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Inner Surprises Blog

intuitive art

By Anne Marie Bennett

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intuitive art

I Can Do This

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I have to say that this is one of my favorite SoulCollageĀ® cards. I made it several years ago and was inspired by one particular episode of The Amazing Race.

In this episode, the participants were given the difficult challenge of walking across a very long, wobbly thinly-woven bridge. They were very high up in the air and we were all happy to see that they were attached to a safety cord in case they fell.

I was on the edge of my seat watching the contestants attempt this challenge, and one young woman in particular caught my heart. For the entire length of the crossing (and it was perilously long) she was chanting under her breath, “I can do this.” Over and over. I can do this. I can do this. And guess what? She did it!

I’m never going to be asked to do something that dangerous (I certainly hope not anyway!) but there are plenty of other challenges in my life that I have faced and will face in the future. And whenever I face one, I promise myself that I will remember that young woman’s forceful, positive, super-focusing mantraā€”I CAN DO THIS!

 

Who Are You?

I am the one who is climbing.Ā  I am the one who is on a journey, climbing, and it is a hard, steep journey.Ā  But I can do this.Ā  I am the one who is walking steadily through the dry, hot desert. But I can do it.Ā  I am the one who is strong, who can climb without falling. I am the one who is focused, who knows the journey is hard and steep and yet I can bring some fun to it.Ā  It can be hard and easy at the same time.Ā  If I stay in my body, I Can Do This.Ā  I can stay focused and balanced and keep up the steep climb.Ā  I can even have fun doing this. I can do it.

What Do You Have To Give Me?

My gift to you is of positive thought and determination.Ā  My gift to you is perseverance, strength, attention, focus.Ā  My gift to you is the awareness that it can be fun and difficult at the same time.

What Do You Want From Me?

I want you to say “I can do this” over and over and over until you believe it too. I want you to know that I am a very real and viable part of your being.

She Who Weaves the Web

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Who Are You?

I am the one who weaves the web. I am the one who puts the pieces together. I am the one who knows the connectedness of nature, and of all things, of all souls, across time, across space, across the Universe and beyond.Ā  I am the one who bursts forth with strength of body and Spirit.Ā  I am the one who is colorful, creative, and yet beyond words.

What do you have to give me?

I give you the knowing that everyone and every living thing is connected.Ā  I give you the gift of connection.

What do you want from me?

I want you to SEE the connections.

I want you to be aware of the connections between you and every other living creature on this earth.

I want you to know that you are also connected to the unseen and that these connections transcend time and space. I want you to pause every now and then, and remember that we are all woven together in one wide and glorious web. I want you to tell others about the Connections.

Fear and Fearless

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Inner Fears

FEAR

At a workshop a while ago I made this card (to the left) intentionally to honor the place that Fear has taken in my life.

Who are you?
We are the ones who are hiding out behind the windows and doors of your psyche. We are the ones (and there are many of us) who are afraid, who huddle together in your mind and whisper fears to you as you sleep and while you are awake.

We are the ones who have been with you since childhood. You inherited us from your mother. We were her fears too.

We speak to you of powerlessness and joylessness. We paralyze you with our scary stories that are mostly false.

What Do You Have To Give Me?
We give you a sense of ancestral lineage… we give you a closeness to your mother that you never felt while she was alive.Ā  We give you something to think about and focus on besides joy. We give you huge distraction from the present moment.Ā  Sometimes, when the fear is valid, we give you time and a way to prepare, a way to meet the fearful thing or person.

What Do You Want From Me?
We want you to buy into our stories. We want you to believe that you are powerless to change what makes you afraid. We want you to always be afraid, because this way everything will stay the same. We don’t want things to change. We want you to continue to hold yourself tight in your fears and try to keep yourself safe that way.

Is There Anything Else You Want to Tell Me Today?
We are telling you that we have much power in your life and we are afraid that being aware of us will make you send us away. We are just now peeking out of our well-walled fortress and smelling the fresh air. Others have actually made their way down to the street and are on their way to freedom.Ā  We have been with you so long, we are not sure what to do if you set us free.

FEARLESS

Fearless

At the same workshop, I made this card intuitively, not thinking about what it was all about. I was drawn to these images, and they seemed to fit together perfectly. When I worked with this card later, I realized that it is my Fearless Neter!

Who Are You?
I am the one who breathes fire, who plunges forward without looking. I am the one who bravely flies through the air, knowing and trusting that I will be caught.Ā  I am the one whose body is strong and tall and who stands and moves proudly through life.

What Do You Have To Give Me?
I give you strength and I give you courage. I give you fearless energy to move through your life. I give you joy in the moving forward.

What Do You Want From Me?
I want you to not hold back. I want you to JUST DO IT!Ā  I want you to move forward with trust and strength. I want you to leave your fears behind. I want you to know that you can do whatever you set your mind and body to.

This whole adventure with these two cards was really eye opening for me!Ā  It was a powerful example of how things are “at work” inside of us during this process even though we’re not aware of it!

Mommy & Me

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I am the one who knows how to mother myself.
I am the one who knows how to mother myself.

I grew up with a mother who was always there for me, butĀ  because of her own lack of a nurturing mother growing up, she wasn’t one who nurtured me with unconditional love and kindness.Ā  I missed out on having a real “Mommy.”

After practicing SoulCollageĀ® for a few years, I realized that I could “mommy” myself and so I made several cards to depict this Mommy and Me relationship that I had missed out on as a child.Ā  This is the one card of all my “Mommy and Me” cards that remains in my deck, as a vivid reminder that I can be nurturing and loving and unconditionally accepting towards myself.

Most of the time when I read from this card, it is the Mommy inside of me talking, but recently I drew it in a short reading and I noticed that the little girl was speaking this time:

I am the one who loves being held and cherished by Mommy.Ā  I am the one who can completely relax when Mommy is holding me.Ā  I am the one who feels safe in her arms.

My message for you today is this- even though you had an earth-mother who couldn’t and didn’t give you this, you have an inner mother just waiting for you to open your arms to her. Open up on the inside.Ā  Let Mommy hold you when you need to be held.

If you have a card with two distinct Neters (energies) on it, like this one, try doing the I Am the One Who… exercise with EACH of the voices and see what you discover.

All Kinds of Seeing, All Kinds of Knowing

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scvisionI have had this card in my deck for eons and I love that its meaning now has broadened and deepened since the first time I journaled with it.Ā  It comes to me often in my every-other-daily readings and each time I feel reassured and reminded of my gift of inner and outer seeing.

I am the one with wide open eyes who sees clearly everything around me.Ā  I am the one who has eyes closed and who still can see with an inward sight.

I am the one with clear inner and outer vision.

I am the one who is sometimes troubled by what I see yet I remain open to the seeing because I can use all of it in my inner work as well as my outer work/ministry in the world.

I am the one who chooses what to use, from what I see, and what to disregard.