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 #83    May 2012 Theme:  Journeys
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. 

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any friends, colleagues, or family members who will enjoy it.

View this newsletter as a web page with complete color and graphics.

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

Read back issues of Soul Songs on this KaleidoSoul page.

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.


Secret Destinations

All journeys have secret destinations
of which the traveler is unaware.

-- Martin Buber


When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, I was initially in shock. There was so much to think about, so many feelings to process, and several decisions that needed to be made quickly. My mind was whirling and I was feeling disoriented, confused and frightened.

A friend of mine who had recently been through breast cancer treatments listened and understood. She told me her own breast cancer story and as she was doing so she referred to it as a journey.

I grasped onto that word the way a drowning woman clings to a raft. Thinking of my breast cancer diagnosis in light of the word "journey' helped me to reframe what I was going through in a more positive, helpful way. Yes, it was an unexpected and unwelcome journey, but it was my journey all the same. Thinking of it in this way helped me through the landmines of surgeries and treatments because I knew it was a journey. Not a devastating black hole of fear and worry and physical challenges, but a journey.

As I went through a more difficult diagnosis and treatments/surgeries this past year, I came across the above Martin Buber quote which made me catch my breath. Once again, I found myself on a journey that I didn't plan on. And this time I was able to catch sight of some secret destination that might be in store for me if I continued on the path with my mindfulness and creativity at the forefront. SoulCollage® played a direct role in keeping me on the path of this new journey and I am still discovering the "secret destinations" that lie waiting for me at the end of the path like jewels in the night.

NOTE: I made the card above during my chemo treatments when I was feeling really low one day. I call it Possibility and it made me feel better imagining embodying the energy on this card. To see all of my cancer journey cards, including the really dark ones, please visit this KaleidoSoul page.  
 

Reflections

1. Think of something that you are going through right now, or something difficult, challenging, or scary that you went through in the past. What happens if you see it as a Journey instead? Journal about this.

2. Go to your SoulCollage® Deck and draw 3 cards that will help you answer the question: What secret destination lies in wait for you at the end of this difficult journey? (For more insight about doing readings with your Deck, visit this page.) 

3. Take a look at our viewers' SoulCollage® cards here with the theme of "Journeys" and see if you are inspired to add a journeying card of some kind to your deck.

 
 
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, two elderly cats and one youthful dog who keeps them all young. You can read more about her on her website annemariebennett.com or on her blogs Inner Surprises, and Standing Still.
 
 OUR NEXT TELE-CLASS



60 minute SoulCollage® tele-class
with SoulCollage® Facilitator
Cheryl Mansson in South Carolina

Use your deck to do a reading that will possibly surprise you. If you are looking for a new way to do SoulCollage® readings, this class is for you!

Easily Accessible from Anywhere in the World!

Visit this page for more info now.  
 

Guest Column:  Cat Caracelo


I am Cat Caracelo,M.A., a SoulCollage® facilitator, life coach and transformative artist from Petaluma, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. This column is for those of you who have already made some cards & are ready to discover more depth your SoulCollage® journey.


A Call to Journeying

I grew up in a family that loved to travel. Planning, traveling and being on a journey, in real time, was something I experienced often. Even before that ‘time of traveling' began, I sensed a profound curiosity, passion and adventurous spirit in my emerging young self...this ‘call to journeying', coupled with a strong resonance for sacred landscape, symbolic language and imagery, is at the center of my soul essence.

Think about how journeys emerge and are recognizable in your life...

  • Journeys may be well planned, detailed, linear and mapped out, or spontaneous, non-linear and intuitive.
  • Journeys are not always what they seem... for instance they can be planned and imagined as perfect experiences, only to become more challenging in real-time when surprising occurrences come into play.
  • Journeys may be completely unexpected, birthed out of circumstance, relationship or experience.
  • Journeys can be welcomed, delightful and positive or they can be challenging, generating overwhelm, strong emotions and resistance.
  • Journeys may be inspired from wisdom held within the body and threads of information found in the inner landscape of the psyche.
  • Journeys are discovered between the pages of books, in the gardens of our youth, in the corners of a painting, in nature and sacred space.
  • Journeys can be experienced in the flow of dreams, accessing imaginal states, engaging creative connections, visioning, and art-making of all kinds.
  • Journeys are a way of exploring what is sensed, felt, intuited, experienced, known and unknown.
  • Journeys ALWAYS present opportunities to learn, grow and live into life.
Journeys are experienced in subtle and dynamic ways, expressed internally and externally. They can be lived, created, intuited, imagined, activated and translated into life, through SoulCollage®.

