| 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.
Honoring My Friend Lis Gordon
I met Lis Gordon in the early 90's at the Episcopal church I attended with our young stepfamily. That's her in the center of this SoulCollage® card I've made to honor her. Lis was a true Renaissance Soul. She sang in the choir and joyfully served on many church committees. She was a writer, an artist and an icon painter. She swam, she wrote poetry, she cooked, she started a business with a friend when she retired, she was devoted to her family. Her aura was very much like Tigger's.
 Lis was not the kind of friend that I went to the movies or out to dinner with; neither one of us had much time for that. Our friendship was unique. She had
many friends; she gathered us all up into the wings of her wide heart during her various endeavors, and she championed us all. When my 12 year old stepdaughter needed a sponsor for Confirmation, Lis volunteered. When I asked her to read a novel for young adults that I'd written, she eagerly stepped forward. And not only did she read it, she wrote several pages of helpful notes about it and invited me out to coffee so we could discuss it. She helped me through my first year of EFM (Education for Ministry) and then went on to facilitate her own EFM groups. When my husband and I got married in 1995, Lis was a Lay Eucharistic Minister at our wedding.
After the kids were grown and my spiritual horizons widened some, we stopped going to that Episcopal church and I lost touch with her except for a very brief email now and then. However, when I discovered SoulCollage® in 2005, Lis was one of the first people I thought of. I somehow knew that she would love making and using these cards.
And I was right! She was the first person to respond to the mass email I sent out to everyone I knew, inviting them to an Intro workshop around my dining room table that spring. She attended that first workshop and just about every other SoulCollage-related event that I offered. Once again, she championed me by inviting me to do a day workshop and then a weekend retreat at Adelynrood Retreat Center near where we live. For many years she was a lively part of the monthly SoulCollage® circle that I led around our dining room table. We spent many a happy hour on the phone and in person, sharing our cards, ripping out magazine images and just talking about life in general.
In 2009, Lis became a SoulCollage® Facilitator and she had all kinds of ideas about where and how she was going to use it. However, a few months after that Training, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and thus began a couple of years of treatments, some of them pretty intense and scary. Her family and church friends and many others supported her through this and I feel good to know that I was one of those friends. We had long talks about life, and cancer, and creativity.
She did really well with her treatments for a while, and then in June of 2011, it all went wrong, and very quickly. Lis died on July 2 that year. At that time, I was in the middle of several invasive tests for what turned out to be secondary angiosarcoma, and I wasn't able to go to the hospice to say good-bye to her, or to the memorial service later that same week. My body was sore from all of the tests, but my heart ached even more.
The only solace I could find was in making this SoulCollage® card for her. I found deep pleasure in choosing the images that surround the photo of her in the center. I could almost feel her guiding me as I sifted and chose and trimmed and glued. I had the certain feeling that she would love this card as much as I do.
Why did I feel such a strong pull towards making this card to honor Lis right after she died? Because I knew I had to let her body go, but I knew that I
never wanted to let go of her particular wisdom, her unique voice, her Tiggerish ways, her manner of championing me.
That is why we include cards for friends (of all kinds) in our SoulCollage® decks. To honor them. To keep them alive in our memories. To give voice to their love which lives on in our hearts even after they leave us.
There is a secret medicine
given only to those who hurt so hard
they can't hope.
The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.
Look as long as you can at the friend you love,
no matter whether that friend is moving away from you
or coming back to you. ---Rumi
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 cat and one youthful dog who keeps them all
young. You can read more about how SoulCollage® assisted her on her cancer
journey on her website SOS
Cancer Journeyss.
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OUR NEXT TELE-CLASS |
60 minute SoulCollage® tele-class
with SoulCollage® Facilitator
Cat Caracelo in California
Monday July 21, 2014
7 pm Eastern
Working with active transition also means working with grief as we let go of one way of life before moving into another. Cat will guide us in exploring the phases of the "Moving Into Compassion" journey by using our SoulCollage® cards as we explore patterns both old and new. She will lead us through a guided meditation to help us with our individual transitions and there will be creative sharing too.
Easily Accessible from Anywhere in the World!
