Befriending our Bodies
June 12-15, 2025
Genesis Spiritual Life Center
Westfield, Massachusetts
You are welcome to join a Circle of creative, compassionate, spiritually-oriented women for a peaceful, fun weekend of community, SoulCollage® card making, readings, and divine inner discoveries.
We will use SoulCollage®, journaling, small group sharing, ceremony, and card readings in order to explore the theme of making peace with and enjoying our bodies exactly as they are, no matter what shape, size, or ailments we are experiencing. We’ll also participate in rituals together that bring our cards to life.
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!
All teaching sessions are optional (except for the Opening and Closing Circles).
At our KaleidoSoul Retreats, you are always encouraged to relax and renew in whatever ways speak most deeply to your soul.
At this retreat, you will…
- Spend three days/nights at Genesis Spiritual Life Center, a beautiful retreat center surrounded by woods and many acres of trails in Westfield, MA (about 5 miles west of Springfield). As soon as you drive through the gates, you’ll breathe a deep sigh of relief as peaceful energy envelops and awakens your soul. This is time for you!
- Enjoy hours and hours of sifting through images and making SoulCollage® cards to your heart’s content.
- Dive deeper into your SoulCollage® work and play by participating in optional activities, workshops, and guided visualizations designed specifically to help you deepen your relationship with all of your cards
- Get to know others who are embracing SoulCollage® as a spiritual practice and tool for self-expression and self-care
- Make new friends and have FUN
Happy retreaters at end of June 2024 “Cultivating Joy” SoulCollage retreat!
Location
Genesis Spiritual Life and Conference Center offers hospitality to persons of all faiths, cultures and lifestyles. They are committed to designing and hosting programs that foster holistic integration of body, mind and spirit. The Genesis logo, a tree, reflects the belief that creation is ongoing and that each person always has the possibility of new beginnings in life and prayer.
Set on 19 scenic wooded acres in Westfield, Massachusetts (very close to Springfield), Genesis offers peace and tranquility, wooded walks, natural landscapes, a beautiful labyrinth, and peaceful blooming gardens, along with comfortable lodging, AIR CONDITIONING (!!!) and delicious home-cooked meals.
As soon as you drive through the gates, you’ll breathe a deep sigh of relief as peaceful energy envelops and awakens your soul.
All rooms at Genesis are private, although you will be sharing a bathroom with a few others (all women).
More information about Genesis Spiritual Life Center is here. Address to put into your GPS: 53 Mill Street, Westfield MA
Our Mission and Intention
Our semi-annual KaleidoSoul Retreats are a unique and enriching experience.
Our mission is to:
* bring women who love SoulCollage® together in a safe, supportive community that is welcoming to all who attend
* provide the time, space and resources for us to deepen and enhance our knowledge and experience of SoulCollage®
Our intention is to put this definition of retreat in motion for all participants:
To go on retreat is to step out of time for a few days, refrain from being stimulated and triggered by the news, to go to the well of solitude, companionship, deep connection with the natural world — and emerge renewed, able to face the daily round again with courage and strength. – Joanna Powell Colbert
Alcohol Policy
In the interest of good physical self-care, we request that you don’t bring alcohol onto the Genesis site, or partake of alcohol on the Genesis site. This is also a policy of Genesis Retreat Center and our intention is to honor this as well.
Our no alcohol policy for this retreat is based on the following:
1. To honor any in our group or at the retreat center who are actively fighting addiction via AA,
2. To honor any in our group or at the retreat center who might have an alcohol problem and not be aware of it,
3. To honor and protect the sacred container and meditative intent of our retreat circle.
Previous Retreat Participants Are Saying:
- The experience was more powerful than I could have imagined. The connections to everyone, the songs, the creating- it was truly a magical experience I will never forget. My creative fire has been stoked and I will keep on creating! — Amy Menard,
Andover, MA
- It is an honor to be part of this joyous, generous, welcoming community!
- I experienced my first SoulCollage® reading during the weekend and it was a profound and moving experience. — Anonymous
- It was food for my soul… It was a glorious, enlightening, heavenly, soothing, creative, fun, relaxing, and emotional experience. I feel immensely blessed to have been able to participate. — Cheryl Finley, IL
- I loved being part of this great SoulCollage® Tribe! It was all just wonderful. I loved the abundance, the connections, the freedom to attend whatever sessions felt right to me in the moment. I also enjoyed the fun we had and how my soul was fed at all levels. — Raimonda, Canada
- This retreat was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had. My self-love, self-nurturing and connections within myself were turned up several notches this weekend. I feel at peace and unified within myself and within the community. — Janet, NY
- I now feel re-connected, peaceful and rejuvenated. — Brenda, MA
- This was a wonderful experience that helped me relax, meet new friends and continue my journey of healing. — Marsha, VT
- The presenters created what seemed to be effortless classes that flowed beautifully to the theme of the weekend. I cannot say thank you enough for caring for us and making our time here unforgettable. ~ Anonymous
- I loved the abundance of IMAGES that were provided, and the abundance of time to lose myself in them. I received time for self-reflection and many insights. It was great to have so much free time with no responsibilities. — Anonymous
- The pace of the retreat was perfect and responsive to the needs of the group both individually and corporately.– Paula, MA
- I loved having the freedom to do whatever I wanted instead of having to adhere to a rigid schedule. I REALLY loved having so much open time to make cards. — Dot, PA
If you’ve been practicing SoulCollage® on your own, this is a tremendous opportunity to experience the powerful energy that comes from creating SoulCollage® cards in community.
