Soul Songs: Your SoulCollage NewsletterSoul Songs
Your SoulCollage® Newsletter

Enabling us to sing the songs
we were born to sing
through the practice
of SoulCollage®
Issue #116   February 2015 Theme:  Council Suit/Archetypes
Welcome!

Greetings, and welcome to Soul Songs, the official KaleidoSoul Newsletter, and the only monthly newsletter that focuses exclusively on SoulCollage® ideas, resources and artists.

Our intention is to fill each issue (and your life) with inspiration, soul-solace and delight. Whether you are new to SoulCollage®, or already immersed in the creation of your deck, Soul Songs is for you.

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Soul Singing with Anne Marie
Anne Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul.com
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.


Ways to Look at Archetypes

The concept of archetypes can be hard to grasp at first, so if you find yourself curious but still uncertain about what they actually are, don't worry… it can take a while before you "get" it. It certainly took me a while; I feel like I am still learning what archetypes are and how they are acting in my life even though I've been at this for ten years!

Working with archetypes is a process. I learn a little more every time I talk about it, read about it, think about it, and teach it… and so will you!

Here are several ways to look at the idea of archetypes… see if one resonates with you more than another. Notice as you are reading if anything "clicks" in your heart or makes the idea of archetypes any clearer to you.

1. Definition by Seena Frost: the invisible guides, challengers, creators and destroyers, known across time and cultures by many names, yet being somehow universally in the collective unconscious of the human race. The card to the left is my representation of the Lightbearer archetype.

2. Archetypes are experienced by all of us as motifs or themes. I like to think of them in terms of one word or short phrases, capitalized. An example would be Child with a capital C, instead of "the inner child." Another example: Warrior with a capital W. Not the individual man/woman who goes to fight for their country, but the theme or idea of Warrior which is found any time, any place, any culture, any religion, any creed. Other examples: Caretaker, Lover, Wise Woman, Hermit, Seeker, Teacher…etc. There are many, many more. The list is infinite.

3. Archetypes are seen as recurring images and figures in art, literature, religion, myth, legend, and film… with no regard to culture or time. Any book or movie, anything with a story to it, has archetypal characters: characters who are acting out archetypal themes. If you've ever seen the old sitcom Golden Girls, each of the four main characters portray an archetype: Rose (Naiveté, Innocence), Blanche (Wild Woman), Dorothy (Crone, Independence), Sophia (Crone, Truth Teller).

It's important to remember that we do not choose our archetypes; they choose us. These archetypal energies are a part of our soulprint. Just as we are each born with unique fingerprints, we are each born with a unique soulprint made up of the archetypal energies that are part of who we are.

Another interesting fact about archetypes is that there may be one or more of them who have been with you in your life always or an archetype may have been with you for a part of your life only, or even might just be entering your life now for a new phase of your journey.

Archetypes act as guides on our individual life journeys. Each one brings a task, a lesson, and a gift, as well as liabilities (shadow). If we ignore our archetypes, they cannot help us, but if we are open to them, their gifts are easier to see. Be aware of archetypes showing up in your dreams as well as in the images you seek for SoulCollage® work. They are our guides and they are there to help us!

The nature of our archetypes
is both intimate and impersonal.
Viewed thru the heart,
they are personal enough
to be called companions/guides.
Viewed with the mind,
they are impersonal symbolic patterns
that serve us as we grow on our life journey.

--- Caroline Myss


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 dog and two adolescent felines who keep them all young. You can read more about how SoulCollage® assisted her on her cancer journey on her website SOS Cancer Journeys.
 
OUR NEXT TELE-CLASS



60 minute SoulCollage® tele-class
with SoulCollage® Facilitator
and Voice Dialogue Facilitator
Marilyn Montgomery from California

Monday, February 23, 2015
4 pm Eastern
 
In 1913, while at the height of his career, Carl Jung started to experience a midlife crisis which opened him to a powerful exploration of his intuitive life through painting, poetry and dialoguing with his imagination. He documented his soul's journey in The Red Book, the results of which eventually became the foundations of Depth Psychology. He says The years...

When I pursued the inner images, were the most important time of my life. Everything else is to be derived from this. This class will be in introductory exploration of the themes that emerged in Jung's journey of the soul, using both SoulCollage® and the Red Book as guides.
 

Easily Accessible from Anywhere in the World!

Visit this page for more info now.
 
Guest Columnist: Linda Woolfson


I'm Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD, a SoulCollage® Facilitator & Trainer, writer, translator and creativity catalyst with a particular passion for bringing words and images together to fire our imagination and enhance our lives. This column aims to inspire you to explore further what Seena Frost has called the "main course" of SoulCollage®.


