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 #137  November 2016 Theme:  Animal Companions Suit
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.


Seventh Chakra
Whispers of Love


The seventh chakra refers to the area directly over the crown of one's head. This chakra is about consciousness, intelligence, divinity, and our connection to all other beings. It is represented by the color of violet. It is also referred to as the crown chakra.

One of my yoga teachers ends every class with a guided meditation. She always begins by inviting us to imagine a beam of pure white light entering our bodies at the top of our heads, and following the light, breathing it in, as it travels down through each chakra of our bodies. Whenever I experience this meditation, I like to imagine Spirit breathing that light into me from above. It is a centering, lovely practice to follow; I treasure those times of divine connection.

The other day something happened at the pet store that reminded me of this spiritual bond. I entered the store and headed for the cat food section but paused at the large rabbit cage for a moment to admire the four beautiful bunnies that were busily going about their lives. A pure brown one was snoozing in the little plastic hut. Two gray and white rabbits were nibbling on lettuce and carrots, and the fourth (pure white) was just looking around at his mates and the scenery.

I went to get the cat food and on my way back to the front of the store, a patron entered with two dogs on leashes. The dogs began barking up a storm; they were really making a racket!

As I passed the rabbit enclosure this time, the scene was completely different. All four of the rabbits were on dog-terror alert. They were sitting up, eyes wide and bright, and their entire bodies were quivering, including their silvery thin whiskers. I felt sorry for them so I stopped and spoke softly over the cage. “It's all right, little bunnies,” I said calmly. “You're safe in there. Those dogs can't get you. Don't worry; I won't let anything happen to you.”

Of course, they didn't pay me any attention at all. As long as they were convinced that the dogs were a danger to them, they couldn't be open to my reminders of safety and protection.

I wondered how often I act like those rabbits. On how many occasions do I freeze in my tracks, even though in reality I am truly safe? How much of my life do I spend completely terrorized, even though in reality, the Divine One is standing directly over my head and whispering love right into my very body and soul?

Time for Reflection

Sit in silence for several minutes and focus your attention on the space directly over your head. Create a conscious intention this month to connect on a daily basis with the Divine (however you choose to experience the Divine).

Ask for guidance in discovering an animal guide who will help you in opening your seventh chakra a little bit at a time so that you can walk through your life in Divine presence more often.

If you have already discovered your Animal Companion for this chakra, create a card for him or her. If you already have a card, spend some time journaling with it this week. What wisdom does it have for you and your life’s journey right now?

Find a way to be good to your seventh chakra. Sit in meditation. Say a prayer. Inwardly pronounce blessings on everyone who crosses your path today. Affirm to yourself that you are beloved, that you are not alone.

Like this essay? There are lots more like it in Anne Marie’s popular book, Through the Eyes of SoulCollage®, available now on Amazon. 


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. Anne Marie's newest book, Through the Eyes of SoulCollage® is now available.

 
OUR NEXT TELE-CLASS

A Walk on the Mysterious Dark Side:
Getting to Know Shadow and Intuitive Cards

 
60 minute SoulCollage® tele-class with
SoulCollage® Facilitator
Kate Robinson from Massachusetts

Sunday, November 13, 2016
4 pm Eastern
 

Easily Accessible from Anywhere in the World!

Visit this page for more info now.
 
Guest Columnist: Cat Caracelo

I am Cat Caracelo, M.A., a SoulCollage® facilitator, life coach and artist from Petaluma, California, offering my work individually and in global teaching forums. This column is for all of you who are exploring your creativity and ready to discover more depth within your SoulCollage® journey.


The Fox in the Nest

In the Companions Suit of the SoulCollage® deck, cards are created to represent one’s natural embodied energies. This process is explained and shared in Seena Frost’s books, inspired by the book The Personal Totem Pole, by Eligio Stephen Gallegos. Companion cards can be created to symbolize animal guides and the different energy held within each of the seven energy centers or chakras. These Companions can support, inform and guide us towards energetic balance. They often offer information about what is active or emerging in your life.

Maybe you can recall a vivid dream where an animal's energy was speaking to you clearly. Perhaps you already have a magical connection with a particular animal.

Look around your daily environment.... is there an animal that is present? Spend some time getting to know each animal that comes to you. Notice how it shifts, turns, and travels with you, revealing more secrets and meaningful companioning over time.

