Inner Journeys
       with Anne Marie Bennett

Integrating the Practice of SoulCollage Into Our Daily Lives

The Truth Is...

I don't know about you, but I grew up with parents who instilled in my mind the importance of telling the truth.  Because of this, I grew up with a moral conscience, and I'm grateful to them for this.

Looking back on my life now, though, I realize that I was lying to myself.  Even though I was very clear about telling the truth to others, I couldn't seem to tell it to myself.  Here's a partial litany of the lies that some of my Inner Voices were intent on telling me:

You're not good enough.
You're ugly.
People will leave you if you make a mistake.
You're a bad writer.
You can't live a joyful life because your mother was so wounded.
It's your fault you got breast cancer.
You should be afraid of failing.
Life is hard.

This began to change for me one weekend in 2004.  My mother had just died the previous month, and I was at a Kripalu weekend retreat led by Tara Brach, whose book Radical Acceptance had begun to work its powerful way into my soul. She encouraged us to  listen to and face some of these inner lies. 

And when I heard them (really heard them), I felt inspired to begin to turn some of them around.  Kripalu has a beautiful outdoor labyrinth whose pathway is marked with stones and bushes. One sunny afternoon while I was there, I walked the labyrinth slowly, and I touched every bush (I counted... there were over 90 of them) and every time I gently touched one, I said a truth about my life out loud.  Not a lie, but a truth:

The truth is... my mother loved me even though she was wounded.
The truth is... I can be whoever I want to be.
The truth is... I love my husband.
The truth is... my life is good.
The truth is... lots of people love me.
The truth is... I'm a good writer.
The truth is... I've learned lots of things about myself because I had breast cancer.
The truth is... I'm a good person.

Talk about a Blessing Walk!  That ritual was so powerful, so astounding, that it still remains with me to this day. I felt such sweet, grounded joy saying those truths out loud.  All I have to do now is close my eyes and remember the feel of the soft ground beneath my feet, the prickly touch of the bushes against my palm, the scent of grassy mountain air ...and I can feel the power of these truths beating against my chest... at home in my soul, right where they belong.

Reflection Activity:  Listen inside this month to your own inner voices.  Are any of them hell-bent on telling you lies too?  Take some time to write the lies down in your journal.  Read them out loud.  Find some time to do your own version of my "The Truth Is..." ritual.  Allow the power of these new truths to sink into your soul.  Ask your SoulCollage cards to tell you what the truth is too.... you might be pleasantly surprised!

Soul Friends
    The Voice of a Different Kindred Spirit Each Week

Sue Volpi Gelber
Davis, California

My name is Sue Volpi Gelber, and Ilive and work inDavis,California. 

As of this writing, I've created 145 SoulCollage cards. I invite you to view a slide show of my cards. The SoulCollage cardsfrom my personal deck--those that I share in the slide show--were collaged fromthe living well of my life's journey thus far. They speak from a place deepwithin. SoulCollage provides a forum that unites myriad artistic endeavors inwhich I've engaged since childhood: Photography, poetry, writing, and painting.I am grateful to Seena and Kylea Taylor (Seena's publisher) for sharing Seena's inspiration withthe world.

February 28, 2004 marks the day that I unwittingly crossed the threshold intomy personal journey with SoulCollage. Little could I have imagined how my lifewas about to unfold in dimension and possibility. I signed up for my firstSoulCollage workshop based on an intuitive attraction alone and, laterunderstood, came away with my Witness card. Then, within two months, Iexperienced a sudden change in life situation that remains big for me.SoulCollage facilitates staying with my experience as an increasingly wholeperson--supported by various healing relationships, yet unsurpassed by anyother in breadth or depth. In the spirit of Clarissa Pinkola Estes' WomenWho Run with the Wolves, I collaged a range of "pieces" ofmyself that had been without voice for much of my life.

At the time I had been SoulCollaging for about a year, I read Whenthe Heart Waits, a spiritual memoir by Sue Monk Kidd (who laterauthored the more well-known TheSecret Life of Bees). The way in which Kidd shares her personal journeyhelps me understand my own experience as imaged through SoulCollage. Similartransitional stages came to light as I later reflected upon my deck as a wholein the order my cards were created. I am indebted to Kidd for sharing herspiritual journey and have incorporated her stages of spiritual development.

