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Soul Songs for- SoulCollage Newsletter February 2, 2006
February 02, 2006
Issue #8 February 2,2006

Welcome!

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

A special welcome to the many newcomers who've subscribed in the past month. We're glad you've joined us!

Our goal 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 ezine to any friends or family members who will enjoy it as well.

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.

I wish you peace and joy on your journey,
Anne Marie


To see this newsletter as a web page with complete color and graphics, please click here.

If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, please subscribe here.

Contents of this issue:
Quote of the Month
Soul Singing with Anne Marie- Organizing Your Images
Soul Symphonies with Karen- On Being Organized
KaleidoSoul Café- SoulCollage® Weekend Retreat, KaleidoSoul Community Call, +++ more!
KaleidoSoul Creations- Readers' SoulCollage® cards
KaleidoSoul Notes- We Recommend...


Quote of the Month

Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth." Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."

For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

--- Kahlil Gibran, On Self-Knowledge, The Prophet


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!

Organizing Your Images

When you first start out gathering images for your SoulCollage® cards, you might just enter the land of Overwhelm! This is when you have so many cut-out images that your lap, desktop, dining room table, and closets are literally flooded with them.

I believe it was Mae West who said too much of a good thing is wonderful. All right, I know she wasn't talking about SoulCollage images, but she might as well have been!

So you've collected all these images and it can be overwhelming. Now, if you're an organized person to begin with (and maybe you'll need to make a Committee card for this part of you!), you'll begin sorting them out and creating some kind of order out of the chaos.

But if you're not an organized person to begin with, the piles of images might be so overwhelming that you shove them all in a drawer and just forget about them. Well, we don't want you to do that!

Here are some simple suggestions for organizing your images:

  • Spread them all out on a big table or the living room floor, or some other large workspace, and simply look at the abundance of beauty that you've collected. Pause for a moment and offer up some gratitude.
  • Begin separating the images into smaller piles based on themes, colors, ideas, energies...etc. This could take a while, and it's important not to hurry yourself during this phase. Take your time, enjoy the process.
  • Keep each pile in a separate file folder, and label with an approximate naming of what it represents.
  • Purchase an accordian folder (often used for bill paying) and store the piles of images there.
  • Keep the piles separated between sheets of construction paper in a flat drawer.
  • Keep in mind that some of your images will not fit into a neat and tidy "category." Definitely create a Miscellaneous (aka Mysterious) category as well.
  • When you find new images, add them to the category you think they match best. Or add them to the Mysterious pile.
  • Remember that it's okay to move images around. Just because an image starts out in your overachiever pile, doesn't mean that later you can't move it to your inner mother pile.
  • Create your own way of organizing, and share it with us by replying to this email. We'd love to hear your ideas too!
  • Suggestions for Newcomers to SoulCollage:

  • Find a SoulCollage Workshop near you, or sign up for the Getting Started With SoulCollage Online Workshop and get started today!
  • Join the KaleidoSoul Community Message Board. It’s free, and the best way to stay in touch with others who are practicing SoulCollage.
  • Visit www.soulcollage.com and see what 4 cards come up for you in the automatic reading!

  • Don’t forget to take it slowly, and trust the process.

Idea of the month:
Use the back of a pair of scissors to get rid of wrinkles and bumps after gluing your images down on the mat board. --Suzanne, Connecticut.

Question/Solution of the Month:
Hi Anne Marie,
I am very new to this process, but I've had my book (SoulCollage, by Seena Frost) for a year. I've LOVED reading it and playing with collages, but now, I am ready to go. I do have a quick question- How do you resize pictures to fit on your cards? All of the samples that I' ve seen on your website and in the book look perfectly sized or set together. Is there a secret? Thanks,
Margaret
Alamo, California

Dear Margaret, Thanks so much for writing. I still feel new to SoulCollage sometimes too even though I've been practicing it for more than a year. I think it's a good thing, because it always brings me to the place where I can learn something new. As for the sizing of the images..... once in a while I will take an image to the local copy center to make it smaller or bigger if I need it to fit on the 5 x 8 card. I rarely do this, but I know some people who do it a lot. Personally, I like the challenge of making the images that I like fit onto the 5 x 8 card, even if they seem too big or too small at first. Just take it one card at a time and watch what happens!
Peace, Joy,
Anne Marie

If you have a suggestion, or cardmaking tip that you'd like to share with our Soul Song readers, please click here.

If you’re new to SoulCollage and have questions you would like to see addressed in future issues, please send your question to Anne Marie.


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 SoulCollage® cards and are ready to discover the symphony of voices inside of you and around you.

On Being Organized

Last year I spent a number of months "clutter clearing" in my house...sorting through 30-plus years of accumulated stuff! Like many artists I struggled with staying tidy & organized.

Over the years there were many things I had kept "just in case" it might be useful in a piece of artwork later. On some level there was also a part of me that felt being organized & clutter-free meant becoming boring and anal!

When I started this task I hadn't realized how emotionally exhausting it would be. Every decision I made about what to discard (or keep) was really making a decision about the person I am NOW and who I hope to be in the future.

When I made this “Clutter Clearing” SoulCollage® Card I was still in the midst of sorting out my house and I didn’t like this card very much at all.

