Soul Treasures
Discovering the depths of our precious inner beauty through SoulCollage®
|
KaleidoSoul's Members-Only Weekly Newsletter
Issue #3- April 17, 2006
Quotation of the Week
The world is terrified of a joyful woman.
Be one anyway.
---Marianne Wilkinson
Soul Wisdom
from Anne Marie Bennett
 When I read this Marianne Williamson quotation, I am immediately reminded of two women.
Jill was a young woman I worked with several years ago. She was kindof like a tall, blonde-haired Tigger. Her joy was contagious; it spilled out of her and radiated from her like a streams of sweet sunshine. She had a lot of energy and some of it always brushed off on the people she was near.
The other woman is Hazel, who passed away a few years ago at the age of 91. She was my mother's best friend, and she personified joy in a very different manner. Hazel was a petite gray-haired woman who loved to sit and read, to write long entries in her journal, to pray with people. She had a gift of listening, and healing. Hers was a quiet, deep joy, and it also settled on the souls of the people who came in contact with her.
Even though Jill and Hazel were very different on the outside, they had one important thing in common- a deep self-acceptance. Each woman knew who she was and was comfortable with that. Could there be anything more joyful than this?
Reflection activity of the week: Make a SoulCollage® card for the joyful woman who lives inside of you!
SoulCollage® Expressions
Idea of the Week
Listen to music while you are gathering images or making a SoulCollage® card (there are a few suggestions below and more to come each week). You will find that this allows you to go deeper into your imagination and intuition. Try varying the music. Maybe one day you need quiet, peaceful music, but another day you need Billy Joel or Queen.
We'd love to hear from you!
Question of the Week
I did Seena's meditation on finding a Companion Animal for one of my chakras, and I saw a field of wildflowers instead of an animal. Is this okay?
Yes! Seena herself says, in the book SoulCollage, "Animals in the chakras are wonderful, but so might be plants or flowers. Perhaps different scriptural persons who embody different values could be found in the chakras, and a SoulCollage card made for each." Allow this field of wildflowers to speak to you. Ask it what gifts it has to give you, and what it wants from you. Use your imagination to visit these flowers often and absorb their energy.
Do you have a question about SoulCollage®
that you'd like answered?
Send your questions to members@KaleidoSoul.com.
We'll try to use your question
in an upcoming issue of Soul Treasures.
Soul Friends
The voice of a different Kindred Spirit each week!
Sharry Teague- Ashland, Oregon
I've been doing SoulCollage since March 2004. I bought Seena's book two or three years before that. I looked at all the amazing collages but didn't try them myself. I was more of a counselor/coach type and was especially attracted to how meaningful the cards were. I gave the book to my friend, Sheila Filan (my SoulCollage Adventure partner) and she realized that a group would help get us going. She is an artist and knew the power of group energy in making art. Plus I needed encouragement to start cutting and pasting. Without her leadership, I might still be looking longingly at SoulCollage cards made by others.
What I like best about SoulCollage is the joy of creating something meaningful and beautiful. Some of my "darker" cards are not beautiful in the classic sense, but that is itself a reminder that beauty is truth. I also love seeing other people's cards. Our cards highlight both each person's uniqueness and our shared humanity. Oh, and I love collecting images for myself, and to share with others. I so much more appreciate the gifts of photographers, painters, sculptors, etc. This world is filled with incredible talent. Then we recycle those images into something personal. Wow!
SoulCollage has changed my life in several ways:
1. Now I am an artist. I just this month set up a studio. It is a place to make cards, make handmade books, and whatever else catches my fancy. SoulCollage led me to what I wanted all along.
2. I'm now rich and famous. Rich in: the wonderful people I've met through my classes, taking classes, and connecting with SoulCollagers on-line. Famous? Well, here I am, featured in this excellent publication: Soul Treasures!
3. I'm more loving and accepting toward all parts of myself. Hallelujah!
My advice to someone just starting SoulCollage is- trust yourself. Put together what you love even if it doesn't make sense at the time. My first cards were more deliberate. I set out to make something I thought I already knew. Now I'm letting the cards surprise me and feel I'm learning more from them as a result. Of course there is no right way, other than your way. Let yourself find that.
Here are 2 of my favorite SoulCollage® cards:
Book Lover
Committee Suit
I am the one who cherishes books with all the knowledge and magic they offer us. I am the one who loves books, bookstores, libraries, stories, and merry-go-rounds. I am the one who dreams in vivid color and lives my dreams.
