminders,
which were created to soothe your spirit and gently nudge your soul into new beginnings. In keeping with Karen's column below, why not go deeper into your SoulCollage® work and try out Soul Conversations (click on the porch swing!).
Also, there is an index to all of the articles and essays on KaleidoSoul, grouped by topic. Click here to see it, then keep on browsing!
Soul Singing with Anne Marie
Hi! I’m Anne Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul, and a SoulCollage® facilitator in Massachusetts. If you’re just starting to sing your song with SoulCollage®, then this column is for you!
One question commonly asked as we begin creating SoulCollage® cards is: where can I find images besides in magazines?" Here is a brief list that might get your own visual creative juices flowing:
- greeting cards
- calendars
- library book sales
- childrens' drawings
- newspapers
- IStockPhoto website- royalty-free images
- very inexpensive remainder books in bookstores
Idea of the month:
"Use the Google Images search bar to find pictures of anything and everything that for whatever reason touches your soul...and you can print them on whatever type of paper you want." ---from Kathi in Michigan
Other Suggestions for Newcomers to SoulCollage:
, by Seena Frost and begin reading it at your leisure.
If you have a suggestion, or cardmaking tip that you'd like to share with our Soul Song readers, please click here.
If you’re new to SoulCollage and have questions you would like to see addressed in future issues, please send your question to Anne Marie.
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 SoulCollage® cards and are ready to discover the symphony of voices inside of you and around you.
Making Cards for Our
Darker Qualities
A participant in my weekly SoulCollage® group returned from a week away feeling very dissatisfied with a card she had made the week before. She didn’t like it, she couldn’t see how this card about a “negative” part of her life (she was feeling trapped in a job she didn’t like) was of any help to her. She found this card depressing and overwhelming. She even asked me if she could throw it away!
Seena Frost, creator of SoulCollage® and author of the book SoulCollage, says
When you make a card for a so-called ”negative” part it will give you a new perspective. Now you can see it as one piece of you and not as your whole being…. You can now listen to it more objectively as you learn from where in your history it originated and for what purpose. You learn what it is afraid of and why it feels and acts the way it does.”
Big Learning
With this in mind, I encouraged my client not to throw the card away. I felt that she didn’t “like” this card because it had some big learning in it for her and was leading her to face something she wasn’t sure if she was ready to face. I encouraged her to “sit” with this card and to journal about it…. and it was amazing how this contemplation brought out the message of this card for her at the moment.
She discovered that the card was a warning about looking after herself properly but also a reminder about her choices in this situation. She could choose to stay in her job (or not), to let the job be all-consuming (or not), to worry about office politics (or not).
Working with this card allowed her to reclaim some of her power and to view this situation in a different way.
My Drowning in Sadness Card
The card shown here is called Drowning in Sadness. The first time I drew it in a reading I was quite dismayed as this card represents an aspect of myself I'm not too comfortable with: the part that can easily slip into depression and is scared that
it may not be able to resurface. However, when I journaled about this card, the message I got was more positive... a message of hope!!!
Here is what I wrote: I am the one who needs to keep moving forward even when emotions feel overwhelming. This feeling will pass. I have tools to cope and will remember to use them. I will not let myself get paralyzed by sadness. I will breathe and I will get through this. I will focus. I will survive. I am OK.
To answer a few of my own questions (see below!), I will tell you that when I made this card I felt hopeless, trapped and scared. This part feels like it can arise at any given moment and take over... and this makes me feel like I'm weak and out of control.
As I sat with this card, someone told me that the gagged girl (on the right) actually seemed a little happy. Because of this feedback, I discovered an interesting thing. Sometimes I use sadness as an escape when things get tough. I learned that sometimes I "let" the sadness take over... because it's easier than having to fight. Then it's "out of my control".... I don't have to deal with it because I "can't cope" and there's nothing I can do about this.
More Big Learning
This has changed my life because now I examine times of sadness more closely to see if I'm running away from anything. And if I am, I know that I can do something about it. Making this card and working with it has made me feel more empowered... like I have some choice about how much I let the sadness take hold of me. (I know that this isn't the case for everyone, but it is something I've learned about the way it is for me).
Questions to Help You
Go Deeper With Your Deck:
You may wish to use these questions as prompts for journaling about your cards and/or you may wish to share some of your discoveries and thoughts with the KaleidoSoul Community.
- Have you made any cards for the seemingly "negative" parts of yourself (the critic, the one who grieves, the angry one, the one who is scared, shy, bossy...etc.)?
- If you haven't made any cards like these, what has been stopping you?
- How does it feel to make cards like these?
- What has honoring these aspects of yourself taught you about yourself?
- Has your negative self-talk diminished at all?
Karen Mann is an artist, art teacher, Lifestyle Coach, and yoga and meditation teacher. Karen is a SoulCollage® facilitator, and was trained by Seena Frost, the creator of the process. Karen has been working with SoulCollage® cards for two years & facilitates a variety of SoulCollage™ Groups as well as working with individuals. Karen is based in Melbourne, Australia. For more information please visit her website, Flying Colours Creativity or email Karen at info@flyingcolourscreativity.com.au.
KaleidoSoul Creations
As promised, we are featuring four cards from readers in each issue. Here are this month's cards. Holding the mouse over each picture will give you an image tag with the name of the card and the artist's name and location. Enjoy!
Please feel free to submit one or more of your SoulCollage® cards for possible inclusion in a future issue and/or in the Gallery. You can submit your cards by
sending an email to the editor.
KaleidoSoul Notes
This column is for note-worthy books, CD's, movies and websites, which come tested and proven worthy of our Soul Songs readers!
We're not just recommending one DVD this month, but as many as your shelf will hold! Have you heard of the Spiritual Cinema Circle? You get one DVD each month, and each DVD contains one feature film, two short films, and one documentary. And the BEST thing is, each film is spiritually-focused! Each film entertains and inspires in a purely nonreligious manner.
I just joined last month and the first set of films I received had me riveted to my seat! My mind, heart and soul were ALL completely engaged as well as challenged. I am anticipating my next set with impatience and delight. Watch these movies with a friend, or watch them alone... but do watch them! The world needs more films like the ones that Spiritual Cinema Circle offers.
As the creators say, "With your decision to become a member, you're also making a difference in the world by encouraging filmmakers who are dedicated to creating soul-nourishing entertainment."
|
created by Seena Frost. For more information on Seena, the origins of SoulCollage, or SoulCollage Facilitator Training please visit her website www.soulcollage.com.
are copyrighted by Anne Marie Bennett and Karen Mann, 2005, unless otherwise noted. Articles may be reprinted by permission only.
|