How are you journeying within your art? Think about each of the journey-ways that I shared above. Ask yourself, how can I translate this information into my art and life practice?

Over ten years ago, as I embarked on a life-changing journey to rediscover and claim myself I wrote a letter to my departing spouse, from the perspective of a gypsy-girl. She is the one who lost her self when she inadvertently made choices to live into a difficult and muted life. The letter shared that, "she quieted her dance and buried her jewels before they were set and worn."

At the time, I did not realize that this letter marked a place of entering. Gypsy was an opening into a journey of healing and transformation. Through the years I have been led back to the stories held by my gypsy self, past experiences revisited have helped me to discover many new facets of how she has been and continues to be, actively present. Many incarnations of my gypsy-self are found in my deck. Cards reflecting her important life-stages, journeys and sacred places continue to inform me. She is my creative muse. Finding Gypsy, the archetypal journey of art and life, is now a cornerstone of my work.

I am informed every day by my journey of reclaiming, reminded as I shift into the challenges of day-to-day life that my greatest gift is found in the art of translation. I can translate my experiences into a collage, expand it into another art form or Mythos journey and shift it back into life as I discover new information. Each new iteration or cycle of translation (in any creative or living form) is actually a new journey within the journey.

Sometimes I will gather the SoulCollage® cards that are part of the string of stories reflecting this and other journeys. That gathering allows me to see new connections, a grounding place for me to re-engage the journey. Sometimes I will explore missing pieces or the evolution of the journey itself, through SoulCollage® and other process art.

I have designed real-life journeys, pilgrimages to reflect my inner explorations. I have translated the journey-work into art as ritual, a creative process that deepens my experiences. A journey of discovery is one that that can be engaged in multiple ways. Transformative art, SoulCollage®, depth process and coaching, are the pathways I have designed into my life.

All lived experiences inform my art...and change my life.

As I create, I live and as I live, I create.

May you journey into your art and your life!
 
 
 
Cat Caracelo, M.A. is a Life Coach, SoulCollage® Facilitator and Artist leading individuals and groups in transformative process. Cat has been working with SoulCollage® since 2007, offering regular workshops in her Gypsyheart Studio, global tele-classes and individual coaching. Mythos Journey workshops using SoulCollage® and transformative process to explore personal myth, life-stories and life-stage transitions are offered throughout the year. For more information about Cat please visit her website and blog Finding Gypsy, learn more about exciting coaching offers, ebooks, classes and retreats.

KaleidoSoul Creations
As promised, we are featuring SoulCollage® cards from our readers in each issue.

Each card below is a card that represents Journeys from one SoulCollager's Deck.  
 
 


Seeker
Council Suit
Claudette
California


I am one who is seeking growth. I am looking outward and within and seeing spirituality and self in new ways.





Transition
Suit Unknown
Rhoda
Washington

I am One Who walks the bridge to your future, ignoring your mixed signals about whether to stop or proceed. There is no turning back. I take heart from helpers pointing the way forward and those who have charted the subterranean depths.





Saying Goodbye to 2011
Suit Unknown
Claire
Louisiana


I am the one left looking out over the horizon, at the calm after the storm, boat battered, torn, and coming apart at the seams. My gift to you is knowing... You once had a dream but that dream no longer fits who you are, and that is ok. I want you to remember that you are still on the Journey and the pathway is clear. But, for now, I want you to be still, to breathe, to rest and recover.





My Traveler
Committee Suit
John
Brisbane, Australia


I am the one who has seen the light. I am the one who knows exactly where I am going. I am the one who is peaceful on my journey and is quietly resolute. I am the one who is surrounded by beauty that serves to confirm that I am on the right path. I am the one who walks on water as I discover new horizons. I am the one who has a great distance yet to travel but is not wearied by it. I am the one who does not look back to see where I have been, but moves forward in graceful progression.





The Road to Self-Actualization
Suit Unknown
Marie
New York


I am the one who is on a journey of self-discovery, to ultimately be, the best that I can be.

 
 


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

Future themes include:

Elements: Earth
Seasons: Summer
Open Gallery
(send us anything!)  
 
 

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®.


Kindred Spirits Join our fast-growing worldwide membership of people who put the "soul" in SoulCollage®!
 