Note from Sharry: This is one of my favorite cards (although I do say that about almost all of them!). Gigi, the Story of a Merry-Go-Round Horse, was my favorite book as a child. I checked it out of the Fort Worth, Texas, library again and again. A few years ago, I did a book search and found my beloved Gigi, which I ordered for my Inner 8-year-old. I had fun playing with this card using some newly developed computer skills (Photoshop Elements). The child on the bed is from another favorite book, Ballad of the Harp Weaver, given to me by my sister. This card gifts me with so many threads that connect my younger self with my current self.
Mothers
To the Rescue
Committee Suit
Note from Sharry: This is the first card I made that was put together simply by letting the images choose me. At the time I made it, I was recovering from knee surgery. Despite that, I made the trip to the SoulCollage facilitator's training. I sat through all the meetings with ice on my knee. And this is the card I made there. I had no idea what it might be about until I started speaking from it in our small group:
I am the one who is there for you no matter what. I am the one who receives much, even when I am helpless.
As I spoke these words, I burst into tears. Tears of gratitude. Until then I'd pushed away the feelings of helplessness that welled up at times during my injury and then surgery. And by pushing down the helplessness, I was in denial about my deep gratitude for the women who had supported me in countless ways throughout the whole ordeal.
This card opened me to my feelings in a very powerful, yet fun and gentle way. As I wrote about this card for Soul Treasures, I began to think this could be a Council card (often, a SoulCollage card's suit is not clearly identifiable when it is first created).
Would you like to share your SoulCollage story and cards with other KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirits?
Send them to members@kaleidosoul.com.
We'd love to hear from YOU!
Kindred Spirits- Member News
Making the most of your KaleidoSoul Membership
This Thursday April 20 @ 8:30 pm (EST)- join us for a one hour teleclass on Making SoulCollage Cards Intuitively. We'll talk about ways to bring intuition into your everyday life as well as to the SoulCollage process. To sign up, send a BLANK email to soulcollage@aweber.com.
Can't make the teleclass on Thursday? Don't worry, we'll record it so you can listen to it anytime! And you might want to join us on Sunday April 23 at 3 pm EST for an online chat about SoulCollage. At that time, just go to the KaleidoSoul Yahoo Group and click on CHAT (left side of the page after you log in).
There are several e-books and one e-course in the Members-Only KaleidoSoul Shop. Take a look and see what's new! And remember, as a member... they're yours for half price!
Keep track of all of your member benefits on the
Kindred Spirits Home Page.
 Soul Nourishment
Books, music, movies & websites to support your inner work as you dive deeper into your soul....
Books:
Radical Acceptance, by Tara Brach. A book with the power to change your life. It took me several months to read it, because it was so rich, and I found I needed to stop reading every several pages and practice what the author was talking about.
Living Your Joy, by Suzanne Falter-Barns- This little book has been referred to as a "joy mentor." It will show you how to let go of suffering and embrace the joy that is your natural birthright. Offers practical advice on accessing joy by following your creative dreams.
Embracing Our Essence, edited by Susan Skog- spiritual conversations with prominent women such as Madeleine L'Engle, Joan Borysenko, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Christiane Northrup, Jane Goodall, Rachel Naomi Remen...and many more. 29 women in all, share with you the "philosophies, practices, touchstones, and struggles that shape their lush interiors." Empowering and insightful.
Music to SoulCollage with:
Click on the links here and you'll be guided to a page where you can hear a sample of the music!
Inner Peace- by Steven Halpern
Walkabout- by Koorunba
Movies:
Chocolat- starring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, and Judi Dench. Vianne is a clear, strong example of a joyful woman living from the roots of her own self-acceptance. The more she acts from that center of her Self, the more joy she invites into her life (and watch the Johnny Depp and Judi Dench characters do the same!).
Websites:
Isodore- over 900 gorgeous angel images to use on your cards!
Audio Meditation by Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance (see above). a 10 minute meditation that will relax you and guide you to your center.
Soulful Living- great site with many articles and resources for personal and spiritual growth
Would you like to share your favorite books, music,
movies and websites
with other KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirits?
Send them to members@kaleidosoul.com.
We'd love to hear from YOU!
Spinning the fragments of your world
into wholeness and beauty
through SoulCollage®
Published by KaleidoSoul.com and Anne Marie Bennett.
Please do not reproduce or forward this newsletter in any way.
Soul Wisdom from Anne Marie Bennett - copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
For feedback, we invite you to send a reply email to this newsletter. |
