| Soul Singing with Anne Marie |
Hi! I'm Anne
Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul.com, and a SoulCollage® facilitator
in Massachusetts. If you're just starting to sing your song with SoulCollage®,
this column is especially for you.
Coming to My Senses
Several years ago I read about a mindfulness technique intended to bring us back into the present moment any time we felt our mind wandering. I was using it specifically on my daily walks. It was called 5-4-3-2-1 and it involved our five senses in a big way, inviting us to pay attention in this moment to:
5 things we can see
4 things we can hear
3 things we can feel
2 things we can smell
1 thing we can taste
 I love this technique because it reminds me to pay attention to what is happening in this moment, and the best way to do that is to come back to my body. We have been gifted with these five senses so that we can take in everything the world has to offer through sight, sound, touch, scent, and taste. I think of these five senses in terms of my body- eyes to see, ears to hear, skin to touch, nose to smell, and mouth to taste. Such gifts we have, to receive the world this way!
My husband Jeff is legally blind, so I am reminded every single day of the tremendous gift of sight. How precious it is when we can see a child growing taller, the expression of love on a sibling’s face, the full beauty of a pastel sunset. When we lose one of our senses, or feel it subsiding, we must give ourselves fully time to grieve, because it is indeed a significant loss.
I was thinking of this just last night when our cat Seymour climbed onto my lap and rested his paws on my chest for several minutes while I was watching TV. I used the remote to pause the show, and slowed my life down for a while.
I used all five of my senses to pay attention and bring myself into that moment with my dear feline friend. My eyes took in his pointy ears, the pumpkin/butterscotch color of his fur, the way his dark eyes gazed into mine with a wisdom beyond this world. I nudged my head to his chest and savored the deep vibrato of his rhythmic bass purring. I stroked my hands over his soft fur again and again. I breathed in his own particular Seymour-scent, laced with the smell of fishy cat food on his breath. And finally, I kissed the bottom of one of paw pads and tasted his solidness with my lips, imagining that if I could taste him with my tongue he would be equal parts savory and sweet.
Ahhh… what a lovely respite from the world… to use my five senses like that. It encourages me to continue this practice again and again, and not just with my cats, but with other things as well.
Taking a walk on a cold day, I use my eyes to really see what is around me- a tree bending horizontal to the ground, blinding white snow covering our garden, a vivid red cardinal in my mother-in-law’s tree. My ears hear the sound of the wind, of the children next door laughing, a dog barking, several cars going by. My body can feel a slight pulling in my left heel, a stiffness in my right hip, my face which is very, very cold. My nose can smell wood smoke from a neighbor’s chimney, greasy food from the restaurant across the street, pine trees weighted down with snow. Coming to my senses when I’m walking… delightfully present in my body.
Another scent-sual experience awaits me at my favorite nail salon. My eyes allow me to notice another customer with curly hair like mine, the joyful expression of a little girl with newly painted bright purple nails, the smiley face on the back of a customer’s phone. My ears take in the sounds of soft music in the background, the cheerful greeting of a new customer. I savor the warmth of my nail tech’s hands as he trims my nails, the soothing heated wax of the paraffin when my hands dip in, the pressure of the heated stone during my shoulder massage. I inhale the bright sweet orangey fragrance of the warm paraffin wax, and the scent of almond lotion on my hands when the manicure is complete. This experience of coming to my senses helped to keep me present during an hour when I usually tend to zone out.
Now I invite you to think about how SoulCollage® card making can also be a scent-sual experience, bringing us into the present moment by using all five of our senses. Notice all the colors of the images… what are you seeing as you begin? Yes, we invite our intuitive sixth sense into the process, but use your physical eyes to take in the beauty and wonder of all of the images as well. As we are making cards, our eyes can also take in color, shape, form, boundaries, and more.
What are you hearing as you are making cards? Perhaps the clean sound of scissors slicing cleaning through paper, the satisfactory ripping of magazine pages, the soft swoosh of the glue stick, the soothing music in the background.
And what are you feeling with your hands? Maybe the smoothness of a magazine image, the hard touch of the scissors in your fingers, the texture of the mat board.
