| 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.
Balancing Within
It is important to keep in mind when working with our Neters that they are not individual entities that exist in and of themselves. Each part of us is in relationship with the other parts.
 This concept was made clear to me one day years ago in a session with my therapist, Fran, when I was first beginning this inner work. She was guiding me through an imagery session where I was talking with my Inner Overachiever, who had been pretty much running my life with her to-do lists. I call this part of me Gabriella (see left). This Neter had been cracking the whip on me whenever I thought of taking a day (not to mention an hour) off.
Earlier in the session, I had been complaining to Fran about how my Inner Child, Julianna (see below), never had time to do anything fun anymore. After letting Gabriella talk for a while about all the many things on my to-do lists, Fran suggested that I ask her, “What do you think about Julianna?”
Without pausing a second, Gabriella replied, “Who? Are you saying that there’s someone in here besides me?” She was actually horrified to realize that she wasn't the only one in my inner world!
This was a defining moment in my inner work because it brought home to me (with resounding clarity) the fact that my inner parts are indeed in relationship with each other, and that the stronger, more overbearing parts have the power to push the others out of the way,
if I am unaware of this imbalance.
That's what it all comes down to: awareness and balance.
In this case, Gabriella and Julianna both needed a re-shifting of power. Gabriella needed a lot less; Julianna needed a lot more. It was my awareness of their relationship that was able to bring about that balance in my life.
Take a look at your own life today. Is there an inner Committee part of you that has taken over? If so, that part of you is out of balance. What other inner part could use some more power in order to bring the first one into balance? Try creating a card for that part of you. If you already have one, take out your journal and write a dialog between these two inner parts. This is another good way to affect balance in your inner world.
Anne Marie Bennett is a SoulCollage® Facilitator / Trainer, published author, website goddess, and two-time cancer survivor 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 web 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 and two adolescent felines who keep them hopping. Anne Marie’s books about SoulCollage® are available here.
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CLASS |
Who Are You?
A SoulCollage®
Guided Imagery Experience
60 minute SoulCollage® tele-class
with SoulCollage® Facilitator
with Facilitator Jessica Snow from California.
Date:
September 8, 2019
Easily Accessible from Anywhere in the
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Guest Columnist: Michele Manos |
SoulCollage® as a Balancing Act
One of the first SoulCollage® cards I made was for the archetype of Balance. That’s such a juicy word:
balance. It’s a noun and a verb. It’s the core of many common phrases from “feeling out of balance” to “work-life balance” to “balancing the books.” As a noun, its synonyms include
stability, parity and equipoise. The words
stabilize, steady, and offset reflect balance as a verb. Balance is something we may strive for in our outer world through our chosen activities and efforts. Perhaps even more challenging is our quest to maintain a sense of inner balance.
SoulCollage® can be a powerful tool for understanding and pursuing balance. Our decks offer a multitude of ways to review and balance our inner budget. We can ask for help in seeing what’s nourishing us and what’s draining us; our Neters can offer guidance on how to keep our energetic and physical balance sheets in order to serve our needs and well-being.
 The creation of my card called “Enough Already!” propelled me into a crucial balancing act over 7 years ago. This Neter spurred a huge venture into equilibrium – opting for early retirement from an increasingly toxic and futile job. She’s now an essential Committee member that I call upon whenever I am feeling exhausted, fed up, and out of balance. She often reminds me to set clear boundaries. She urges me to regain control of the vessel that is me and point myself toward health and happiness.
Talk of balance leads me to address the concept of opposites. If “patience is a virtue,” is impatience something evil? Since I was young, I heard the criticism that I was too impatient with myself and with others. Without hesitancy, I created my “Impatience” Committee card that includes the disdainful looks I might give when things are happening fast enough. Years later, I came to accept that I also am adept at patience, particularly as I began hearing “you have the patience of a saint” in chaotic situations. I finally deserved to have a card that reflected my patient self! That card includes a cherub on a turtle, on a background of painstaking beginner’s needlework. I continue to learn from these two opposing Neters, these extremes of a spectrum. Through asking each how they support me
and how they impede my efforts, I’ve come to understand the importance of functioning at that balanced midpoint. Unrestrained impatience can become hurtful to those who don’t share my sense of urgency, and it can lead me to futility and frustration. However, in the right dose, impatience can be a source of determination and dedication to a task or goal. It can be a remedy for complacency. While patience is indeed a useful quality, too much of it can become an excuse for acquiescence, surrender, or even abandoning my dreams. Again, it’s all in the balance. Yes, it’s the power of what SoulCollage® birth mother, Seena Frost, referred to as
both, and.
