Week




Dot Everhart
Lemoyne, Pennsylvania

I was introduced to SoulCollage at the Unitarian Universalists of theCumberlandValley in October, 2006 at an adultreligious education seminar offered by Kathy Ellis, a UU ministerial studentand member of our congregation. She learned about it in a seminary class fromanother student.

I was drawn to SoulCollage because I see it as a non-patriarchalexploration and expression of spirituality and dimensions of life. It provided an outlet for creativity andspiritual practice at the same time... and I could use it as a solopractitioner or as a member of a local or virtual group.

What I love most is the opportunity to work creatively through intuitionor deliberate design on expressions of my inner and outer lifediscovered/expressed through my assembling found images into a piece ofmeaningful art.

SoulCollage is currently nurturing me spiritually and emotionally as Ilive my life out of my own values and care for my life partner of 31+ years,who has dementia and significant short term memory loss. It is connecting me ata meaningful level with a network of SoulCollagers in cyberspace through aYahoo group and with members and friends who come to our local monthly group. I am looking for ways to introduce it to someof my hospice patients and family members... probably not to create a wholedeck, but to create several cards that might be helpful during their time ofillness and grieving.

I clip, rip and tear images from every sort of print material that comesinto my house and I boldly ask friends to give me images I find while visitingin their homes or offices. I try to organize my images into folders forcards I think I might make. When I sit down to make a card, I usuallypull an evocative image from my stash and spend some time looking at it andthinking about it and what energy it presents to me. I then sort throughmy stash to see what complementary images might want to mesh with this firstimage.

Sometimes the primary or background image lives on a card by itself for awhile until I sense whether that's a card by itself or whether it needsother images to complete it. Sometimes I lay out the card and leave it onthe table or my desk for a few days without gluing it down to see how itfeels.

Sometimes, I might put just a bit of rubber cement on the images to"tack" them in place and put the card carefully in a clear envelopeas I do my completed cards. Then I can use it to see if it is complete or in need of otherimages.

Once completed, I glue the images together and let it dry for at least aday before putting it back in the envelope. I have not used ModPodge as some folks do. One of our local membershad many of his cards stick together long after they were dried and had beenused for several months; apparently the high humidity in the summertimecaused this, ruining most of them. Maybe if you live in a very dry climateit is okay for you, but I find clear 5 X 8 envelopes from Clear Envelopes, which I havefound to bethe most wonderful way to preserve and protect my cards. They are fairlyinexpensive and the shipping cost is low too.

My best advice is to jump right in gathering images and making cards-- nomatter how much you feel you understand or how confused you might feel aboutthe suits or the "rules." Trust your own process and theguidance of your own creativity and the images that present themselves and callto you. Find a group or create your own by sharing SoulCollage with afriend or colleague. Make a commitment to each other to meet regularly--at least once a month for several hours to make cards together and to sharereadings. Tell everyone you can about this medium and trust that theSource will guide you to those who are right for your group as you get started. Join KaleidoSoul and read Anne Marie'swebsite and the SoulCollage website regularly. Join the Yahoo group andpost your cards there and explore what others are doing.

I have not yet put backs on my cards to separate them into suits. Since Ihave only about 30 cards, it is relatively easy to sort them into suits for areading. I bought papers I think I might use, but haven't felt a need todo it just yet. I like using all of the same colored mat board and alwaysglue the images on the white side and leave the blue side exposed. I havebeen using a woven box I've had since high school (guess that makes it almostan antique!), to store my cards in-- it's getting full, so I am on the lookoutfor a new "found" box. I like that we are recycling images tomake the cards and always recycle my print materials when I am done with them--first to the local group and then to the recycling crate.

I think SoulCollage materials should carry a warning about the addictiveseduction of collecting images and of making cards! On the third day ofmaking cards at the spring KaleidoSoul Retreat, after having almost all of thehours of the day to make cards-- I was still not satiated! I wanted moretime! I wanted more images! I wanted more cards!

Doing SoulCollage is akin to being warmed several times if you cut woodto heat your home with it. It warms you when you cut it, it warms youwhen you split and stack it, it warms you when you carry it into the house; andit finally warms you when you put it into the fireplace or wood stove. Ifeel centered and relaxed when I gather or harvest images when sorting throughthe mail or looking through a magazine. I later feel centered and relaxedwhen I trim the edges and isolate the images for filing. And, of course,I feel centered when making the card and when using it in a reading.

I haven't gotten into blogging yet, but have a website for my lifecoaching business, Life Compass Coaching. There's no mention of SoulCollage on it,though. I need to work on that!

For the backs of my SoulCollage cards I use border strips fromwallpaper. I like this because there are lots of choices. To designate suits I use a coloured dotsystem - sometimes my cards jump around from suit to suit, so I can change them easily when theydecide to move.--- from Kindred SpiritLorraine inBritish Columbia