What do you smell? Pay attention… it might be more than you think! Magazines and books have their own particular scent. Breathe that in. The glue that you are using has a familiar aroma; don’t pass it by. Perhaps you have a cup of coffee or tea nearby; take a moment to absorb that as well.
Finally, what do you taste? Experience whatever is going on in your mouth, your tongue. Maybe you can still taste the toothpaste you used this morning. Or what you had for breakfast. You could even take some time to sip your tea and savor it on your tongue.
I hope that this issue on our five senses inspires you to slow down and pay attention to what the world is offering you at any given moment, including during your SoulCollage® work and play.
Anne Marie Bennett is a writer, self-taught artist, website goddess,
cancer survivor, and SoulCollage® Facilitator / Trainer who was mentored
directly by Seena Frost. In 2005, she fell in love with SoulCollage® and was
inspired to use her professional experience along with Internet technology as a
means to serve the world by putting SoulCollage® "out there" in a really big way
with
KaleidoSoul. Anne Marie lives in
eastern Massachusetts with her middle-aged husband, an elderly dog and two
adolescent felines who keep them all young. You can read more about how
SoulCollage® assisted her on her cancer journey on her website SOS Cancer Journeys. Anne Marie's
newest book, Through the Eyes of SoulCollage® is
now available.
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| OUR NEXT TELE-CLASS |
Embracing Our Ancestors
60 minute
SoulCollage® tele-class
with SoulCollage® Facilitator
Audrey Chowdhury from Wisconsin
Through her work as a SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer, Audrey has been surprised and delighted to find that our ancestors love to speak to us through this process. Even if you know nothing about them, your ancestors are a tremendous resource for you, and they are just waiting for you to ask them for guidance and information about who and where you come from.
In this 90-minute Zoom video class, you will learn about the four realms of ancestral memory, enjoy a guided imagery experience, and practice dialoguing with an ancestor.
The class is based on Audrey Chowdhury's new book: Ancestral Impressions: Exploring Your Ancestry through Creativity, Imagery, and Intuition.
If you have any SoulCollage® cards or images of ancestors, feel free to have them with you.
It is important to bring a pen and journal to class.
Date: Sunday March 25, 2018
Easily Accessible
from Anywhere in the World!
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| Guest
Columnist: Linda Woolfson |
I’m Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD, SoulCollage® Trainer & Facilitator, writer, translator and creativity catalyst. My particular enthusiasm is to bring words and images together to fire our imagination and enhance our lives. I have a passion for exploring SoulCollage® in innovative and creative ways.
SoulCollage® and the Five Senses
Making SoulCollage® cards is so sensual. There’s the stickiness of glue, its aroma or lack of it depending on your chosen brand, the feel between your fingers of the various weights and types of paper you may encounter, music and a special hush that falls, perhaps the subtle scent in your nostrils of your favourite essential oils, and of course the visual banquet of our images - colour, shape and texture in joyful abundance.
It is through our five senses that we’re granted access to Seena’s "Three I’s of SoulCollage." Through our senses we immerse ourselves in Image, Intuition and Imagination. Through our senses we create our cards. In the sacred silence of card-sharing time, we absorb the beauty and power of what we and others have created, as here and there a sensitive finger reaches out to touch with tenderness the surfaces of a new-born card.
Yet what about the role of our senses when it comes to reading our deck? We do of course look intently at our own cards and those of others, and of course we listen too, to our own voice and to the voices of others. Yet what about the quality of the looking and the listening? And what about the other three senses?
For some time now, these questions have fascinated me in relation to SoulCollage®. As a life-long writer, I know in my bones and have also mulled over and absorbed over years that "Show not Tell" is usually the best route to engaging the reader. This widely taught and practiced guideline for creative writing is wise and energizing- one sensual detail can indeed immerse us in an experience far more than pages of analysis or explanation. Compare the weather forecast to "Rough winds may shake the darling buds of May!"
Our SoulCollage® journaling and reading can attain something of this same poetic vigor and immediacy. When we welcome our five senses into our journaling and card reading, old Neters can become new and new Neters communicate with clear or subtle energy their first gifts of wisdom.