Join the Circle of loving, creative Kindred Spirits this month and you'll save $5 for a whole year of juicy benefits including:
  • Weekly SoulCollage® - focused newsletter
  • Monthly tele-classes
  • 24/7 access to over 70 SoulCollage® audios
  • Monthly Give-Aways
  • 50% discount on SoulCollage®
  • e-books & ecourses
  • ... and lots more!
Use Coupon Code MAY5OFF
COUPON EXPIRES
MAY 31, 2012

Please click image above for more info.
 
CONTACT US
  
Follow us on Twitter!


Friend us on Facebook!
Upcoming SoulCollage® Retreats

COLORADO

Heart and Soul: An Inspirational Escape for Women
Granby, CO
May 17 – May 20, 2012
Facilitators: Mary McCormick, LMT and Mary Scott, MSW
ONLY 2 SPACES LEFT!

Life Coach Mary Scott offers wisdom for the mind and body, and SoulCollage® will be introduced by Mary McCormick, SoulCollage® Facilitator and Reiki Master/Teacher. You will have the opportunity to explore this beautiful process, make as many cards as you want and do readings with your own cards. Card making tables will be set up all weekend. Mary McCormick will be available to for sharing your card readings throughout the weekend as well. The registration fee includes a complimentary, pre-retreat coaching session with Mary Scott to help you get the most from your weekend escape. ! Move a little, learn a little, soak a bit, rest a lot. Do it for yourself AND those who love you!

Registration Info Here


CALIFORNIA

Deep Diving: A Weekend of Transformation and Mythos
Malibu, CA
May 19 - May 20, 2012
Facilitator: Cat Caracelo, MA


Discover and deepen your personal connections with a guided, intuitive and experiential art weekend in an extraordinary ocean front setting in Malibu. Spend a weekend in an intimate circle, guided by Cat Caracelo. Explore your own personal mythology and life-path through depth process, transformative art, mixed media and SoulCollage®. Using imagery, symbols and patterns, you will find new facets of your personal myth and bring home art that will deeply inform your 'art & life.' A follow-up coaching session with Cat is included in the retreat pricing.

Registration Info Here


FRANCE

SoulCollage® in France
Carcassonne, France
May 24-29, 2012
Facilitator: Kat Kirby



Come to a beautiful part of France on the outskirts of Carcassonne and join me for a 6-day SoulCollage® retreat. We will meet in a 200-year-old stone barn, renovated in Art Deco style with 8 comfortable bedrooms, private pool, tennis court, bicycles and home-cooked meals. We will combine our SoulCollage® sessions with a visit to the local market and optional field trips. Whether you are new to SoulCollage® or an experienced Facilitator or Trainer, this retreat might be just what you've been waiting for! You might even want to add a few days before or after our gathering and explore parts of Europe you've always wanted to see. Cost includes everything other than air fare.

Registration Info Here


MASSACHUSETTS

Coming Fully Alive: Awakening the Divine Feminine with SoulCollage® & Altered Art
Westfield, MA
June 14-17, 2012
 
Facilitators: Anne Marie Bennett, Anne Boedecker, Jeanne Marie Merkel
Only 1 Space Left!

We will use SoulCollage®, journaling, small group sharing, drumming, ceremony, altered books, and card readings in order to embody the innate knowledge of our own feminine power. We'll also create rituals together that bring our deep engagement with our cards and art to life. There will be LOTS of time for card making, sharing our SoulCollage® cards and card making ideas, as well as doing readings with our Decks. No previous artistic experience is necessary. For beginners as well as experienced SoulCollagers. Relax. Renew. Connect. Create. Ahhhh.....

Lots more info here



WISCONSIN


Finding Your Inner Compass with SoulCollage®
Willard, Wisconsin
July 27-29, 2012
Facilitator: Audrey Chowdhury



Are you feeling lost during these times of great transition? If so, this is your chance to stop, reflect, and recover your inner wisdom. This retreat is designed to help you reconnect with your heart's desire. You will have the opportunity to:
  • journey through the realm of the soul through musical soul journeying,
  • create SoulCollage® cards
  • make mandalas (circle drawings using pastels)
  • share with kindred spirits
  • consult with Audrey individually
  • walk in the beautiful wooded grounds
  • eat delicious, organic, nutritious meals
  • meditate in the exquisite chapel
Registration Info Here

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 2012,
by Anne Marie Bennett and
Cat Caracelo, Imelda Maguire,
Kat Kirby, or Catherine Anderson.
Articles may be reprinted by permission only.