I am Cat Caracelo,M.A., a SoulCollage® facilitator, life coach and transformative artist from Petaluma, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. This column is for those of you who have already made some cards & are ready to discover more depth your SoulCollage® journey.


Animal Companions

In SoulCollage®, the chakras as well as animal energies are reflected and held by the Companions suit. This process is explained and shared in Seena Frost's books, inspired by Personal Totem Pole: Animal Imagery the Chakras and Psychotherapy by Eligio Stephen Gallegos. Companion cards can be created to symbolize animal guides and the different energies held within each of the seven energy centers or chakras. These Companions can support, inform and guide us towards energetic balance.

When I first worked with art and animal totem energy, it met me in a deep and profound way. I was met by an animal guide and this experience allowed me to better understand and trust the companions suit process when I discovered SoulCollage®. I had come face to face with a mountain lion and three weeks later, in a session that included guided visualization, chanting and drumming, I connected again in sacred place:

I entered into a niche of a tree that was shaped like two sides of a teepee. As I pulled my body into the tiny space, it felt cave-like. I felt as if I was merging with the space. The mountain lion came to me as a guide and spoke to me. She gave me a gift of a hairball, the huhhuhhuh of her coughing up the golden hairball, magical and necessary, it held essential information and made me laugh.

My unfolding relationship with this big cat, and the art that flowed from this, deepened my awareness. The energy of the mountain lion rose within me and I knew its nature. It came from before me and through me. It became my own life. With this wisdom, I came home to myself.

As I created with that first totem, my mountain lion, I found that she was me. She was the hermit. She was the experience of leaving, gathering the children and going off to forage. She was the perfect totem of aloneness, strength and connectedness.

Working with my companions suit has been deeply important; I created the cards to honor my companions in the first year of working in SoulCollage®. They have helped me to understand and recognize movement and energetic nuances held within my body.

As you "meet" the animal guides in your own life, you will find that the details can be important. Spend some time getting to know each animal that comes to you, one of the most interesting of my companions was my second chakra "Fox in the Nest." I spent many months connecting and considering this imagery, waiting to hear and understand the information being offered.

Embrace the energy and the unique lessons that each animal has to share with you. Consider the symbols, colors, and aspects of environment, seasons and other elements held within the imagery you create. The habitat that surrounds your animals often holds vital information. Just as sacred place is important to you, your companions are also aligned with sacred place.

Research your animal companion to find out what unique attributes they have to share with you. Listen to the images that 'have chosen you', speak in the voice of the animal and allow the voicing to inform you form the inside out. See, look deeply and consider the animals' stance, expression, body, interaction, and lifestyle. This deep noticing is a way to elicit more information for your life.

Now many years later, as my work has developed and I have moved into my life in very different ways, I have found that I have created several reflections of the companions suit, reflecting different ages and stages. They communicate with each other, and with me, voicing different aspects of my life. All of my totems, guides and companions travel with me as powerful allies. May you journey with art and life, to find your own!



Cat Caracelo, M.A. is a Life Coach, SoulCollage® Facilitator and Artist leading individuals and groups in transformative process. Cat has been working with SoulCollage® since 2007, offering regular workshops in her Gypsyheart Studio, global tele-classes and individual coaching. Mythos Journey workshops using SoulCollage® and transformative process to explore personal myth, life-stories and life-stage transitions are offered throughout the year. For more information about Cat please visit her website and blog Finding Gypsy, learn more about exciting coaching offers, ebooks, classes and retreats.