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| Guest Columnist: Kat Kirby
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I'm Kat Kirby, Art Therapist and SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer from Prescott, AZ.
I work with people in
recovery from addictions and eating disorders, and
share my passion for SoulCollage® wherever and
whenever I can. I am excited to be writing for Soul
Songs, and hope you find that my words inspire you
to create a new card or two!
Friends as Chosen Family
Friends are the family
we choose for ourselves.
~ Edna Buchanan
I am one lucky lady when it comes to friendships. My two best friends from childhood, Linda and Diane, are still my two best friends. Our family moved to the house next door to Linda when we were both 4 years old. We had sleepovers and a "telephone" made of 2 cans and some string that connected us from our upstairs bathroom to her bedroom, so we could talk in secret. We had a little clubhouse room in our basement.
 Linda and I walked to school together. Elementary school, junior high, high school. I am an early bird, and I would walk through our adjoining back yards, through her back door, and sit at her kitchen table while her mother implored her to drink her milk, complete with Bosco. Despite my impatience, I would wait and listen to her mother say things like "Look how nice and straight Kathy sits. Why don't you sit up straight like Kathy?" I often wonder why Linda didn't hate me!
 Diane came to live in our town in New Jersey in 2nd grade, and we have been friends ever since, despite a period of time where we lost touch after high school. She found me again due to an article in her local paper that mentioned my brother Bill, and she pursued the connection, thank goodness! Her daughters and my daughter are friends. When I got divorced, I moved to her town outside Philadelphia and into her life: she had found a great school system, good doctors, dentists, etc., and included me, introduced me to new friends, art activities and much more.
Diane and I competed for best handwriting. I think she won. She and I would play games for hours, sometimes including our younger siblings, sometimes just the two of us. Dr. Quack. Board games. Card games. We'd ride our bikes together around the neighborhood. We would talk about the amazing grilled cheese on bagels that Karen's mother would make in the morning if we slept over at her house.
And now, as adults, our friendships continue to blossom and change as we change. Linda and her husband will attend my grandson's 1st birthday party in Boston, as I am not able to go. Diane just participated in a SoulCollage® Retreat in Portugal that I co-led with Linda Woolfson. I have attended Linda's art opening celebrations, and watched numerous performances of "Nutcracker" when Diane's girls were young ballet dancers.
And so, in my Community Suit, in my deck of SoulCollage® cards, you will find a card for Linda and a card for Diane. These two women have been there for me. They know my family. They have laughed with us and cried with us. They knew my brother Kenny, who died at age 22. They remember our lives before his death. They have celebrated birthdays, weddings, graduations and divorces with me, as well as numerous gatherings for no reason other than to get together.
Who do you have in your life who has become your "chosen family?" How lucky do you feel when you think about them? Have you made SoulCollage® Cards for them? If not, it's time to get started!
Kat Kirby is a Registered Art Therapist,
SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer. She leads
creative workshops and retreats throughout the US
and abroad. Kat has been working with SoulCollage®
since 2006 and believes strongly in the healing
power of the arts. For more information about Kat's
SoulCollage® workshops, trainings, and retreats,
please visit her website,
2 Kat Studios.
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NEW ONLINE SOULCOLLAGE® WORKSHOP:
Animal Companions Suit
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If you've
been longing to learn more about this fascinating suit of Animal
Guides, here's your chance! We'll learn about the Animal energies,
and our body's chakra energies, and how the two are related within
the SoulCollage® Animal Companions Suit. We'll use SoulCollage®,
guided imagery, group discussion and journaling to dive deeper into
the wisdom that the Animals have to give us.
Facilitated by Anne Marie Bennett, SoulCollage® Facilitator
3 Tele-Classes, Easy to Access
All classes recorded so you don't have to attend "live."
Visit this page for
more info now.
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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 that represents Community Suit: Friends from one SoulCollager's
Deck.
Walter
Community Suit
Carrie
Wisconsin
I am the one who loves to work with dreams.
I am one who is able to listen deeply and assist in the unweaving of the mystery.
Sometimes I am serious but just as often I use my humor and trickster energy to do the job.
I am creative and communicate easily and well through my art and as well as in conversation.
I am a master of illumination.