 Let me give you an example. My Aphrodite Council card is one of my oldest; it must be over ten years old now!
For years when I drew her in readings, Aphrodite reminded me to include the power of love, beauty, sensual pleasure and sexuality in my considerations. Yet read while focusing on the sense of touch rather than any ideas I might have at the time in my head, her messages changed. For example, one time in a reading she had this to say:
I am one who urges you to feel on your skin the true texture of the ocean you swim in. Notice that each time you swim in my Sea the experience is like no other. One day the water may anoint your shoulders with warm cream. Another day every cell in your skin will sparkle like champagne. Be present! Each time you dive into my Sea a whole new world rises up to meet you. Be there! Take nothing for granted! Open yourself to the perpetual newness of Love!
Well! That woke me up, I can tell you! One of the greatest gifts of SoulCollage® is that it invites us to drop our assumptions by bringing us into the present each time we create or read our cards. One of the most enjoyable and rewarding ways I’ve found to bring zest and fullness to my journaling and reading is to allow the full power of the senses into the process. Do try this out! You can start in one of these ways:
- Choose three cards from your deck at random and read them as if you’re a dog sniffing them. What new perspectives emerge?
- Go through your deck and choose three cards with strong textural properties. Read them as if your fingertips were speaking and see what happens.
- Go into the kitchen and taste something that you don’t usually snack on. Wake up your taste-buds with a sliver of lemon-zest or maybe a tiny sprinkle of cinnamon. Straight afterwards, get a taste of three of your cards!
Invent your own experiments! I hope you enjoy exploring your SoulCollage® deck through the Five Senses as much as I do.
Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD is a SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer, writer, translator and creativity catalyst. Of South African origin, she now enjoys living a dual-based life between the United Kingdom and Portugal, running SoulCollage® and creativity workshops, retreats s & Trainings in both countries. Linda has been exploring the creative process through writing for many years and working with SoulCollage® since 2009.
Join her in June at KaleidoSoul to explore further how tuning into your five senses can enliven and deepen your SoulCollage® journey (details for Linda’s upcoming online SoulCollage® series will be announced in May). Read more about Linda’s activities Collage Your Life and on her Facebook page.
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KaleidoSoul Creations |
As promised, we are featuring
SoulCollage® cards from our readers in each issue.
Each card below is a card from one SoulCollager's Deck that represents one of
their five senses.
Seeing/Sight
Committee Suit
Dot
Pennsylvania
I am one who appreciates visual acuity, the ability to see, to examine closely with my eyes. I am one who recognizes that seeing isn't the only task, and uses my mind and memory to discern what it is I am seeing and what it might mean. I am one who, like a detective, looks carefully to see details others might miss at first glance. I am one who protects my vision and prays that it lasts as long as my life endures.
Touch
Council Suit
Linda
UK/Portugal
I am one who connects to the world through my fingertips and marvels. I am one who sees through touching and being touched.
Sniff
Committee Suit
Karen
Ohio
I am the one who has a keen sense of smell. I am one who stops to smell the flowers. I use my nose as a barometer, embracing good-smelling things and avoiding bad-smelling things. I breathe deeply, appreciating how scents enrich my world and trigger sensory memories.
Honey
Committee Suit
Theresa
Colorado
I am one who collects and samples that sweet, sweet honey of my future, and I am one who can taste that honey already. I am one who feels ceremonious and joyful about gathering up all the
sweetness at harvest time. I am digging in, getting covered in sweet and sticky, no holds barred!
Hear Me Now
Suit Unknown
Claudette
California
I am a strong woman, fighting
for my voice, speaking my truth.
Do you hear me? Are you listening?
Strawberry Woman
Committee Suit
Anne Marie
Massachusetts
I am the one who loves the taste of strawberries and am savoring this one right now. I am the one who slows down and tastes with pleasure everything that I put into my mouth.
Listening/Hearing
Council Suit
Dot
Pennsylvania
I am one who listens- with my heart as well as my ears. I listen to hear the feelings behind the words and wonder what stories they might tell about the life of the speaker. I am one who wishes we were all better listeners- with our ears and with our hearts. I am one who knows this is the way to peace.