Then I wrote about this card:

I am the one who is letting go of “rubbish”. I am the one who is sorting out my life. I am rearranging my priorities. I realize that being organized doesn’t have to mean being boring…I can be creative AND tidy! I have learned that clearing clutter is about so much more than my physical environment… my external environment reflects my internal experience!!! An out of control house is a reflection of how I feel on the inside (and vise versa). I choose to be in control now and start afresh!

Making this card his helped me to clarify for myself that as I sorted through my stuff I really was letting go of the old & making room for the new! I was preparing myself for the next phase in my life! I was then able to look upon this task (& my card) more fondly!

Questions:

  • Have you made a SoulCollage card for your organizer self?
  • How does this part of you relate to your artist self?
  • Perhaps you could do a dialogue between your artist/creative self and your organizer/tidy self.

Karen Mann is an artist, art teacher, Lifestyle Coach, and yoga and meditation teacher. Karen is a SoulCollage® facilitator, and was trained by Seena Frost, the creator of the process. Karen has been working with SoulCollage® cards for more than two years & facilitates a variety of SoulCollage® Groups as well as working with individuals. Karen is based in Melbourne, Australia. For more information please visit her website, Flying Colours Creativity or email Karen at info@flyingcolourscreativity.com.au.


KaleidoSoul Café

Grab a cup of your favorite hot drink and cozy up to the computer while you browse around our website. Here's what's new and exciting:

  • Try checking out the following pages on organizing your SoulCollage images, cards, and readings: SoulCollage® Tips , and Organizing Your SoulCollage® Stuff.
  • There's a ton of free stuff on KaleidoSoul... have you helped yourself yet?
  • It's not too late to sign up for the first ever KaleidoSoul Community Call! Absolutely free to anyone who loves or is curious about SoulCollage®. February 3 @ 3 pm East Coast Time. We have tried our best to choose a time that is fairly good for those of you in many different time zones. Check out TimeAndDate.com to see what time this will be in your corner of the world.

    If you're interested, please just send a reply to this email, and we'll send you the phone number and access code to dial. The call will last one hour, but you can leave early if you need to.

    If this is successful, we will try doing it on a monthly basis, with a different topic each time. The topic of the February 3 KCC will be Questions and Answers. We will use your questions as starting points for our conversation.

    If you're shy, that's okay. You don't have to speak, you can just listen!

  • The first annual KaleidoSoul SoulCollage® Weekend Retreat- Taking place in the beautiful Berkshires of Massachusetts August 11-13, 2006. Imagine having hours and hours of time just to create SoulCollage® cards and do readings! This retreat is for newcomers as well as those who are already working on their decks. Affordable, fun, rejuvenating. Click here for registration info and more details.

  • KaleidoSoul Creations

    As promised, we are featuring four SoulCollage® cards from readers in each issue. Here are this month's cards.

    Holding the mouse over each picture will give you an image tag with the name and description of the card, and the artist's name and location.

    Enjoy!


    Making My Mark, Committee Suit.  I am the one who makes my mark, who works with both hands, who creates above the door.  Artist: Sara, California. Dancing Free Woman, Committee Suit.  I am the one who comes forward from earthly emotional encumbrance to let spirit twirl in majestic sweep to music from the heart......Artist: Lorraine, British Columbia, Canada

    Heron, Companion Suit.  I am the one who stands tall, peaceful, and serene, waiting patiently at the water's edge. I am the one who isn't afraid to wade into deep water to achieve the goal at hand. I am the one who greets each day with open wings and bids each day adieu with snugly tucked and preened feathers.... Artist: Becky, Georgia Solitary Child, Committee Suit.  I am the one who spent a lot of my childhood in my own world. I am the one who preferred my own company to that of my family. I am the one who determinedly chose her own path. I am the one who struggles to find my own space....Artist: Simone, Brisbane, Australia.




    Please feel free to submit one or more of your SoulCollage® cards for possible inclusion in a future issue and/or in the Gallery. You can submit your cards by sending an email to the editor.


    KaleidoSoul Notes

    This column is for note-worthy books, CD's, movies and websites, which come tested and proven worthy of our Soul Songs readers!

    • Feeling overworked and stressed to the max? Relax and take a pleasure break at Artella, a virtual playground for your creative soul!
    • Feeling blocked creatively in any way, shape or form? Check out all the fun columns at The Muse Is In. You're guaranteed to activate your Muse after reading just one of these!
    • Beautiful art and inspirational images for your own SoulCollage deck abounds at Sacred Imagination.
    • Check out Chris Dunmire's site for some fun "creative slush."
    • Looking for some fun, romantic ideas for Valentine's Day? It's all here!.

    If you know of a website, book, cd, or movie that our Soul Songs readers would like, please send an email to Anne Marie.


    Don't miss our next issue!

    You can expect your next Soul Songs on March 2. The theme for the March issue will be WAYS TO USE YOUR SOULCOLLAGE CARDS. You'll find ideas for using your cards to access your own inner wisdom. There are so many different ways to do this (art, writing, movement, readings...etc), and it's a joyful part of the SoulCollage process we don't want you to miss!

    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 on KaleidoSoul and in this ezine
    are copyrighted
    by Anne Marie Bennett and Karen Mann, 2005,
    unless otherwise noted.
    Articles may be reprinted
    by permission only.

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