The Medial Woman Archetype

Ah, SoulCollage® time... a lavish spread of colorful images stretches out before you...you sift slowly through the layers of faces, places, textures, colors..... sinking further into the bliss of browsing, you pick up two, three, maybe four images which appeal to you...when suddenly, out of nowhere, one image singles itself out, calling to you loudly, "Me! Me! Me!" You have no idea why this image should shout to you so rudely - almost as if it has chosen you!

When you find yourself at the receiving end of this type of experience, you're probably connecting with one of those powerful, often elusive energetic forces which will, perhaps after a long mulling process, find its way into your Council suit. And as you probably know, such strong energies are archetypal in nature. As Seena Frost reminds us, C.G. Jung (who co-founded psychoanalysis and reintroduced the ancient concept of the archetypes into 20th century life), "... said it was impossible to understand archetypes and then wrote lots of books about them"! As indeed have many other inspiring writers. My personal favorite is Clarissa Pinkola Estes, who calls an archetype: "a universal knowing about an issue of the soul."

SoulCollage® works through a subtle, often gradual process of attuning to the different energies of the cards we make. As a Facilitator & Trainer, over time I've come to believe that it's above all through "hands on" engagement with our own cards that we'll home in on our archetypes and find out what they hold for us.

In SoulCollage® Evolving Seena distinguishes between two kinds of story in each human life: the "local story" and the "Larger Story". Her "little" and "Larger" stories can help us beam into and eventually identify the powerful, archetypal energies embodied in our Council cards. The "local story" is about the personal dimensions of our lives - mainly our personality traits and our relationships with other people. It is usually quite easy to identify the energy of such cards, to journal with them and "speak from" them in readings. My own "Observer" Committee card illustrates this (see left).

This Neter says, I Am One Who likes to step back sometimes from what's going on around me. Stepping back l can observe what's actually happening in all the noise and bustle of the party.

This card speaks in plain, everyday language: ("what's going on", "what's actually happening"... etc.) and is clearly an element in my "local story."

Now have a look at another woman from my deck, also with an air of drawing back and observing (see left).

"She" summoned me for no obvious reason. Her look haunted me, detached and yet compassionate, with a Mona Lisa-like air of enigma. For months she would hardly speak. Then one day while re-reading Pinkola Estés I came across this:

"There is at the core of all women, what Toni Wolffe, a Jungian analyst... called the 'medial woman'... The medial woman is the transmitter and receiver between two or more values and ideas."

Suddenly my mysterious card spoke: I Am One Who sits enthroned between worlds: between the everyday world and Avalon, between the world where you grow old and the world where you are ageless. My vantage point is of great value to you. I am here to teach you how to translate - between the rational and the imaginal - listen long and well!

Yes Ma'am! Notice the way she speaks - lofty, formal, mythical. She uses words like "enthroned," "between the everyday world and Avalon, between..." She sculpts her phrases, filling them with measure and grace. She's called "Medial Woman" and belongs in my Council suit.

So when you write or speak your I Am One Who... statements, listen to the tone of voice of each card and hear its unique language. Best of all, get your cards to talk to each other - then their natures really become clear!

Here are two of my favorite books that help me explore archetypes further:

Goddesses in Every Woman, by Jean Shinoda Bolen. 
Women Who Run with the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. 


Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD is a SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer, writer, translator and creativity catalyst. Of South African origin, she now enjoys living a dual-based life between the United Kingdom and Portugal, running SoulCollage® & creativity workshops and Trainings in both countries. Linda has been exploring the creative process through writing for many years and working with SoulCollage® since 2009. You can find out more about her activities on her SoulCollage® website Collage Your Life and on her Facebook page.
 

ONLINE CLASS WITH ANNE MARIE


Join Anne Marie and other women around the world
for a 5 week journey from body criticism to body compassion.  You'll be supported and encouraged every step of the way AND you'll learn lots of new ways to use the SoulCollage process.

Visit this page for more info now.
 
KaleidoSoul Creations
As promised, we are featuring SoulCollage® cards from our readers in each issue.

Each card below is a card that represents Council Suit/Archetypes from one SoulCollager's Deck.




Priest
Council Suit
Jodi
Nebraska

I am one who is simultaneously open to God and others. I stand in the divine energy of God that flows through me, as priest, and outward to others. I am one who is a vessel for shining forth God-light in the world, to be used as a source of spirit, love and light in the lives of others. I am one who finds the sacred in the ordinary, seeing the holiness in life's purpose in my roles as a wife, mother, daughter, cousin, teacher, friend, Benedictine oblate, lover of creativity and spirituality.