If you’ve practiced SoulCollage® in a group already, this is a great way to expand your circle of SoulCollage® sisters while growing closer to your own beautiful Self.
Meet Your Retreat Facilitators
Anne Marie Bennett is a published author, artist, website goddess, and experienced SoulCollage® Facilitator who trained directly with Seena Frost. She, along with Spirit and her Bright Ones, is the creative “genius” behind KaleidoSoul.com.
Anne Marie has a BS degree in Education from Southern Connecticut State University and has taught children, teens and adults throughout the East Coast. Her workshop and retreat participants flourish as she gently guides them through the process of self-discovery while encouraging playful, creative self-expression with a joyful, open heart. She passionately believes that we are all lit from within… and that SoulCollage® helps to remove the shadows from our souls so that we can be our true, radiant, authentic selves. Anne Marie lives, laughs, writes, sings (and makes her own SoulCollage® cards!) in Beverly, MA.
Anne Boedecker, PhD brings 40 years of experience as a psychotherapist and Buddhist practitioner to her work in spirituality and the arts. Her passion is the creative care of the soul through meditation, nature, writing, and expressive art. She delights in exploring mixed media, playing freely with paint, paper and found objects.
Gail M. Syr
ing, a professor and spiritual director, was introduced to SoulCollage® in 2013, and trained with Anne Marie Bennett to become a SoulCollage® Facilitator in 2015. Gail has integrated the fundamentals of SoulCollage® into all areas of her personal and professional life, finding that the combination of creative expression, reflection, and community are key to accessing one’s own resilience and resourcefulness. Goddess imagery, archetypes, and mythology are integral parts of Gail’s own personal spiritual journey. She believes that the Goddess, in Her many faces, is an essential link between humanity and the Divine, especially for those who identify as women or embrace the feminine aspects in all things. Gail is a Connecticut native who lives with her cats who are as glorified as the goddess Bast Herself.
PAYMENT INCLUDES:
3 nights accommodations at Genesis Retreat Center (everyone gets a single room!)- 9 healthy, delicious, home-cooked meals
- daily nourishing snacks
- participation in all SoulCollage® activities
- access to thousands of new magazine images and magazines to enhance your card making
- optional massage and body work to comfort your body as well as your soul (additional fee)
- use of the conference center’s 19 acres of wooded walks, natural landscapes, beautiful labyrinth, and peaceful blooming gardens
- a KaleidoSoul gift bag packed full of complimentary goodies and gifts
Your Investment- One Payment:
Full Price- $914.00
Kindred Spirit Members- $864.00
THIS RETREAT IS CURRENTLY FULL.
PLEASE USE THE CONTACT BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE
TO ASK TO BE ADDED TO THE WAIT LIST.
NOTE: This $864 price is ONLY for Kindred Spirit Members!
If you are not a Kindred Spirit member,
we will send you a paypal invoice for the additional $50.
Your Investment- Easy Payment Plan
THIS RETREAT IS CURRENTLY FULL.
PLEASE USE THE CONTACT BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE
TO ASK TO BE ADDED TO THE WAIT LIST.
7 Payments of $125.00
NOTE: This is the cost for KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirit Members only!
*
If you are NOT a Kindred Spirit, we will send you a PayPal invoice for the $50 difference.
(The retreat is $864 for non-members.)
OTHER HELPFUL INFORMATION
*** This intimate retreat is limited to 25 SoulCollagers, so sign up soon! Your space is reserved as soon as you make your first payment.
*** Check-in begins on Thursday June 12 at 3 pm. Dinner will be served at 6 pm followed by our Opening Circle from 7:15-9 pm. The retreat will end on Sunday June 15 after lunch at 1 pm.
*** Genesis Retreat Center gladly accommodates special dietary needs. We will be sending you a questionnaire in the spring for you to let us know this information.
*** The full amount is non-refundable after May 7, 2025, unless we can fill your space with someone from our waiting list. There is a $75 cancellation fee in addition to any fees lost due to timing.
*** If you are following the convenient, easy monthly payment plan, the amount indicated will be automatically deducted from your credit/debit card (or PayPal account) each month.
*** Directions to Genesis via your GPS- input the address 53 Mill Street, Westfield MA
*** If you are flying in to this retreat, you should fly into Hartford, Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport. If you’d like to be put in contact with other SoulCollagers who are flying in at the same time as you, please contact Anne Marie by using the Contact button on the top menu bar.