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Quotation of the Week
We can only be said to be alive in those moments
when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. -- Thornton Wilder   Inner Journeys with Anne Marie Bennett Integrating the Practice of SoulCollage® Into Our Daily Lives The Gift of Wholeness  Very
early in my SoulCollage® journey, I had an amazing and clarifying experience
with my Deck that has stayed with me all this time. I still think of it every
time I look at my Deck. It makes me smile inside. For me, this is exactly what
SoulCollage® is all about. As some of you know, I'm a stepmother. My husband Jeff has three beautiful (now fully grown with families of their own) children from his first marriage. The older two lived with us from the time they were 7 and 10. About a year into our relationship (about 17 years ago), I consciously chose not to have children with Jeff, because it just didn't feel right. The family felt complete as it was. However, even though my childlessness was a conscious and loving choice, I was surprised to discover that I still felt much grief and sorrow around this decision. This grief and sorrow become magnified and exaggerated every year around the time of "Mother's Day." I have struggled with this every year since I made that decision.... until I found SoulCollage® I had been making cards for several months in May of 2005 and had about 60 cards in my Deck already. Mother's Day morning came and I woke up brim full of intense emotion, absolutely all of it dark and shadowy. I recognized the feelings reluctantly: heavy sadness for the children I never had, spiny anger at my stepchildren for pushing me away (years before), guilt and shame for not being a better stepmother... and self-pity crowning them all. So I got up and went into my study, feeling certain that the day was doomed to be a miserable one. I gritted my teeth and vowed to get through it as best I could. Then I spied my beautiful SoulCollage® Deck sitting on my art table. "I know," I thought to myself. "I have cards for all this darkness I'm feeling. I will pull each of them out of the Deck and I'll journal with them... maybe that will help me. That's what SoulCollage® is for, right?" So I began my search for the cards that represented the twisting dark emotions that were spinning in my soul. I knew they were there: my childlessness card, the shamed child, the angry one, the one that I called "Less Than." But then a funny thing happened. As I was searching for all those shadowy parts that were really in my way that morning, I found some other cards: my Community card for my niece Stephanie who has always been like a daughter to me, my Council card for creativity, my Committee card for my inner teacher, my Angel of Sorrow card which reminds me of the Being who comforts me in my sorrow, and a few others. My whole sense of self and soul shifted that day. The sorrow, anger and shame lifted as I was reminded that there is so much more to me than all of that. I was already madly in love with the process of SoulCollage®, but after this experience, everything shifted for me. I finally "got" what SoulCollage® is all about. It's not just a tool to help us get in touch with our shadows. It's not just an artistic device to help us remember who we are. It's a divine gift that brings us wholeness.  SoulCollage®
ExpressionsIdeas and Challenges to Spice Up Your SoulCollage® Practice Challenge of the Week At some point this week, give yourself ten minutes of quiet time and sit down with your Deck. Flip through your cards, one by beautiful one, and sense the wholeness of it, sense your own perfect wholeness. Yes, there are dark parts of yourself and your world, but there are bright parts as well. If you feel like it, divide a piece of paper in half and list the dark Neters on one side and the lighter Neters on the other side. But you might not need to make these lists. Maybe just sitting with the wholeness of your Deck will be enough.
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| Our Next Tele-Class Using the Wisdom of the Medicine Wheel in Your SoulCollage® Journey, Presented by Alexa Singer-Telles, SoulCollage® Facilitator in California 
The Native American Medicine Wheel offers us a sacred container to honor the
wisdom of the seasons and cycles of life, the elemental qualities, and the
guidance of animals and archetypal energies. We will imagine ourselves
sitting in the center of our own medicine wheel, inviting in the elements of
the four directions in relation to the four SoulCollage® suits as a gift of
support.We will work with the guidance of the Visionary, Healer, Teacher, and Warrior as they represent the energies of the four directions. Our time together will be experiential, with lots of time for questions and sharing. Alexa has led women's rituals including rites of passage for over twenty years using the medicine wheel as the sacred container to hold the experience. She has been actively engaged in the use of dreamwork, movement, and expressive artwork (both personally and therapeutically) as a process for guidance and healing. Date: Friday, May 15, 2009 Time: 8:00 pm Eastern, 7:00 pm Central, 6:00 pm Mountain, 5:00 pm Pacific, 2 pm Hawaiian, 1 a.m in London, 2 a.m. in Rome, Saturday 10 a.m. in Melbourne Australia and Saturday 12 noon in New Zealand
Upcoming Tele-Classes and Presenters:
June 14, 2009 (Sunday, 5pm Eastern) - Meditation and SoulCollage®: How Each Enhances the Other, with Marti Beddoe, Meditation Teacher and SoulCollage® Facilitator in Illinois. For new as well as experienced mediators. Marti will share with us some ways that her SoulCollage® practice has benefited her meditation practice, and vice versa. If you are looking to deepen your SoulCollage® work, this is the class for you! July, 2009 - SoulCollage® and the Art of Sacred Listening, with Laura Hegfield, SoulCollage® Facilitator in New Hampshire. Consider allowing silence to be the container that holds your SoulCollage® practice. I believe that silence can open us to a more intimate listening experience, ultimately allowing us to drink a more satisfying cup of the sweet wisdom our cards have to offer. During this tele-class, Laura will offer some practical tips for incorporating more silence into your life and your SoulCollage® practice (alone, with friends or as a facilitator in workshops). Laura is a SoulCollage® Facilitator, Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach, Yoga & Jewish Spirituality Teacher, Artist, Blogger, Wife and Mom practicing the sacred art of "life" in Southern NH. Please visit her blog, Shine the Divine to get to know her better before the call. (Date and time to be announced, please stay tuned.) Kindred Spirits SoulCollage® Retreat  Come As You Are:Nurturing Self-Acceptance with SoulCollage®, A Weekend Retreat June 25-28, 2009 Rolling Ridge Retreat Center Andover, Massachusetts There are only TWO spaces left.... is one of them for you? Everything you need to know is on this KaleidoSoul page. | |||||||
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,
by Alexandra Stoddard. A collection of motherly advice from a self-fulfillment
expert. She writes about self-reliance, gratitude, and perseverance with style,
wit and grace.
,
by Danny Gregory. The author focuses on this one question: Do you dare to be
creative? It's inspiring and will help you to focus on the creative work you
were meant to do in the world. 
,
by Nancy Azara. Shows you how to meditate your way into your imagination while
giving your thoughts and feelings visible form in your art.