One of my most interesting Companions is my second chakra “Fox in the Nest.” Fox came to me in 2007 and I spent many months connecting with and considering the imagery. Recently I was drawn back to this second chakra card, thorough a vivid dream.

The Dream: I am up along the edge of an inner space with a pitched roof. Tucked in a loft, I catch a glimpse of something (I think it is a bird). I look closer and see a fur lined nest with something inside. Looking deeper in I see that it is a small fox in a nestlike container. The fox seems to imprint with me or becomes a familiar and comes onto my lap and cuddles in my arms. After a while the fox comes down into the house and is part of my life for a number of days. I introduce the fox to my family and friends; the dream wanders with the fox continuing to journey with me.

Upon waking I immediately remembered the SoulCollage® card I had made for my second chakra, “the fox in the nest." The nest represented Haru, Low Belly or Second Chakra when it was made. The nest with birds seems to represent fledglings, young energy, unsure and vulnerable, not ready to fly. In this card there is also a strong reference to a medicine wheel with a large feather in the north. The vast majority of the card glowed with an Autumn forest with burnished reds and oranges (second chakra color) surrounding the nest.

The juxtaposition of the fox in the nest with the baby birds seemed to offer protection rather than harm. The sense I got was of wisdom and ability to discern. In my life there was a long history of lack of trust and second chakra wounding, so this depth and complexity of healing energy was welcome. Fox, the most feline of the canine family, brought forth heightened awareness, attuned instincts, and nurturing, all messages that came through at the time of creating.

I took this original fox card and worked with extended mapping, exploring the dream in relationship with the original card. Using both SoulCollage® and JourneyCircles™ cards I created the atmosphere of the dream in a triptych, the fox who came to me with a new energy became a circle card and offered a strong sense of companioning in a new way. A second SoulCollage® card held the swirling healing energy and the sacred fire that had been activated in this part of the body, the following year.

The layered mapping process using all of these cards offered me a new story, one that was only understood when seen combined with the original card and new artmaking...not changed but altered, extended and energized by healing over time.

As you embrace the energy, reflection and the unique lessons that each animal has to share with you, consider the symbols, colours, and aspects of environments, seasons and other elements held within the imagery you create. The atmosphere that surrounds your animals often holds vital information, it could be real world habitat or a dreamscape.

Research your animal companion to find out what unique attributes they have. Listen to the images that have chosen you, or see who comes forward to invite you to connect in brand new ways.

All of my totems, guides and companions travel with me as powerful allies. The arrival of the fox in the dream offers me a deeper sense of second chakra energy and healing. What was once unknown and unexpressed grief, referred pain and experienced of abandonment as a child, has been healed. The fox no longer has to protect the nest, the fledglings have grown and flown. Fox now represents deep abiding trust in the feminine and inner wisdom that is an external expression of my whole life. As shared in the new card, my own arms provide nurturing and companioning.

Invite your companions to travel with you. Explore the dynamic qualities of expressing the narrative and hold space for the unfolding journey. Explore extended process and creative mapping with your cards!


Cat Caracelo, M.A. is a Depth Coach and SoulCollage® Facilitator since 2007, working with expressive arts and transformative process guiding individuals and groups internationally. Cat is the founder of JourneyCircles™ Process and Training Institute. Her dynamic Mythos Journey + QuestPath eCourses and retreats offer transformative process and mythic themes designed to explore ones own stories. Please visit Cat's website to find articles and information about depth coaching, classes, training programs and retreats.
 
KaleidoSoul Creations
As promised, we are featuring SoulCollage® cards from our readers in each issue.

Each card below is a card from one SoulCollager's Deck that represents Animal Companions Suit energy in their lives.

 


Third Chakra
Companions Suit
Pennsylvania

I am the one who is your power on all levels. I will be here at all times to remind you of your boundaries. To let go of them when they are no longer needed. I will assist you in creating new areas of containment and expansion. I am the one who reminds you when to say "yes" and when it is wise to say "no." Through these steps we will build and rejoice in your power, self-esteem and regard for self with the Self.