Please feel free to submit one of your cards for a future issue
by sending a reply email to this newsletter.
Future themes include:
May: Trust
June: Survivor
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KaleidoSoul Notes
Noteworthy resources for anyone
interested in SoulCollage®
 Facilitator Trainings:
Information about content and dates/locations of upcoming trainings of
SoulCollage® Facilitators.
SoulCollage website
- Seena Frost created the process of SoulCollage®, and this is her
website.
KaleidoSoul -
Spinning the fragments of your world into wholeness and beauty through
SoulCollage®.
Kindred Spirits
Join our fast-growing worldwide membership of people who put the "soul" in
SoulCollage®!
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CONTACT US
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ONLINE WORKSHOPS
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Archetypes Among Us
Come explore the SoulCollage® Council suit with us!
Discover your guides and allies who've been with you all of your life.
May 12 – June 2
3 Tele-Classes, Easy to Access
All Classes Recorded- You Don't Need to Attend "Live"
Facilitated by Anne Marie Bennett
Our Kindred Spirit members are saving 15.00
Be sure to use your special coupon code.
Visit this page for more info now.
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VIRTUAL SOULCOLLAGE® RETREAT
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For four hours we’ll gather together via an easy-to-click-and-access Zoom video conference link where we can actually see each other. (You can also call in via phone).
Anne Marie will lead the first 90 minutes of our time together with teaching and sharing on the concept of the 12 Gifts of Birth based on this children’s story by Charlene Costanza. This session will include a wonderful guided imagery and journaling experience that was originally written by SoulCollage® Facilitator Alison Mackay in Australia (and used with her permission).
Then we’ll take a break so everyone can be on their own for one hour to make cards (and believe me, by this time you’ll have lots of inspiration to make some new cards!).
Finally, we’ll gather together for the last 90 minutes for some insight-full journaling, lots of sharing of our cards, and a closing circle to send us back out of the retreat and into our lives, having deeply and fully claimed our own personal 12 Gifts of Birth.
Saturday April 28, 2018
1 – 5 pm Eastern
If you can’t attend in person, we’ll send you the video recording along with all handouts.
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Upcoming SoulCollage® Facilitator Training
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ONTARIO, CANADA
SoulCollage® Facilitator Training
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
May 4-7, 2018
Facilitator: Mariabruna Sirabella
Interested in sharing SoulCollage® with others and deepening your understanding of your personal practice? Join us for SoulCollage® Facilitator Training in Guelph Ontario this May for an informative and transformative experience. The training prepares participants to share SoulCollage® with others through groups, workshops, classes and other professional applications.
Visit this page for
more information.
ENGLAND, UK
SoulCollage Facilitator Training
Surrey, England, UK
May 17-20, 2018
Facilitator: Linda Woolfson
Interested in sharing SoulCollage® with others and deepening your understanding of your personal practice? This Training prepares participants to share SoulCollage® with others through groups, workshops, classes and other professional applications. What better time and place to train as a Facilitator than in the English countryside in springtime? Spend four glorious days finding out how you can make your own unique contribution to spreading our beloved process to others. Enrich your own practice in the company of others who share your passion for SoulCollage.
Visit
this page for more info.
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Upcoming SoulCollage® Retreats
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MASSACHUSETTS
Myth, Magic & Storytelling
with SoulCollage®
Westfield, Massachusetts
April 13-15, 2018
Facilitator: Anne Boedecker, Gail Byrnes
Are you ready to take your SoulCollage® practice to a new level?
Would you like to explore using your cards to tell your own story?
Join Anne Boedecker and Gail Byrnes for an intensive weekend
retreat, expertly designed to guide you deeper into the magic and
mystery of SoulCollage®. This retreat will weave together
journal-writing and SoulCollage® card-making to stimulate your
creativity and strengthen your connection with yourself and others.
Using your cards and journal-writing exercises you will be able to
unearth and expose your familial and cultural myths and rewrite
your personal narrative to find new meaning. Through this process
you can reclaim the richness of your heritage and let go of stories
that no longer suit you. Payment plan available.
