Soul Treasures - Issue #150 - February 9, 2009

Soul Friends
The Voice of a Different Kindred Spirit Each Week

Marti Beddoe
Naperville, Illinois

In practicing SoulCollage®, I have found that when the Soul is ready to be tended, the perfect Neter will appear to teach me what I need to learn in that moment. It never fails! No matter how scattered are the contents of my little local mind, making SoulCollage® cards drops me down to a deep place where the Neters reveal my utter wholeness and unity with all of creation. Each Neter is a teacher.

On January 20, we witnessed the historic inauguration of Barack Obama, a powerful symbol of Pluto's recent move into Capricorn. It is a time when, all around the world, people are feeling the impact of old governmental, social and corporate structures dissolving away and many new foundations under construction. I, too, am emerging, seeking footing on solid ground after sudden, major heart surgery and a profound encounter with Death dissolved away much familiar ground.

In the year since that sudden dissolving of my old life, I have dwelt in delicious solitude as the body healed, reflecting quietly upon what is calling me now. Both the practices of SoulCollage® and daily meditation have helped me begin to map and explore a new and more expansive territory of spiritual consciousness. I invite you to visit my newly birthed blog, Designs for Peace to read more about how SoulCollage® has supported my safe return to the newly poured foundation of my life in a New Normal.

Like many other KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirits, there is much synchronicity in how I encountered SoulCollage. In 1997, cheered on by my "Artist's Way" circle, with no sewing experience, I created a quilt featuring 16 squares that formed a kind of collage of my life journey. The squares' Neter images came from my day/night dreams. Creating this quilt marked an intentional and profound, non-verbal opening to my own intuition.

Fast forward to April of 2005, exactly two years after my mom transitioned. Once again, I was yearning for a non-verbal way to make sense of my life, especially my new state as a motherless daughter. During a PeerSpirit Circle Practicum, I saw my new friend Jon Hansen's breathtaking SoulCollage® cards. Though for decades I had made, and taught my clients how to make, collaged Treasure Maps/Vision boards, Jon's cards were unlike any collages I have ever seen.

I felt compelled to learn and teach this amazing work and bought Seena Frost's book SoulCollage®. As I read the dedication, and Seena's acknowledgement of her teachers Robin Van Doren and Jean Houston, I was stunned to realize that I was present in 1987 for the first year of the Human Capacities Program where Seena began creating SoulCollage! There truly are no coincidences in life! Late summer of 2005, Jon taught the basics of SoulCollage® to a group of us and immediately we formed a card-making circle that has met the first Saturday of each month since September 2005! Two years later, I became a SoulCollage® Facilitator.

What has kept people returning to the SoulCollage® circle for 40 months now? In addition to the magic of the SoulCollage process, it is because we have created a safe container where we can reverently witness each woman's journey. During much of our five hours together, we observe a sacred space of silence at the center of our SoulCollage® Circle. This serene time becomes a bottomless well where we can pause and drink deeply the nectar of creativity, encouragement, integrity and wisdom before returning to our busy, noisy daily lives. I learned how to create this kind of safe container from my teachers Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea. I am so grateful for their invaluable contributions embodied in their PeerSpirit Circle Process, which allows any group of people to explore their own truths, finding the inner guidance needed to solve urgent issues, and to celebrate the great Mystery that life is.

I love how SoulCollage® complements my Kriya Yoga meditation practice so beautifully. Both practices address the reality that is beyond words, beyond my limited horizon of awareness, beyond the ken of my little local mind. Each practice brings wisdom, equanimity and peace to my life. I love being able to share with close friends what is currently most alive in me by showing my latest cards. I love the community of SoulCollage® peers, incredibly talented, resourceful people who are so generous in sharing themselves. Most of all, I love how sharing the SoulCollage process in circle can build an enduring, intimate community of Seekers and Witnesses.

What advice would I give to others who are practicing SoulCollage? I would encourage you to explore the State of Being called Witness. (Though I did not know its name at the time, the second SoulCollage card I made was the Witness.)The disciplined spiritual practice of Witness has made all the difference in my life and creative journey. Activating the Witness has provided the objectivity and insight required for wisdom to flourish. It has liberated me from a soul-killing dependence upon others for answers or approval.

As Witness, I can regard my creation/situation without the previously overwhelming interference of the Neters of Critic, Judge, and my conflicted Virgonian mind. Standing firm in the neutral place of Witness has allowed genuine healing and integrating of body, mind and spirit. Because Witness reveals my own truth, I can speak from it. Witness has illuminated the profound truth that I am the greatest authority in my own life about my own life! For more about three major teachers who have blessed me by instilling the importance of practicing the Witness, please see my blog.

In our SoulCollage® Circles, we do our best to practice Witness. This means that, as women together, we live from a different, sometimes uncomfortable, social norm. We agree to not comment on each other's cards. Each woman agrees to trust her own intuitive wisdom about the message and meaning of her cards. Instead of commenting, we witness the mystery of our creations. In reverent silence, we give each other the rare, empowering gift of our rapt, wordless attention. I think the Witness practice is a major factor in the longevity of the circle.

As I enter the third trimester of my life, I am so grateful to all my teachers, especially Seena B. Frost, for giving me one more potent way to make meaning of my life journey and a solid foundation for guiding others. I look forward to meeting my next Neter teachers!

Journey through Motherhood
Committee Suit

I am the Tormented One,
Who spiraled down into
The hell of her own pain, despair, false selves and demons.

Guided by Divine Light and her Tender Midwife,
I am the Maternal One who labored intensively,
To soothe, nourish, forgive, embrace and cherish
The abandoned, shamed and unloved parts of the Self.

I am the Centered One who has emerged
Wise, whole and strong,
Capable of mothering her Self;
Equipped for the next part of the journey,
Offering Pure Love in Service to Life.

This card depicts my many years of intensive "Mother" work to heal the wounded, abandoned girl who became a mother when she was barely nineteen. Its three-dimensional nature reflects the all-consuming task of forgiveness that preceded my being able to sincerely accept that I did the best I could as a mother. What a victory! What a healing! My sons, Thomas and Matthew, now 41 and 39, are loving husbands and incredibly nurturing, devoted fathers to six of my seven grandchildren.

BLESSINGS FROM THE WARRIOR'S MOTHER
Committee Suit (Marti2.jpg)

I am the One Who fiercely defends and protects her children.
I am the One Who respects the choices her children make.

I am the One Who
Surrounds her warrior child
With the White Light
Of Protection and Wisdom.

I am the One Who
Witnesses a world of perpetual war
And who chooses to do, be and have
What is necessary for Peace to dwell in her heart.

I am the One Who
Prays that peace might
Dwell in the hearts of
All Warriors and their mothers.

My son Matthew joined the Army 22 years ago when he was 17. I made this on September 6, 2008, the day Matt left for eastern Afghanistan on his latest 15-month deployment. This card celebrates my hard won acceptance of his vocation as a soldier, after many years of struggling to honor and understand his choices. My heart was deeply touched when one of Matthew's old toughened warrior friends saw the card and asked if I could make one for him!

SoulCollage Expressions
Ideas and Challenges to Spice Up Your SoulCollage Practice

Idea of the Week

If you find yourself resistant to exercise/creative movement, make a card that honors that voice inside of you. Dialogue with it. See if you can accept it exactly as it is.

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