I made this card, intentionally of course, to honor my mother soon after I began practicing SoulCollage.  She had died the previous year, so I found it very healing to make this card to honor her life and my relationship with her.  She has shown up several times in my Daily Readings as well, which has been a very interesting and healing thing for me.

Who are you?

I am the one who is your mother, who welcomed you into our family with great joy and a thankful heart. I am the one for whom my family was everything. I am the one who was abused as a child, who grew up with much fear, self-doubt and insecurity. I am the one who is creative and artistic, who loves making things and using colored pens and rubber stamping.  I am the one who knows the value of friendship. I am the one who loves autumn and nature and the ocean.  I am the one who has a deep faith and believes in the power of prayer.  I am the one who tried so hard to be a good mother but lots of times things got in the way.  I am the one who created a home for you and your brothers.  I am the one who loved your father so much. 
I am the one who is so proud of you and your brothers. I am the one who never believed I was worthy, who never believed in myself.  I am the one who never thought I was enough, and who was always worried about what other people would think about me, about you, about us.  I am the one who took life so seriously, who found it hard to laugh.

What do you have to give me? I give you the knowing that you were loved as a child, and that you are deeply loved even now.  I give you artistic ability and vision.  I give you faith and a prayer life and the knowledge of the value of friendship.

What do you want from me? I want you to believe in yourself, to know that you are special, loved, chosen, wanted.  I want you to not make the same mistakes that I did.  I want you to go to the ocean and to York Beach often and remember me there. I was happy there.  I want you to remember that I was happy being your mother.

NOTES:

11/18/05- Reading/Question about my two stepdaughters who weren’t getting along- What I have to say to you today is this: I know you are worried about the girls, especially the older one.  Remember that she needs love and kindness now.  Boundaries, yes.  But love and kindness most of all.  Remember when she was very young and you were able to give her that. You can give her that now.  And understanding too.

5/24/07- Daily Reading- I am the one who cherished you and who loved being your mother.  Are you surprised that I show up in your daily reading the week of your birthday?  I’m not!  My message for you today is this: I can see things very differently now.  I hope that you will let go of everything else and only remember the love that was/is mine for you, dear daughter.  And it is no coincidence that I showed up today, the day you also drew your “Time In A Bottle” card!  In my life, I also put joyful things at the very bottom of my many many to-do lists.  That doesn’t mean that YOU have to do the same thing.

10/22/08- Daily Reading- I am the one who gave birth to you, who loves you even beyond death.  I am the one who is your mother.  My message for you today is this: I held you back in life because I thought I was protecting you. I didn’t know any other way.  MY fears got in YOUR way and I am sorry about that.  Don’t let them get in your way now, my darling daughter.  All is well and all will be well.  I didn’t know that when I was alive but I do know it now.  I want you to be healed and whole and free.  So let it go… let it all go.

2/11/08- Daily Reading- I am the one who is your mother.  I am the one who gave birth to you, who loves kittens and chocolate, the ocean, and YOU.  I am the one who always felt connected to and IS still connected to you. My message for you today is this: I still love you.  I see and am aware of the emotional work you are doing around the fact of our wounded relationship, and it’s okay.  I didn’t know that the damage I did lasted this long.  I am sorry.  I was the best mother I knew how to be.  Love transcends death.  I am still here watching over you and sending blessings your way.

I made this card at the beginning of my SoulCollage^® journey, to honor a very special place in my life: Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, MA.

At first it found its “home” in a special suit in my deck called “Sacred Places.”  But last year, Seena Frost suggested that cards like this belong in our Community Suit.  So that is where my Kripalu card now lives!

Who are you? I am the one who is full of sacred space and wild unreserved beauty.  I am the one who is open and yielding, who is here for you whenever you need me.  I am the one who is a restful place on your journey. What do you have to give me? I give you rest and healing and sanctuary.  I give you a place to stop, to remember who you are. What do you want from me? I want you to visit me often, in body as well as in memory.  I want you to embrace your own loving beautiful self.

I made this SoulCollage^® card a few years ago to honor my very favorite fiction writer, Elizabeth Berg.  This is a great example of a Community card honoring someone that I don’t personally know.  Here is what Elizabeth says to me:

Who are you? I am the one who writes beautiful fiction that is real and true to womens’ hearts.  I am the famous author.  I am the one who tells/weaves beautiful stories, who gives birth to every story given to me.  I am the one who believes that every story given to me is a gift from the One who gives birth to all. What do you have to give me? I give you a reminder that fiction is a blessing in your life, that Story has lessons and beauty and order and peace and truth to impart, ALWAYS.  I give you a precious reminder of your own inner Writer. What do you want from me? I want you to read fiction often, to lose and find yourself in the art of Story, to remember that you too are a creator of Stories.

I made this card to honor my
dear friend Karen Mann, who lives and facilitates SoulCollage^® in Melbourne, Australia! Karen and I corresponded via email and phone for over a year before I met her last summer at our KaleidoSoul Retreat at the Spirit Fire Retreat Center in Massachusetts.  It is always amazing to me, miraculous even, how the internet can build and forge such bright and beautiful friendships.

Who are you? I am the one who dances the dance of
soul and art with women around the world through SoulCollage.  I am the
one who leads and follows (in the dance that is SoulCollage) at the
same time.  I am the one who is building a colorful, imaginative bridge
between many parts of the world with my SoulCollage^® work.

What do you have to give me? I give you color and imagination and
a partner for your own SoulCollage^® dance.  I give you a full, bright
rainbow of hope that also is a bridge between our worlds.  I give you
encouragement and support and friendship and strength for your journey.

And if that wasn’t enough… I drew this card in one of my Daily Readings only a few days after I created it!  Here is what the card said to me then:

I am the one who is your friend and even though I live far away, on the other side of the world, I am always close to you in your heart.  It is the imaginative, intuitive world of SoulCollage^® that connects us.

This card honors my oldest brother, Joe.  He is ten years older than me, so we weren’t close until I was an adult.  But when I was in my early teens, he always took the time to do things with me.  The biggest thing he ever did for me was introduce me to the theatre.  When I was 12 he and his wife Karen took me to see a production of Man of La Mancha at the University of Connecticut, and I fell in love immediately with everything about theatre.

Joe is also a teacher, and a photographer/film maker, but his biggest passion is reading.  I believe I have captured the essence of my big brother and my relationship with him here on this SoulCollage^® card, which honors him in my deck.

Who are you? I am the one who is your big brother.  I am the one who took you places when you were little and who introduced you to the theatre.  I am the one who loves taking pictures and filming documentaries, who loves books. What do you have to give me? I give you a special bond, a special brother-sister relationship.  I give you curiosity and validation and unconditional love.  I give you a shared history and a love of reading and writing. I give you a sense of family and support in whatever you undertake.