Visit
this page for more information.
ILLINOIS
Playing with a Full Deck:
Embracing Life's Journey with Joy & Wisdom
Chicago, Illinois
April 27 - 29, 2018
Facilitator: Michele Manos
This transformative weekend focuses on our life stories, exploring the pathways, gifts, miracles, diversions and guidance that lead us to wisdom and joy. Embark on a heartfelt, many-layered biographical review to honor your gifts and unique journey. Using a timeline of your life, and your SoulCollage® deck, you’ll create a visual memoir of your path to becoming your genuine self. Identify and integrate a spectrum of influences including historical events, cultural icons, the arts, helpful souls. Imagine the soundtrack, montage or bibliography of your life. Weave your phases of life into the intricate tapestry that is YOU!
Visit
this page for more information.
CANADA
The Three Faces of Silence
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
April 27 - 29, 2018
Facilitator: Mariabruna Sirabella
Mariabruna offers for the first time in Canada a silent retreat on the transpersonal dimension of the three SoulCollage® cards: Source, SoulEssence and Witness. Through card making, poetry, music, connection to Nature and the practice of silence, you will offer yourself an opportunity to touch the sacred dimension of life and regenerate your body and spirit. You will find welcoming community in this retreat regardless of whether you follow a spiritual or religious path, or have extensive practice with SoulCollage®. Loyola House is a place of peace, with a world-renowned reputation. When you register, your single room is automatically reserved. For all inquiries please email Barbara Susan Booth
rather than the retreat center.
Visit
this page for more info.
ENGLAND
Goddess Retreat
2018
Glastonbury & Cornwall, UK
April 26 - May 7, 2018
Facilitator: Cat Caracelo
Follow the ancient pathways to a place where myth and memory
connect, where the landscape is a mirror of the soul. Join a small
circle of women to journey to sacred sites, engage with the lands,
explore the earth-based energies, honor the Goddess and reflect
experience with expressive and expansive art, SoulCollage® and
more. Twelve-day all-inclusive retreat offers two extraordinary
homes, with grounds, spa, chef-prepared dinners, sacred sites and
dedicated creative space. Payment plan is available.
Visit
this page for more info.
ILLINOIS
Walking
the Beauty Way
Darien, Illinois
May 3-6, 2018
Facilitator: Marti Beddoe
Both new and seasoned SoulCollagers are welcome to this serene time
of renewal and contemplation. Supported by a nurturing circle of
women, you will explore the Neter of Beauty through the practices
of SoulCollage® and meditation. You will connect with 11 other
shining souls who, like you, are committed to serving as a positive
influence in the midst of our challenging times. You will be guided
to create an art-form that is your personal expression of the
healing power of Beauty. In addition, you will learn some practical
and potent practices to sustain your soul as you continue Walking
the Beauty Way after the retreat.
Visit this page for more information.
MASSACHUSETTS
Inner Gardening with SoulCollage®
Westfield, Massachusetts
May 5-6, 2018
Facilitator: Anne Marie Bennett, John Pacheco
Where do you want to create growth in your own life? Would you like some ideas for
nurturing your inner growth? Do you want to learn how small seeds can produce a bountiful harvest for your inner garden? Please join the
brother/sister team of John Pacheco and Anne Marie Bennett at this restful, soul-full, creative weekend workshop. Using gardening metaphors along with SoulCollage® card making, journaling, and guided imagery, we will explore planning, planting, and tending your own inner garden, to harvest the rewards of your inner work. Green thumbs not necessary... this is
inner gardening!
Visit
this page for more information.
MASSACHUSETTS
Bringing the Inner
Out – with SoulCollage®
Duxbury, Massachusetts
May 18-20, 2018
Facilitator: Dee Davidson
This is a weekend workshop to clear the cobwebs and gain tools to make the
changes that you feel in your depths. After using the labyrinth to journey in
with meditation and contemplation, we will then spend time in the process of
creating SoulCollage® cards. During this time we will be discussing “how” these
cards can help to bring about a relationship with our inner selves and begin to
discover that which we let go of. Through conversation with cards and witnessing
others, the journey unfolds. Let us adventure on...