Good Girl, Bad Girl
Council Suit
Karen
Ohio

We are Madonna and Whore, ancient archetypes of female sexuality. We stand adorned as we are perceived. One of us is deemed good and pure and wears a halo; the other appears naked and dangerous and is called vile names. You chose to embrace the goddess Aphrodite's sexual energy; it brought you the same pleasures and censure she endured; you even judged yourself. Look at us; we are sad and shield our hearts, for we know these rigid roles cause endless heartache and confusion for both genders. You have absorbed our gift, the awareness that sexual energy and sacred energy are both sourced by the Divine. As we are reconciled within you, our hearts pulse together in the heavens.




Cosmic MidWife
Council Suit
Cheryl
Illinois

I am the one who mid-wives you to your next level and helps you birth the next chapter in your Book of Life, giving birth to the actions you will take to bring your long-awaited projects and dreams into form. As soon as you walk through that Doorway of Creation, you will have already begun. Nothing will ever be the same after that. You hear my voice and counsel, and you heed. You see, I too am pregnant with possibilities and I am always here to help you mid-wife yours...into form.




Wisdom
Council Suit
Denise
California

I am the one who holds the wisdom of the universe. I am the one who leaves you little pearls to collect when you need them. I am here to tell you that everything that you need to know and is right within you. Let me help you discover that part of you that holds your wisdom.
 



The Great Mother
Council Suit
Christiane
Colorado

I am one who is strong and beautiful, holding up my family--and the world--with love, support and nourishment. I am one who sends positive energy into the universe for birth, celebration, safety, understanding, compassion, caring and healing. My energy radiates around my loved ones, my community, my society, my world. 
 



The Teacher
Council Suit
Allison
Oregon

I am the one who is aligned and inspired by the constant flow of Life. I generously share what I know, effortlessly. I am the one who is aligned with the wisdom of All That Is.




The Creator
Council Suit
Natalie
Colorado

I am the one who creates both light and darkness I am Creator of heaven, earth, air and water I am the one who shapes change and evolution throughout time I am the Shaper of the cosmic container of the entire Universe

 



Please feel free to submit one of your cards for a future issue by sending a reply email to this newsletter.

Future themes include:


March:
Community Suit - Sacred Places

April:
Wholeness
 

KaleidoSoul Notes
KaleidoSoul Notes

Noteworthy resources for anyone interested in SoulCollage®

Facilitator TrainingsFacilitator Trainings: Information about content and dates/locations of upcoming trainings of SoulCollage® Facilitators.


SoulCollage websiteSoulCollage 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®.


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Expires February 28, 2015

Upcoming SoulCollage® Retreats
UNITED KINGDOM

SoulCollage® Facilitator Training

Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK
March 13-15, 2015
Facilitators: Linda Woolfson

Visit this page for more information. 
 

MASSACHUSETTS

Mirrors & Windows: Using SoulCollage® to Explore Relationships

Westfield, MA
May 2-3, 2015
Facilitators: Brother/Sister Team:
Anne Marie Bennett & John Pacheco, LICSW

This retreat will be helpful for you if:

  • you want to give yourself some calming time and space to get away
  • you are longing to connect with others of like mind and spirit
  • you want to learn how to strengthen relationships with yourself, others, and Spirit
Early Bird Pricing & Easy Pay Plan Available

Visit this page for more information. 


CALIFORNIA

SummerQuest Mythos Journey Retreat

Sonoma, CA
July 7-10, 2015
Facilitator: Cat Caracelo

This all inclusive creative retreat is offered in a lush Sonoma Retreat space nestled in the oaks, surrounded by gardens, water, trees and sacred space where you can travel into the dance of life as you explore the many faces of your creative wild. Seek archetypal energies of your muse and find the language of your soul's path through SoulCollage®, mixed media and assemblage. Find enchantment and delight as you gather your gypsy stories and connect to your mythic self in the Valley of the Moon. Pay in four smaller payments if you like.

Visit this page for more information. 
 

PORTUGAL

SoulCollage® Facilitator Training

Cascais, Portugal
October 8-11, 2015
Facilitators: Linda Woolfson

Visit this page for more information.


PUERTO RICO

SoulCollage® in the Caribbean!

Vieques, Puerto Rico
December 5-12, 2015
Facilitator: Kat Kirby

Spend your mornings making SoulCollage® cards, doing readings, journaling, sharing and deepening your relationship with your deck. Then… spend the afternoons exploring various unspoiled beaches, nature preserves, markets, restaurants, and more. Join Kat on the island of Vieques, off the coast of Puerto Rico, for a week of SoulCollage®. We will stay at a small compound of cottages surrounding a swimming pool, and will have the place to ourselves for a whole week! Please contact me for more information.

Please email Kat Kirby for more information. 
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 2015,
by Anne Marie Bennett and
Cat Caracelo, Imelda Maguire,
Kat Kirby, or Catherine Anderson.
Articles may be reprinted by permission only.