Tell me your dreams!
Toby
Community Suit
Nancy
New Jersey
I am the one who is always here for you.
I am the one who has the perspective and wisdom to help you come back to yourself when life seems to ride off the rails.
I am the one who will always be your "twin sister," just a day older, from a different family, but deeply connected all the same.
Holding Nancy in the Light
Community Suit
Anne
Maryland
I am the one who seeks the healing path.
I am the one who has a heart of gold.
I am the one filled with inner peace.
I am the one who overcomes pain.
I am the one who always looks
toward the dawn of a new day.
I am the one with a healing touch.
I am the one who rises above.
Drawing Each Other Out
Community Suit
Ricia
Massachusetts
I am the one who really listens.
I am the one who reflects and clarifies.
I am the one who helps you give form
to your complex thoughts and feelings.
I am the one who both helps you
and is helped by you.
I am the one whose generosity and
brilliance is at your service.
Alan Silverman, my BFFFFF
Community Suit
Leslie
Oregon
I am one who makes the world a better place for children and all living things through my many years of work at UNICEF and the U.N.
I am one who loves to travel for work and pleasure, and holds the world in my heart and hands.
I am one who, when we meet, will always remember you.
I am one who has been Leslie's BFFFFFFFFFFFFFF since we met when we were 5, a loooooong time ago!
Inka
Community Suit
Kas
Pennsylvania
I am the one who is filled with light and love and wisdom.
I am the one who has fulfillment inside and share with those that are ready.
Listen with ears of love and compassion.
Please feel free to submit one of your cards for a future
issue by sending a reply email to this newsletter.
Future themes include:
August: Honoring My Heritage
September: Intuition
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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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BLESSING BUNDLE WINNERS! |
Congratulations to Our Winners!
Elizabeth Spencer
from Lexington, VA
Sam Kifer
from Robbinsville NJ
Janice Julian
from Virginia Beach VA
each won a Blessing
Bundle
for
joining
Kindred Spirits in June.
Congratulations, and enjoy your membership!!
Winners were chosen using the Random Number
Generator at random.org.
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CONTACT US |
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Friendship Quote |
Here is my new definition of the word friends:
1. People who understand the messed-up, hurt parts of you without you having to explain
2. People who will not let you be alone with hard things
3. People who, when you start to cry in a big way that makes sounds, will sit in front of you so nobody else can see
--- 10 year old Anna in Promise the Moon ,
by Elizabeth Joy Arnold
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Upcoming SoulCollage® Retreats
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WISCONSIN
Finding Your Inner Compass with SoulCollage®
and Musical Soul Journeying
Willard, WI
July 25-27, 2014
Facilitators: Audrey Chowdhury
If you are feeling lost during these times of great transition... This is your chance to stop, reflect, and recover your inner wisdom. This retreat is designed to help you reconnect with your heart's desire. Come join us for a weekend in the Woods of Northern Wisconsin at the Beautiful Christine Center.
You will have the opportunity to:
- journey through the realm of the soul through Integrative Breathwork, or musical soul journeying
- create SoulCollage® cards
- create mandalas (circle drawings using pastels)
- share with like-minded spirits
- consult with Audrey individually
- walk in the beautiful wooded grounds
- eat delicious, organic, nutritious meals
- meditate in the exquisite chapel
Visit this page for registration information.
MASSACHUSETTS -
Only 7 Spaces Left!
Behind the Masks: A SoulCollage® Retreat
to Inspire Self-Revelation
Westfield, MA
October 23-26, 2014
Facilitators: Anne Marie Bennett, Anne Boedecker, Jeanne Marie Merkel
Join us for an unforgettable weekend experience combining the magic of SoulCollage® with the mystery of mask making. The card making tables and the Mask Making tables will be set up round the clock all three days, so you can make SoulCollage® cards AND/OR work on your mask(s) 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! There will be optional short workshops throughout the weekend and some lovely community activities each evening.
Visit this page for registration information.
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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 2014,
by Anne Marie Bennett and
Cat Caracelo, Imelda Maguire,
Kat Kirby, or Catherine Anderson.
Articles may be reprinted by permission only.
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Soul Songs