Taking this idea further, a meaningful SoulCollage® activity is to explore the essential balance
within a single card, welcoming the entire spectrum of a Neter’s energies and impacts. Seena Frost (in
SoulCollage® Evolving) reminded us that “every form has shadow” and encouraged us to see the light and the shadow within each card. “A key word here is balance; a Neter in perfect balance casts no shadow. However, our Neters easily lose their balance…” Since none of us maintains perfect balance, it is revealing to explore the dichotomies within our individual cards and learn what a Neter in equipoise has to offer. It’s useful to remember that each of our Neters has the capacity to
help and to hinder. When hearing from a bright and seemingly helpful card, I’ll ask it to complete the prompt, “I may hinder you by…….” And when listening to a card that is casting a large shadow, I’ll be sure to ask it to describe the ways it can help me. To discover how a seemingly pesky Neter can serve as an ally, “I can be a helpful antidote to your ……… “is often an illuminating prompt.
May your SoulCollage® adventures become a stabilizing force on the balance beam of life!
Here are some explorations for you to try:
1. If you don’t yet have a Council card for Balance, consider making one.
2. Review your Committee cards and find those that reflect you in a balanced state, or a part of you that is essential to your inner balance. Perhaps some new cards are due.
3. Similarly, identify your Committee cards that reflect being out of balance, or a role or aspect that may contribute to a feeling of imbalance. What helpful qualities might they be hiding?
4. Look through your Community cards to see whether there are balance allies as well as balance disruptors represented there. It’s useful to recognize both kinds of beings in our lives. Perhaps you have a card for a special place that helps you feel the calm of balance – if not, maybe you’d like to create such a card.
5. When you’re feeling overwhelmed and out of balance, arrange a healing session among your Neters. Identify several cards that represent balance disruptors. For each one, find another card to serve as a balancer or antidote to its energy. You may ask the pairs to dialogue with each other. Or, simply place the pairs face-to-face and place them around a candle or other sacred object with the intention of creating energetic balance.
6. Embrace one of your most shadowy Committee cards by welcoming it to speak about the ways it can
help you. Ask what light it can shed on a particular issue, what new perspectives it can offer.
Dr. Michele Manos lives near Tucson, AZ and is lifelong seeker of balance. She loves discovering and sharing new ways to work with her SoulCollage® deck. She offers SoulCollage® Card Games workshops and retreats in beautiful Arizona and elsewhere. Visit her at her website.
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Feasting On Our SoulCollage® Cards
Video Recordings
50% Off with Coupon
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Have you made some (or lots of) SoulCollage® cards but haven’t had time to DO anything with them?
Are you longing to go deeper into relationship with some of your cards but don’t know where to begin?
Is the I Am The One Who... exercise sometimes hard to delve into?
If so, SoulCollage® Feasting
(1 Card at a Time)
might be just what you need
to take your SoulCollage® work
to beautiful new depths.
What is SoulCollage® Feasting?
It's a two-part series of 10-15 minute video recordings with Anne Marie Bennett
who has been feasting on her cards since 2005.
You can partake of Part 1, Part 2, or both!
SoulCollage® Feasting will:
- inspire you to keep your cards out, front and center in your life
- encourage you to stay in touch with them, and with your own beautiful self, by using at least one of them once a week
- help you build a practice that centers around your cards
If you are a SoulCollage® Facilitator:
- you will be introduced to many different ways to work with the cards that you can use with your workshop participants in lots of different settings
- you will also be inspired to deepen your personal practice with your own cards
This month only... Save 50%
Just use coupon code FEAST50 on this page.
