Seena Frost was our beloved founder of and birth mother to the process that we call SoulCollage®. On January 14, I read these words online, posted by Seena’s daughter:
Dear Seena, my mother and friend, merged peacefully into oneness with Spirit late last night at home with her family gathered around her.
The day before, we’d learned that Seena had been recently diagnosed with ALS and had gone into hospice care. So it was both a shock and a blessing to know that she had transitioned so easily and quickly. She was 83 years old.
I was fortunate to have met and worked with Seena several times since attending the Facilitator Training with her in 2005. She was a humble woman. Even with all her education and experience, she was continually amazed and surprised (and thoroughly delighted) when she heard about the many amazing things that Facilitators were doing with SoulCollage® around the world.
She was also one of the most grounded people I’ve ever met. During our Facilitator Training, we spent a solid hour going around the circle and telling the group what our next steps were for our SoulCollage® work in the world. At lunch afterwards, I was sitting at Seena’s table and I said, “So, Seena . . . what’s next for you?” I was totally expecting her to say something about how many more Trainings she’d like to do, or name a couple of national associations she’d like to share SoulCollage® with. But her response was, “Oh, I’m going to go home tomorrow and do some more gardening.” Ah. First things first. Of course.
Another favorite memory I have of Seena is at one of our Facilitator Conferences where she dressed up as Miss Ann Thrope (misanthrope) and entertained us all with breathtaking laughter. She had a lovely sense of humor and was always encouraging us to take ourselves less seriously.
When I joined Seena in Maryland in 2007 and 2008 to assist her with the East Coast Facilitator Trainings, she met with me and Roberta, my sister Trainer-in-Training, the day afterwards to go over our insights and questions. I distinctly remember that she started each of those meetings by inviting each of us to draw one card randomly from our decks and to listen to what each Neter had to say about the Training experience we’d just been through. She taught me to stay grounded in my cards, and to allow their wisdom to permeate all aspects of my life.
In September of last year I emailed her to ask her if she would be able to read my book of SoulCollage® essays, Through the Eyes of SoulCollage®, and if she felt up to it, to give me a quote for the back cover. Even though she hadn’t been feeling well for months and her publisher had told me I might not get a response, she replied to me immediately and asked for a printed copy of the manuscript. In less than two weeks she had read most of the book and what she said about it was a loving endorsement. I feel so grateful to her for this, for taking the time and energy to endorse my book, even though she was ill.
In looking back, however, I think that the greatest gift Seena gave me (besides permission to make my cards my way) was the gift of community. Throughout my LBS (Life Before SoulCollage®) I had been an intricate part of a couple of different communities (one church and several 12-Step groups) but those communities had been anchored in physical real-time. Our SoulCollage® community is much broader and wider, encompassing many people we’ve never met and will never meet.
Kindred Spirit Barbara posted a lovely blog the other day, Crying for a Woman I’ve Never Met. Barbara was wondering how she could possibly feel such deep grief for someone she’d never encountered in physical real-time. Perhaps some of you can relate to this. But I ask you: Did you grieve when John Lennon died? John F. Kennedy? David Bowie? Debbie Ford?
I know I felt deep sadness of a heartwrenching kind when I heard the terrible news about Corey Monteith, who played Finn on Glee. When John Denver died in a tragic plane crash, I went into the bathroom at my workplace and sat on the floor, weeping, for 15 minutes. I had never met Corey or John, but my heart felt connected to them because of the precious gifts that they had given the world.
Seena renewed for us the story about Indra’s Net, and how we are all connected through this infinite net that covers the whole planet. And not only are we connected, but we each reflect each other’s light a thousand fold. So think about this for a moment. If this is true, and I believe it is, then we each go forward now, reflecting Seena’s light into the world at large. She has given us such a gift of wholeness, clarity, creativity, and deep trust in ourselves. Let us share that gift with as many as we can, for as long as we can. And Seena will live on in each of us.
Visit this page for a short yet inspiring video/slide show tribute to Seena’s life featuring many of her own cards.