Mailer 02

 

Soul Songs

Spinning the fragments of
your world into wholeness & beauty through SoulCollage®

Issue #12 June 2006
Theme- Imagination



Welcome!

Greetings, and welcome to Soul Songs, the official KaleidoSoul newsletter, and the only newsletter which features SoulCollage® ideas, resources, and artists.

Our intention is to fill each issue (and your life) with inspiration, challenge, and delight. Whether you are new to SoulCollage® or already immersed in the creation of your deck, Soul Songs is for you.
 
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any friends or family members who will enjoy it.
 
 
If someone forwarded this issue of Soul Songs to you, please subscribe here.
 
May we continue to allow SoulCollage® to transform us from the inside out, so that we are able to sing the songs we were born to sing,
every day of our lives.
 
 
 
KaleidoSoul Cafe
Grab a cup of your favorite hot (or cold) drink and cozy up to the computer while you browse around the KaleidoSoul website.
Here's what's new and exciting in the world of SoulCollage®.

The theme of this issue is IMAGINATION.
Have you read the KaleidoSoul page
Imagination and the Art of SoulCollage
yet?




SoulCollage Weekend Retreat
August 11-13, 2006
Spirit Fire Retreat Center
The Massachusetts Berkshires
Pay in full before June 15.... choose one of these special offers:

Special Offer #1:
We'll pay for a year's membership
in
KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirits for you.
You'll get a newsletter each week, take part in a tele-class each month,
plus lots more benefits.
This is valued at $175!
Retreat Information here.
Kindred Spirits Membership information here.

...OR...

Special Offer #2:
Use this link and save $50 on the weekend.


 


Freeing Your Imagination With SoulCollage
a fabulous, fun, imaginative one hour tele-class

We'll be exploring and experiencing how the use of guided imagery can help us go deeper into the SoulCollage process.
More information.


New Audio Recordings in the KaleidoSoul Shop

What's Intuition Got To Do With It?
More information.

The Community Suit- Power and Possibilities
More information.



Have you checked out the new Inner Surprises blog yet?
Discover your own inner surprises while exploring new SoulCollage cards.
While you're there, try out one of the Weekly SoulCollage Challenges!



And last but not least...
Congratulations to the winners of the two
Lifetime KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirits Memberships:

Lori from Florida
Lorraine from Canada


Soul Singing With Anne Marie

Hi! I'm Anne Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul, and a SoulCollage® facilitator in Massachusetts. If you're just starting to sing your song with SoulCollage®, then this column is especially for you!
 
 

Suggestions for Newcomers to SoulCollage:

 

The "What If" Principle
From the time I was a little girl, my imagination has been my friend. I first discovered this when hearing the story of The Wizard of Oz when I was five years old. And it's been a beautiful sweet journey since then.


Imagination Through the Years
 
When I was a little older I used my imagination to make up stories and plays. Neighborhood friends and I would act them out, and then I'd go home and make up some more.

During my teaching career, I shared my love of imagination with my second graders. We often sat on our "magic carpets" (rug remnants from the hardware store) and went on imaginary journeys where we discovered enchanted lands, as well as entered the caverns and rooftops of our feelings.

When I first discovered SoulCollage, my imagination was immediately captivated. I find it a beautiful way for me to visually express some of my fertile imaginary ground in the "real" world.


What If?

The best way to truly activate your imagination using this process is to use the phrase WHAT IF...

What if I put this sunflower over Oprah's head?
What if I turn the card the other way?
What if I put this image next to that one?
What if I just use one image instead of two?
What if I make this card with the two-headed man?


As you will discover, the list is endless. And the best thing is, if you practice the "What if" Principle consistently with SoulCollage, you'll find it translating into your own life journey as well....

What if I take that class?
What if I stay home tonight instead of going out?
What if I write that novel I've been thinking about?
What if I save for a trip to Europe next summer?
What if I change the color of my hair?

And the best part is... there are no right answers. You are the only one who knows what the best answers are for you, whether you are making a SoulCollage card to express your inner wild woman, deciding on a career change, or simply rearranging the furniture in your living room.


Creative Visualization

One of the best ways to activate your imagination is to use creative visualization, or guided imagery. This is a technique that I find helpful in my spiritual life as well as in my practice of SoulCollage.

In creative visualization, you close your eyes and actually picture in your mind whatever you choose. I find this helpful when I am interpreting a SoulCollage card, or when there is something bothering me that I need to get to the bottom of in order to resolve it. It's a great way to hold a dialog with one of your inner parts, or one of your companion animals or even with a community member who has passed on.

I'm offering a one hour tele-class on this topic on Tuesday June 13 at 6:30 (EST). We'll be revving up our imaginations and experiencing some magical inner journeys, all guaranteed to enhance your own practice of SoulCollage! For more information, please visit the KaleidoSoul Online Workshops Page now. Hope to see you there!


 
 
Anne Marie Bennett is a freelance writer, self
taught artist and SoulCollage® facilitator. Her background is elementary education and computer software training. She lives, laughs, writes, and sings (and makes her own SoulCollage® cards!) in Beverly, MA.


Soul Symphonies With Karen

My name is Karen Mann and I'm a SoulCollage® facilitator from Melbourne, Australia. This column is for those of you who have already made some cards & are ready to discover the symphony of voices inside of you and around you.

Using Imagination
To Interpret Your Cards


One definition of imagination is that it is "the process of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality."  