OFFER EXPIRES September 30, 2019.
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ONLINE SERIES with ANNE MARIE:
Building a SoulCollage® Deck:
4 Suits + Transpersonal Cards
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STARTS THIS SUNDAY!!
September 8 – October 6, 2019
Curious about how to create an actual SoulCollage® deck?
Wondering about the 4 suits and what each one means?
Want to experience more fully the "transpersonal cards?"
In need of a refresher course on any of these topics?
If so, this is the class series for you!
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ONLINE SERIES with Kathryn Costa:
Discover the Goddess in You
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September 2019 - May 2020
The ancient myths of the Olympic Greek goddesses come to life in this online Goddess Course. You'll recognize qualities of these feminine archetypes in yourself and the women in your life and you'll be inspired to call upon their strengths within you to best serve your aspirations and your relationships.
Deepen your connection with the goddesses as you create SoulCollage® Cards or follow your muse and create goddess inspired art in any medium that delights you. Each month a different goddess is featured. You get a gorgeous envelope in the mail with an oracle card and other items we’ll use in the online retreat.
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ONLINE SOULCOLLAGE® SERIES
QuestPath: A Year of Mythos Journey
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October
26, 2019 –
October 26,
2020
with
SoulCollage®
Facilitator
Cat Caracelo
Are
you
ready
to
create
a
rich
experience
and
journey
into
new
inner
territory?
Invite
your
deepest
passion,
potential
and
creative
curiosity
to
activate
a
new
story,
journeying
with
the
brilliance
and
richness
of
your
life.
Choose
this
potent
season,
as
the
veil
thins,
to
enter
into
the
new
QuestPath,
joining
others
who
love
SoulCollage®,
art,
depth,
and
discovery,
to
begin
a
yearlong
adventure!
QuestPath
is a
year-long
journey
that
offers
an
integrative
approach
for
experiential
process.
Travel
with
a
tribe
of
like-minded
women,
moving
through
the
seasons
of
one
year,
entering
the
inner
realm
to
experience
powerful
Mythos
Journey
themes
that
are
woven
throughout.
There
will
be
many
options
offered
for
creative
connecting,
along
with
various
ways
to
dip
in,
retreat
and/or
dive
deep
based
on
energy
and
flow,
as
ideas
and
materials
are
shared
within
this
sacred
circle.
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SoulCollage® Facilitator
Training
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MASSACHUSETTS
SOULCOLLAGE® FACILITATOR TRAINING
Westfield, Massachusetto
December 9 - 13, 2019
Trainer: Anne Marie Bennett, assisted by Jeanne Marie Merkel
ANNE MARIE’S FINAL TRAINING
Join us at the peaceful Genesis Spiritual Life Center in western Massachusetts for a unique weekend experience of community, learning, laughter, and professional training to enable you to spread the joy of the SoulCollage® process in wider circles in your world.
Note: Anne Marie is hanging up her Trainer’s Hat, but not her SoulCollage® Hat! After December 2019, she won’t be doing Facilitator Trainings any more but she will continue leading online classes, as well as workshops and retreats in person. KaleidoSoul and Kindred Spirits will be her primary concern, going forward!
No matter where or how you want to use SoulCollage® in the wider world, this Training will leave you feeling prepared and ready to go!
Current Facilitator Circle Members: Take this training as a refresher, and save $250.00. Please inquire before registering.
Payment plan available.
Visit this page for more
information.
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Upcoming SoulCollage®
Retreats
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ARIZONA
Creative Vision: Art Retreat
Sedona, Arizona
September 16-22, 2019
Facilitator: Kat Kirby
Are you wishing for some creative zest in your life but don’t know where to find it? Would you love to spend time in nature and recharge your batteries? Do you feel you might benefit from some “Me Time” with a bunch of art supplies and like-minded women? Then come join me in the red rock landscape of Sedona, and rediscover your creativity. Explore the area, explore art-making, and explore your Self.
This retreat is designed to invigorate your artistic senses and help you find new ways to relax and renew.
From art journal making, to stamp carving, to SoulCollage®, your imagination and “inner artist” will delight you!