My professional background and current vocation are in the field of classicalhomeopathy. My interest in alternative and metaphysical healing and health caremodalities began in early childhood and includes informal study, teaching, andcontinuing practice of yoga, meditation, whole foods nutrition, herbology,shamanism, and classical homeopathy--for both people and pets. SoulCollagecomplements homeopathy, increasing homeopathic effectiveness with clients, aswell as the breadth and depth of healing available to clients. Experiencing itshealing value firsthand, I trained with Seena as a facilitator in June 2004.Each SoulCollage card a client makes is an imaged homeopathic remedy,often telling me what his or her words cannot. When the process is fullyengaged, SoulCollage facilitates a quickening in graced human ownership and areturn to the heart. The Source-inspired method Seena has created invitesconversation with one's soul and provides the foundation and freedom to createa truly unique, life-restoring endowment--in a way that speaks individually toeach person, yet will also facilitate healing for generations to come. It's alovely gift that this process is so incredibly individual and able to be tailoredfrom person-to-person, group-to-group, moment-to-moment.

Personally, I carve out the making of and journaling about collages as aprayerful contemplative time and space--in the first minutes of awakening, witha warm drink and a lighted candle. I will pull a card for insight about myresponse to a particular situation, if anything acute is occurring in mylife--even hurt in response to something a family member or friend may havesaid. Otherwise, I pull one as a general message or guidance for the day.Sometimes I do this daily; at other times, once every week or two, depending onthe depth of what comes up for healing and processing. While my voice has beenlong-silenced and deeply-buried, even an awkward, unsatisfactory beginning ofthe "I Am One Who..." exercise leads to increasing clarity. Thediscipline of journaling is always rewarded with long-buried"aha's"--sometimes within the same session, sometimes over the nextfew days--proportionate to the time and space I have been willing to commit todiscerning my inner knowing.

Understand that writing is like pulling teeth for me--my enduring comfort withsilence the reason I was attracted to SoulCollage in the first place. I found Iwas able to express myself through images, if not words. I like and continue touse the "interpretative reading" method as outlined in Seena's book, SoulCollage: AnIntuitive Collage Process for Individuals and Groups. Moving througheach facet of journaling in this way (card description, its coremeaning/energy, "I Am One Who . . .," what do you want from me, howwill I remember, the shadow, a quote, etc.) has been more than worthy of mytime and effort. SoulCollage has restored my SoulVoice. It is for this reason,in particular, that I am eternally grateful and committed to "paying itforward" to others who may be similarly searching and not yet know it.

Each SoulCollage card carries a special, identifiable energy. The meaning ofeach card is personal and evolves over time, providing access to parts of Selfand personality long-forgotten or even abandoned--at times, manifestingotherwise unnamable facets of who we were, who we are, and who we are becoming.SoulCollage images our unspoken and, often, unknown voices--from passions anddreams, to losses and unresolved experiences, to personality traits at oncebeloved and frustrating, to those people and pets (alive or deceased, relatedor unrelated) upon whom we rely for support. I spent almost a full year makingcollages/cards, with mostly a "sense" of and few notes jotted downabout the voice/gift/message each image contained. At some point I knew I wasentering a phase in which I needed to give formal voice to the majority ofimages already collaged before going forward--healing/integrating onedevelopmental milestone for me on the threshold of entering another.

My advice would be to journal the moment a Neter is born, even if yet to beimaged. "SoulJournaling" will take you the pulsing heart of SoulCollage:The portal to accessing the Mystery of creation and more clearly understandingone's sacred purpose in the world--one's destiny. Each card contains a messageof jeweled wisdom, the various facets of which are glimpsed over time. Thenewborn skeleton of each SoulCollage message--your inner silence gainingvoice--incarnates even if limited to just the following three barebonesquestions:

1. Who are you and what doyou have to give me? (Thus begins: "I Am One Who . . .")
2. What do you want fromme?
3. How will I remember?
   