1st Chakra Komodo Dragon
Biting Into Life
Companions Suit
Nancy
California

I am one who bites into life, devours it whole with passion flaming. I am one who savors every taste, and delights in the wake I leave. Join me here. Place your hand on my scales—rough hewn, old as the beginning of time. We need each other, you and I: Heart and hunger, each sweetening the other. Together we will come |to the Garden once again.



Wolf Heart
Companions Suit
Barbara
Wisconsin

I am one who watches over your heart. I encourage you to continue to let the caring, genuine, peace of your heart shine out into the world. Be not afraid for I will never leave you. I am one who sees truth.



Throat Chakra
Companions Suit
Denise
California

I am the one who speaks what is on my mind. Because of my long neck I have plenty to say. Sometimes it is not always good. I am here to tell you to speak up and out, but choose your words wisely; to share your voice discriminately. It is not always wise to share what you know with everyone.





Open Heart
Companion Suit
Karen
Ohio

I am the One galloping toward you, helping to open your heart chakra. Pet my velvety nose and feel your heart melt. I have been in your heart since you were a child when you stopped to stroke my flank as I stood in the field. Science says the heart of Horse projects five times more positive energy than human hearts. My heart rhythm affects yours and when you’re around me, you feel peace and wellness.



Personal Totem Pole Totem Pole
Companions Suit
Dot
Pennsylvania

I am one who is companioned through my life journey with these seven wise ones from the animal realm: honey bee, chimpanzee, giraffe, elephant, dolphin, barn owl and Monarch butterfly. Their energy meets me where their chakra sits within my energetic being. I am one who values their wise counsel and seeks to listen and watch carefully for their presence even when I might not pull their card. I am one who knows that they journey with me as my companions and guides. So good to have their company on my journey.





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

Future themes include:

December: Warrior
January: Humor
 
 
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®!

BLESSING BUNDLE WINNERS!

Congratulations to Our Winners!

Melinda Perrier
from Maine

Demetria Lemnotis
from New York

Jennifer Watson
from Rhode Island

each won a Blessing Bundle 
for joining Kindred Spirits in June.

Congratulations, and enjoy your membership!!

Winners were chosen using the Random Number Generator at random.org.

 

CONTACT US

The Calendars Are Here! The Calendars Are Here!



Soul Colors Desk Calendars
 
What's bright and colorful and wise all over? Our 2017 Soul Colors Desk Calendars!

With all new inspiring images, and all new quotations to inspire you all year long.

These little beauties (created by Anne Marie Bennett) make perfect inexpensive holiday gifts that offer inspiration and insight all year long.

Visit this page for more info now.  

New SoulCollage® Offering

Are you ready to learn, grow and activate your unique work in the world?
Why not consider becoming a Creative Depth Coach?



Move more deeply into developing or augmenting your personal and professional practice with the Creative Depth Coaching Certification Training. Only offered once a year, the training begins in January and moves through monthly modules over the course of ten months. There is ample flexibility to apply the learning to your distinctive needs, practice and projects that are ready to be birthed.

Advanced depth coach training is offered to facilitators, therapists, coaches and professionals. This is a powerful program for you as a SoulCollage® artist or facilitator/professional, inviting you to advance or shift the direction of your practice, build dynamic coaching skills or take the work you envision to the next level!

Visit this page for more info now.
 

Online Workshop


Did You Know that the Tarot Archetypes
Tell a Story of Individuation?


Join the Journey as we start out as The Fool and come full circle to become the World Dancer over 22 soulful weeks of exploration and shapeshifting with each of the archetypes of the Tarot's Major Arcana.

Each week you will be sent a 5-page lavishly illustrated PDF of wisdom and lore of the Tarot archetype of the week, and you will make a SoulCollage® card and share your images and thoughts (optional) in our secret Facebook group along with a group of sister travelers.

Lovingly facilitated by SoulCollage® Facilitator Stephanie Anderson-Ladd who is from North Carolina.

 

Upcoming SoulCollage® Retreats
 
CALIFORNIA

Gifts of the Wild Self
San Rafael, California

November 18-20, 2016
Facilitator: Mariabruna Sirabella

Let us un-tame ourselves! Cradled by the monastery old walls, and surrounded by the sweet gardens, dive deep into your SoulCollage® deck and prepare yourselves for the gifts of Winter. Our Neters will guide us through the maze of our vital forces and help us respond to the call of our inner wilderness, to accept and drink from our wild energetic states. Bring your Companions along (and the rest of your deck) and a willingness to reclaim freedom, joy and an expansion of soul.

