0428

Inner

Journeys

withAnne Marie

Bennett

Integratingthe Practice of SoulCollage® into Your Daily

Life

Journey Through the Chakras: Fifth Chakra

I don'tknow about you, but when I started practicing SoulCollage, I knew verylittle about the chakras. I stepped out into the CompanionsSuit simply trusting Seena's voice on her Introduction to SoulCollage CD. My first steps into the Chakras found me chatting with a Little BrownBird in my Heart Chakra area. After that, I spent a little time in eachof the chakras as I discovered the Animal Companion who lived in each one. Please note that this journey did not happen in the course of a week or a month, but more like two years!

Lately,though, I've found myself longing to know about the Chakras on amore personal level. So I've decided to take myself on a seven-monthJourney Through the Chakras.

This article is one ina series on each of the seven chakras. If you missed the previousarticles, you can catch up by going to your Members Home Page and clicking on the" Soul Treasures Back Issues" icon.

Lion's Roar

The fifth chakra is also known as the Throat Chakra. According to Anodea Judith, author of The Sevenfold Journey: Reclaiming Mind, Body and Spirit Through the Chakras, this chakra is about: creativity, self-expression, sound, communication, connection, harmony, vibration, rhythm, and the color of bright turquoise.

My own 5th chakra Animal Companion is Lion. I don't remember exactly how Lion came to me and revealed himself as a Companion for this area of my body. I look at the SoulCollage card that I made to honor him three years ago and I honestly cannot remember how it came to be. It seems like Lion has just always been with me which is why I can't remember the specific story of whether I dreamed him, or saw him in a guided visualization.

As I focused on this energy center in my body this month, along with Lion's energy, I marveled at the fact that Lion accompanies me here in place of any other animal. My own life has been governed by several archetypes, one of which is Creativity. So who better to reside here, in this throat chakra which has lessons to learn about self-expression? Lion is the King of the Jungle, strong and powerful, as is my creative life, if I let it be.

I was especially moved this month at our annual KaleidoSoul SoulCollage Retreat during our Saturday night drumming circle. Facilitator Anne Boedecker was leading us on a drumming journey with our animals and she was asking us, as we were drumming, to make animal sounds along the way. At one point, the woman to my left let out the most magnificent lion's roar I've ever heard! And I felt immediately in the presence of Lion (thank you, Judy!). Since then, I've been practicing my own roar and I must say, I'm getting pretty good!

It doesn't matter what Animal greets you (or what sound he/she makes) in your Throat Chakra. The important thing is to listen to it and hear what it has to teach you about your own modes of creativity and self-expression.

Also, it's no coincidence that I was working with Throat Chakra energy this month as some issues came up with my husband and I was the one who needed to speak up in order to begin the process of resolution. I realized that the energy in this part of my body can be too open, or too closed, and it is up to me to control the flow.

Reflection Activity of the Week: Takea few moments to breathe into the throat area of your body. What is this part ofyour body trying to tell you right now? What beliefs do you hold aboutthe concept of self-expression, communication, creativity? Is there some way to bring more self-expression into your life sothat you can claim a bit more of your own creativity this week?

Soul

Friends

TheVoice of a Different Kindred Spirit Each

Week

Margo Gravelle
Los Angeles, California

I have had an active collage group meeting monthly for over four years. Ihave held a few workshops, introductions, and one-day events, but prefer thecommunity building experience of a continuing collage group.

I was given the SoulCollage book by Seena Frost as a birthday gift. Thebook was stimulating and evocative and I immediately invited 10 women toexplore the challenge of making our own deck of SoulCollage cards.

My favorite experience with SoulCollage is the trust building that comes aboutduring the sharing in a group of the "I am the one who..."statements. We discover that we are all more alike than we could imagineand the bond of truth builds deeper and more intimate relationships.

My biggest awareness of change came about after 50 cards were made in mypersonal deck. I saw the pattern of my life and of my life script spelledout in picture biography. I met the archetypes that I have been dealingwith all my life. There was no mistake; I was repeating patterns over andover. I had a chance to interview these archetypes and redistribute their power, creating a healing and acceptance that I had never experienced.