More
info here.
PORTUGAL
Altered Books in Portugal: Exploring Words and Images
Tomar, Portugal
September 12-16, 2018
Facilitator: Kat Kirby, Linda Woolfson
Join us for five days of creative heaven, creating altered books at a beautiful retreat center in
central Portugal. Explore this enjoyable type of mixed media artwork. Transform a book from
its original shape into something rich and expressive, filled with your personal creative choices
and styles. Enhance your SoulCollage® experience by discovering new facets of your creativity, then use your altered book to work with your deck! Experiment and play with papers, paints, texture, words, and symbols. Kat and Linda are experienced SoulCollage® Facilitators who are combining their love of creativity to bring you this unique experience in their favorite part of the world.
Visit
this page for more information.
CONNECTICUT
SoulCollage® By the Sea: Discovering Our Chakras
Madison, Connecticut
September 28-30, 2018
Facilitator: Debbie Mitchell
At this relaxing, renewing two-night retreat, we will explore our Chakras. Chakras are the energy centers in each of our bodies and each Chakra pertains to different areas of our lives. Join other SoulCollage® lovers as we play with colors and images while we discover the energies that lie within us. No experience necessary. All levels welcome.
Visit
this page for more information.
MEXICO
Day of the Dead Retreat
Oaxaca, Mexico
November 1-5, 2018
Facilitator: Nancy Clingan
Besides SoulCollage® card making, we will take a tour with Foundation EnVia to a pueblo cemetery, guided by a woman who is supported by a micro-finance loan to support her own business. The cost is $650 for retreat, tours and other workshops. Modest but comfortable, attractive accommodations and delicious meals are all included. I'm happy to advise and help with getting to our guest house. There will be a few extra workshops including cooking a traditional Mexican dinner together and painting (bring your own white cotton tee shirt or scarf) with natural dyes with an expert.
Email Nancy for more info.
ITALY
La Dolce Vita- Goddess Retreat
in Italy
Tuscany, Italy
May 5-15, 2019
Facilitator: Cat Caracelo
Join Cat for Spring in Tuscany where we will stay in a beautiful
villa with a small circle of amazing visionary, artistic and
wholehearted women! Dance with La Dolce Vita and seek the wisdom of
the Goddess: Diana, Minerva, Melusina, whose ancient Etruscan names
and energies are held in the heart of this land. We will work with
SoulCollage®, mixed media and layered process as we connect with
the expression of the divine feminine. We will visit sacred
springs, mythic gardens, inspired environments and sultry seas,
beautiful places in Tuscany, as well as Florence and Siena - where
we will explore alchemical energy, artistry and vision as reflected
in the dreamscapes of the ancient, renaissance and modern
artists.
Visit
this page for more information.
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CONTACT US
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Soul Songs Back Issues -
Read back issues of Soul Songs on this KaleidoSoul page.
Just look for whatever SoulCollage® topic you are interested in,
and read to your heart's content!
SoulCollage® is a trademarked process created by Seena B. Frost.
For more information about Seena and the origins of SoulCollage®, please
visit her website
SoulCollage® cards are made either
from one's own art or from images found in materials which have been bought
by or given to the SoulCollage® card maker. These collaged cards are used
only for the cardmaker's own inner exploration. SoulCollage® cards are not
sold, traded, bartered, or copied (except as a back-up for the cardmakers
own use) as is stated in the "Principles of SoulCollage®."
Where SoulCollage® cards are available to be seen by others, it is for the
purposes either of demonstrating the SoulCollage® process or of sharing the
cardmakers' inner process in the context of community. SoulCollage® is
grateful to the artists and photographers who make this deep awakening
process possible and in all ways SoulCollage® seeks to be respectful of
their rights.
All articles in SOUL SONGS are copyrighted 2018,
by Anne Marie Bennett and
Catherine Anderson, Cat Caracelo, or Linda Woolfson.
Articles may be reprinted by permission only.
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Soul Songs