Visit this page for more information.

 

MASSACHUSETTS

The Wholeness of SoulCollage®
Lenox, MA

November 27 – December 2, 2016
Facilitator: Anne Marie Bennett, Jeanne Marie Merkel


At this 5-night retreat, we’ll spend luxurious amounts of time making the cards, plus we’ll dive deeper into our own authentic selves as we work with the cards through journaling, sacred ceremony, modified movement, readings, and small group activities that are as fun as they are meaningful.

If you’re feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or unsure of your next steps, SoulCollage® will bring you back home to yourself and give you permission to fully express yourself in a safe environment. If you’re already feeling balanced, this workshop will light up your life in a new, playful manner. Either way, you’ll receive an exciting new tool for opening more fully to your life’s possibilities.

Investment varies based on room choice (dormitory, double, or single). Your fee includes all card making materials, handouts, nutritious meals from the highly-acclaimed Kripalu kitchen, morning and afternoon yoga classes, YogaDance at noon, and evening activities (except for our Wednesday night group session).

We will gather daily from 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. and 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. as well as Wednesday evening from 7:30 – 9 p.m. All other times are free time for you to enjoy the Kripalu grounds and other offerings (including the hot tub!).

For new AND experienced SoulCollagers. All materials provided.

Visit this page for more information now.



TEXAS


Dancing with our Companions to the Rhythms
of SoulCollage® and Chakradance

Wimberley, Texas

February 24-26, 2017
Facilitator: Stephanie Warfield

Imagine a full weekend of dance, music, art, journaling, loving community, and solitude in a tranquil Texas hill country setting. This year's SoulCollage® retreat will focus on honoring the Companions Suit with Tracy King, Chakradance™ Facilitator. Chakradance™, a movement practice for the soul, draws wisdom from Jungian Psychology and a deep understanding of the chakra system. It is safe for all body types and fitness levels. Dancing the seven chakras is like dancing into seven different inner landscapes, each with its own lessons, meanings and stories. It's a gentle unfolding, an awakening of who you really are. From this deep place, we will create our Companion cards for each of the seven chakras.

Visit this page for more information.



MASSACHUSETTS
Facilitator Training
Westfield, MA

April 5-9, 2017
Facilitator: Mariabruna Sirabella

NOTE: Current Facilitators receive a discount to take this Training as a refresher course.

Visit this page for more info.

 

ILLINOIS

Playing with a Full Deck:
Emotional Connectedness Inside and Out

Chicago, Illinois

April 28-30, 2017
Facilitator: Michele Manos

Michele's "Card Games" offer innovative ways to explore your SoulCollage® deck as a whole - integrating your ever-evolving aspects. Spend a weekend at beloved Cenacle Retreat Center using your deck as a powerful tool for well-being and success. Inspired by the film "Inside Out," explore emotional wholeness, resilience, and connections. Discover how your core emotions (Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust) are expressed. Create inner alliances for emotional balance and authenticity. Discern and refine how you build boundaries and bridges to yourself and others. Receive individual and group instruction, with ample time to explore your deck, journal and make cards!

Visit this page for more info.


MASSACHUSETTS

Facilitator Training
Westfield, MA

September 13-17, 2017
Trainer: Anne Marie Bennett

Visit this page for more info.


ITALY


La Dolce Vita- Goddess Retreat

Tuscany, Italy

September 24 - October 3, 2017
Facilitator: Cat Caracelo


Journey with a small circle of visionary, artistic and whole-hearted women, for 11 days in our own private villa near Florence! Enter into the mythic and living landscape of Italy, make art with SoulCollage® and mixed media as you explore La Dolce Vita. We will seek the wisdom of the Goddesses and explore mythic landscapes, sacred gardens, the dreamscapes of the Renaissance that influenced Il Sacro Bosco, and Niki St Phalle's magnificent Tarot Garden, as we make art and explore energies that will inspire the sweet life.

Visit this page for more information now.

 

CONTACT US
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 2016,
by Anne Marie Bennett and
Catherine Anderson, Cat Caracelo,
Karen Regina or Linda Woolfson.
Articles may be reprinted by permission only.