My advice is to make SoulCollage a deep investigation into the hidden parts ofSoul. Be fearless and go to the shadow side. Let the power of thesubconscious come through and allow it to integrate all your parts. Donot hold back! The truth is liberating, and the shadow side is whereI found the most insight.

I can say that my biggest lesson in SoulCollage work comes from the discoverythat images carry universal meanings. We share so much of the same storyacross continents and across time. A well-crafted SoulCollage speaks itsmessage in every language and to every soul, regardless of cultural experience.

My process is simple. I gather lots of images and share them liberally with mygroups. I have seen some of my favorite "saved" images turn upin a SoulCollage card made by a member in my group. The experience is sopersonal; it's like sharing a secret. We both saw a piece of ourselves inthe image.

I often create my collage over-sized, then color-copy it and sizeit to fit the 5x8 matte board. For Readings, I draw my cards from a clothbag.

Here are 3 cards from my Deck:

Blissful Fool
Suit: Council

I am the one who has been liberated from the misunderstanding of mydestructive mind. I am walking in a new skin wearing a new dress, freefrom the physical and emotional weight of the past. I have nopossessions, I am going nowhere, I am moving without purpose or agenda. I am naked, exposed and walking with faith. I have nothing but beautyin front of me; surrounded by the incomparable universe nothing canharm me. I am free, sane and youthful, and the rose of desire bloomsforever as my companion.

Impotent Emotions
Suit: Committee

I am the one who freezes in the face of violence. My heart grips witha terrible fear and my breathing is shallow. I can't express eitherrage or sorrow. I want to become invisible. This can happen in amoment; loud angry voices can shut me down. The child-like innocentbecomes emotional victim and the loss of control is terrifying.

Fear of Technology
Suit: Committee

I am the one who struggles against the invasion of technology. I tiltwindmills as a modern day Don Quixote against cellular, digital,virtual, cyberspace, and the treachery of my diminished power.

SoulCollage

Expressions

Idea of the Week

The Power of Now

If you've read any of Eckhart Tolle's new book, A New Earth, you may find this littleexercise interesting. Pull out all of your SoulCollage cards that support you beingin Present Time. Make a second pile of all the cards whose storiespull you into Past or Future Time. Then find the two polar opposites (onefrom each stack) and ask them a question. When I tried this, I was verysurprised that some of my "Shadow" cards were allies in being inPresent Time.

To go a step further, pose a single question to everyone of your cards, "What do you think my purpose is here onearth?" Prepare to be amazed! - from Suzie in OR

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Upcoming Tele-Classes

April

Did you miss last night's tele-class, SoulCollage & the Law of Attraction, with Lisa Poole? We missed you too, but not to worry. We recorded the class for you and it is now in your Members Only Audio Library.

May

The Fool Archetype
presented by Suzie Wolfer,
SoulCollage Facilitator in Oregon

Carl Jung believed that our minds come coded with patterns, which leadus to perceive the world in a particular way. He called thesepredispositions archetypes. They are like the DNA of the personality.

The Fool Archetype has some interesting
characteristics: It contains all aspects of "foolishness" that arepossible. For example in the Fool archetype you find the Sacred Clown,the Comedian, the Mystic Fool, the Healer Clown like the characterPatch Adams. They each contain an element of Divine Innocence.

The word Foolcomes from the Latin word follis, which means a pair of bellows, whichprovide the oxygen needed for combustion. The Fool "fires us up" withthe impetus for action when something is finished or goes stale. TheFool persists on the journey, when others might turn back and head forthe familiar, or give up on a relationship instead of continuing tolove, because they just don't know better . . . and opportunitiesunfold.