   
   Here are 2 of myfavorite SoulCollage® cards:

Interior Revolution
Suit- Committee

I Am One Who refuses to compromise mysoul-felt values. When I claim my inner authority and say No with intention, myapproval is what matters, not yours.

Demeter'sDream
Suit- Council

I Am One Who wants for you what you want foryourself.  I release you to your relationship with the world . . . your destinyto choreograph in step with your evolving desires . . . your voice in Creation. May yours be a path of freedom, on wings well-formed through intention,illuminated by the Light within, and graced into being through Divine InteriorFlow.  In so releasing you, will I be free to live out my own destiny.

 
Editor's Note:

Please visit Sue's website to find out more about her homeopathic healing practice.  She does this work via phone, so you can benefit from her homeopathic wisdom even if you don't live near Davis, CA.  I have suffered from dizzy spells, tinnitus and severe congestion/allergies for years and years. But I've been working with Sue for several months now via the phone, and she's been sending me homeopathic remedies in the mail.  I haven't had to take a sinus pill in 6 months, and this spring I didn't take one allergy pill!  There is something about the homeopathic remedies that brings long lasting healing to body, mind and spirit too.

SoulCollage Expressions
  Ideas and Challenges to Spice Up Your SoulCollage Practice


Idea of the Week

SoulCollager Lorraine B. used removable poster mounting putty to place all hercards on the wall of her meditation room.  Even when she wasn't activelyusing them, she felt their presence. "Choosing the cards to put up andwhere they wanted to be strengthened my relationship with them.  It is such a simple practice, and I learn so much about my Neters.  They are anxious to reveal themselves. I feel so much closer tothem. I love my cards and I know they are in my life to help me and guide me, andI'm just starting to understand how to use to them."

Kindred Spirits Member News
     Making the Most of Your KaleidoSoul Membership

Autumn Soul Sisters Circles:
Have You Signed Up Yet?

Ifyou're looking to add a little Community and Creativity to yourSoulCollage practice, then please consider signing up for one of ourpopular Soul Sisters Circles this fall.

What's a Soul Sisters Circle? It's a group of 5 women who have one thing in common: a passion for SoulCollage.

ThisAutumn'sCircle consists of the same 5 women "meeting" via telephonefor 60-90minutes, five times throughout the fall season (dates listedbelow).

The Circles will be facilitated by Anne Marie Bennett.There are set topics for each Circle Meeting, but the group is welcometo change those in any way they choose.  For example, in our SummerSoul Sisters Circle, the group decided to focus our sessions on sharingsome of our SoulCollage cards with each other. This led us into sharingcards that were mysterious to us in meaning.  We were able to sharewith one another what we each saw in each others' cards and this led useach to go deeper into our own interpretations of our "mystery" cards.

Date: Thursday September 25

Time:
6:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Central, 4:00 pm Mountain,
3:00 pm Pacific, 12:00 noon Hawaiian,
Friday 11 p.m. inLondon,
Friday midnight. inRome, Friday 8 a.m. inMelbourneAustralia
and Friday 10 a.m.  inNewZealand

Save the datenow.

Allof our tele-classes are FR*EE for members, always!
And remember, don't worry if you can't attend...
we'll be recording it and you can listen to it anytime in your
Member's Only Audio Library.
We will give you the phone number and access code
to call in that week's issue of Soul Treasures.

October 12, 2008 (Sunday, 7 pm EST) Creative Source, with Sharry Teague

November 19, 2008 (Wednesday, 9 pm EST)- Witness and Soul Essence Transpersonal Cards, with MariabrunaSirabella

December 16, 2008 (Tuesday, 8 pm EST) Eckhart Tolle's A NewEarth and SoulCollage, with FranCherlow.

April17-19, 2009 inLitchfield,Connecticut. Ifyou've been longing to take your SoulCollage practice out into the world bybecoming an "official" Facilitator, then please join us for abeautiful spring weekend at Wisdom House.  There's more information onthis KaleidoSoul page .