This definition perfectly describes the experience of making SoulCollage cards. When we use our imagination to create a SoulCollage card, we are creating an image that has not been present before, and through this new image, we are able to experience our self and our world more completely.  

 

Seena Frost says in the SoulCollage book that imagination can "make visible and particular what is invisible and abstract. For one moment in space and time, one strand of the Divine Net is translated into an image, and through this image its wisdom and energy become available." (page 2)
 
The process of SoulCollage allows us to see the unseen, and understand the unknown.

Every single card in my deck, whether made intuitively or with intention, has helped me to learn more about myself and to see an aspect more "wholly," or caused me to become aware of something that I was not aware of before.
For example, here is a card that I created about emotional eating. It helped me to understand that I eat lots when things feel out of control. I gained this insight by using my imagination and seeing the world from a variety of perspectives from within the card.
 
 
Become The Image
I imagined what I was thinking and feeling as I became the woman who is stuffing my mouth full of crisps. I looked at the world through the eyes of the unhappy woman, sobbing in her bathers and I pretended I was a shark in a feeding frenzy. I even explored what it felt like to be a fridge that was overflowing and in need of defrosting!

I used my imagination, aided by the "I am the one who" process, to connect with how these different representations of myself felt. In this way, I began to connect with aspects of myself that I had never really understood fully before.
 

 

Stay Connected
 
I encourage you to stay connected to your imagination as you make and journal about your cards. Don't try to make cards that "make sense" or write about your cards from a "logical" perspective.
 
Embrace your imagination, allow yourself to create something new and exciting, and enjoy the different way of "knowing" that it shares with you.
 

As Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."


Karen Mann is an artist, art teacher, Lifestyle Coach, yoga and meditation teacher, and SoulCollage® facilitator. Karen has been working with SoulCollage cards for more than two years and facilitates a variety of SoulCollage Groups. She also works with individuals. Karen is based in Melbourne, Australia. For more information, or to contact Karen, please visit her website, Flying Colours Creativity.

 
 
 
Have you subscribed yet to
Soul Treasures,
the first and ONLY weekly newsletter about SoulCollage?

Go deeper with your
SoulCollage practice.
Dive into your own inner treasures.
Discover hidden jewels within.

It's KaleidoSoul's answer
to the Monday Morning Blahs!
 
Subscribe here.
It's one of the biggest benefits of the
Kindred Spirits Membership,
only at KaleidoSoul!

 
 
 
**************
 
There's an awesome
SoulCollage Community
at Yahoo....
Click on the card below
to join us!
 
 
KaleidoSoul Creations
As promised, we are featuring four SoulCollage® cards from our readers in each issue. Please feel free to submit one of your cards for a future issue by sending a reply email to this newsletter.

In keeping with this month's theme, choose one of the cards that most delights you, and use it to stimulate your own imagination in some way this month!
 
 
 
 
Artist Archetype
Suit: Council
Artist: Holly
Location: Oregon


I am the one who makes Beauty. I
bottle it up to infuse into the person, body and spirit. The gifts of nature made transcendent. I am the one who takes the beauty within us and brings it to the light to show the world. I am the one who lets beauty take flight.
 

Oprah
Suit: Community
Artist: Lori
Location: California

I am one who feels the fear and does it anyway. I trust myself. I believe in myself and I inspire others to be their best. I give to my community in ways that only I can and I know that I can make a difference.


 

Goddess of Infinite Possibilities
Suit: Council
Artist: Sonora
Location: Arizona


I Am The One Who sees the blessings in each new day.
I am the one who believes in the potential for good in each person I meet. I am the one who guards the well being of the very young.
I am the one who is hopeful for the future.

 
 
 
 
Ready
Suit: Committee
Artist: Cheryl
Location: Illinois

I am ready! I am the one who is ready with arms open wide, standing on tip-toes, leaning inward and upward, accepting the eternal goodness the Universe lovingly offers.I am the one who is ready to know that "I deserve!" and that "I am enough!" I am the one who is ready to embrace a vision greater than I can imagine! I am the one who is ready to embrace God's vision! I am the one who is ready to say yes to God's vision, right here...right now.

******
 
KaleidoSoul Notes


Note-worthy sites & resources that are proven to be worthy of our
readers!
 

 

The Voice of Jeanie Marshall- this is a great resource for anyone wanting to explore creative visualization. Jeanie also has some fr*ee mp3 downloads of her own creative visualizations (on the right side of the page).

Health Journeys- Resources for body, mind and spirit. I particularly enjoy the guided imagery cd's and tapes by Belleruth Naparstek.

Guided Imagery for Self-Healing, by Martin Rossman, M.D. This is one of my favorite resources for this topic.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- You can't watch this and not let your imagination have a field day!
 
 
 
Inspirational movie of hope. A relaxing, beautiful 2 minute interlude in your busy day!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
******
 
Previews of
Coming Attractions...

Next month in Soul Songs,
the theme will be
The Companions Suit.
Discover the power of your own personal animal totems,
while getting in touch with your chakra energies.
Look for the next issue on July 6
.


******


SoulCollage® is a trademarked process created by Seena Frost.
For more information on Seena,
the origins of SoulCollage, or SoulCollage Facilitator Training, please visit her website www.SoulCollage.com.
 
 
 
 
All articles in Soul Songs are copyrighted by Anne Marie Bennett and Karen Mann, 2006, unless otherwise noted. Articles may be reprinted by permission only.