Date: Thursday, May 29, 2008

Time:
9:00 pm Eastern, 8:00 pm Central, 7:00 pm Mountain,
6:00 pm Pacific, 3:00 pm Hawaiian,
Friday 2 a.m.. in London,
Friday 3 a.m. in Rome, Friday 11 a.m. in Melbourne Australia
and Friday 1 pm in New Zealand

Save the date now. All of our tele-classes are FR*EE for members, always! And remember, don't worry if you can't attend... we'll be recordingthem and you can listen to them anytime in your
Member's Only Audio Library.

Upcoming SoulCollage Retreats & Trainings
with Anne Marie Bennett

New England SoulCollage Facilitator Training- August 8-10, 2008 in western
Massachusetts. Thistraining is now full. But you can still check out the pagefor information or to sign up for the waiting list or to be put on the list for the next New England Training. Also, there are other Facilitator Trainings listed on this SoulCollage page, including the very last East Coast Training with Seena Frost in Maryland.

A Few Days Left to Enter...
Kindred Spirits Contest

Thetime has come... our Kindred Spirits Membership is now two years oldand we need a new password! I'm fresh out of ideas though, and so I'mcounting on YOU!

We'll be announcing our new password on Thursday May 1, so you only have a few days left to get your ideas in to us. Please do some creative brainstorming, and submit your entries on this KaleidoSoul page.

The winner will receive their choice of any KaleidoSoul e-book or e-course in your Members Discount Shop. If you already have all of them, you will receive the Community Suit e-course which will be unveiled in mid-May.

SoulNourishment

Resourcesto support your inner work
as you dive deeper

into your beautiful soul

Books:

Bird Vibes, by Catherine Bastedo. This is a deck of spiritual insight cards based on birds and the chakras.It contains 50 cards of birds, each one different, with a painting byOttawa artist HeatherBale on one side, and a paragraph of text on the other. The message on eachcard starts with a fact about the bird, something about its habitat, or what iteats, how fast if flies and so on, and that leads into a spiritual message.There is a title on each card as well that gives a short message like Simplifyyour Life or Stay in Touch or See the Potential. The cards are grouped by eightchakras - seven birds for each of the first seven chakras and one for theeighth chakra.

The Age ofMiracles: Embracing the New Midlife, by Marianne Williamson. This is one of my favorite spiritual andreal-life authors, and this new book is holding a special place on mybookshelf. Her purpose is topsychologically and spiritually reframe our transition into "middle age," whichis not a crisis but a time of rebirth.

Running On Empty:Meditations for Indispensable Women, by Ellen Sue Stern. This little book of short daily readings isexactly what the title says. If you'retired of trying to be everything for everybody, and all the time... this book isfor you! Each daily reading alsoincludes a quotation and an affirmation.

Movies:

Wings of Desire,featuring Curt Bois, Peter Falk. This film lovingly portrays the appeal of the presentmoment. Damiel, an angel inBerlin, is spendingeternity observing and testifying to the feelings and activities ofhumans. But, he confesses to anotherangel, he longs to be able to say "now, now, and now" rather than "sincealways" and "forever." When he falls inlove with a beautiful trapeze artist, he decides to take the plunge, declaringit's "now or never!" He experiences lifein the present moment and his contented expression later in the movie says itall: He has given up eternity for this moment, and it is enough. ---fromSpiritual Rx, Prescriptions for Living a Meaningful Life, by Frederic and MaryAnn Brussat

Websites:

Spirit Heart Journeys- Wonderful SoulCollage site by Maggie Yowell in Washington. If you scroll down to the montage of SoulCollage cards, you can click on each one to see the detail. Lots of wonderful inspiration here!

AllBooks For Less- Amazing websitfor any book lover. They have zillionsof books (I'm not kidding!) on any topic you can think of, all at greatlyreduced prices. It's not like Amazon or Half, where you are buyingfrom individual sellers. This is a reputable dealer and most of the booksare available in quantity, which is great for book clubs as well as giftgiving. Search for your favorite author or topic and see how muchsavings you can gather this spring.

Smiles of Nature- Beautiful nature scenes. Choose your favorite and meditate with it and see what comes up for you!

Go Make Something- At this extensive & fascinating site, you'll find over 100 how-to articles covering collage, mixed-media, and altered art.