Visit this page for more information.
PORTUGAL
Vibrant Woman SoulCollage® Retreat
Alentejo, Portugal
September 30 – October 6, 2019
Facilitator: Linda Woolfson, Lucy Schaaphok
Are you exhausted too often? Thirsty for new inspiration? Longing for an indulgent yet fulfilling break? Eager to connect with yourself in some new and replenishing ways? Let our inspiring blend of SoulCollage®, Yoga Nidra, chakra exploration, beach-time, coast -walks, star-gazing and delicious local food in an unspoiled natural environment work its magic on you. Reconnect with your joyful spirit, renew your relationship with yourself, celebrate your sensuality, dive into your creativity and transform your self-care in new ways. Join us for a relaxing yet transformational week on the wild Alentejo coast of Portugal. Unwind and reconnect with your soul!
Visit this page for more information.
PENNSYLVANIA
Women Who Run to the Stones
Bangor, Pennsylvania
October 11-13, 2019
Facilitator: Marci Wenn, Maryann Frantz
Join a group of Outlandish women for a SoulCollage® weekend and embrace the Myth and Mystery of the standing stones at Columcille Megalith Park, a place where curious travelers can transcend time and place and discover their personal Outlander Wild Woman archetype. Ample time will be allotted for personal exploration of the grounds. Using the standing stones as a portal, we will explore several techniques during our card making that help us recreate our own personal journey to our Wild Woman nature. Enriching this experience will be exploration of the Labyrinth, storytelling, drumming and yoga movement.
Visit this page for more info.
The registration form with payment info is here.
MASSACHUSETTS
A Journey Back to You- Retreat at the Beach
Falmouth, Massachusetts
November 1-3, 2019
Facilitator: Minette Riordan, PhD., Susan Nutting
Explore art as a creative process for connecting and listening to our own inner wisdom. Experience different aspects of mapping and identifying parts of self through SoulCollage®, JourneyCircles™, Art Journaling, Zentangle® and bookbinding. The interplay between these different processes will offer a deepening of your experience as an artist. Learn new skills and explore how to layer different tools to create more meaningful experiences. November is a perfect time of year to pause, reflect and gather the wisdom learned during the year as you cast your gaze forward to the coming new year. Come to play, create and expand.
Visit this page for more info.
ENGLAND
Return to Avalon - Goddess Retreat
Glastonbury, England
April 25 – May 8, 2020
Facilitator: Cat Caracelo
Join Cat in 2020 as she travels to a place of myth and memories, where the landscape is a mirror of the Soul. Return to Avalon at Beltane, honoring the goddess at May Day festivities! Experience a dynamic, heart-centered time of renewal, discovery, depth and connection. Join with kindred women to embrace this sacred place, staying in a restored farmhouse, with two homes, orchard, view of the Tor and spa on site! Journey to sacred sites, explore the earth-based energies, honor the Goddess and make inspired art with SoulCollage® and more, in this all-inclusive retreat to Glastonbury, England and surrounding areas.
Visit
this page for more information.
PORTUGAL
Soul Songs of the Spirit
Praia da Vitoria, Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal
Rescheduled for 2020
Facilitator: Lisa Schad, Robert Hitz
Lisa is co-creating this special transformational retreat with Improvisational Pianist and Master Teacher Robert Hitz. They have designed a unique retreat on a magical island in that interweaves music and SoulCollage®. Each day, Robert will lead the group in a series of personal/musical experiences through the elements of GRACE: Gratitude, Reverence, Awe, Connection and Enthusiasm. The music will be interwoven with SoulCollage® as participants give voice to the cards and themselves. You will also experience natural ocean pools, lava tubes, spirit houses, magical forests and quaint villages, along with the freshest seafood and most hospitable locals. This will be a magical opportunity to manifest your mermaid archetype in house and ocean pools. All supplies included.
Contact Lisa to be notified of new dates.
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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 2019,
by Anne Marie Bennett,
Cat Caracelo, Linda Woolfson,
Marti Beddoe, or Michele Manos.
Articles may be reprinted by permission only.
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Soul Songs
KaleidoSoul Notes
