Week


Hazel Smith Hutchinson
Salina, Kansas

My name is HazelSmith Hutchinson and I am a SoulCollage Facilitator.  Kind of sounds like a recovery group intro,doesn't it? It pretty much feels that way to me - and what an amazing recovery communityI have found myself in.  Somehow SoulCollageand my Soul have conspired to enhance my healing process in a way I neverimagined.

When the soul
wishes to experiencesomething,
she throws an image
of the experience beforeher
and enters into her ownimage.

- Meister Eckart

SoulCollage cametotally unexpected, unintended and maybe even unwanted into my life.  Sonja Milbourn introduced me to SoulCollageand e-mailed Seena's link to me.  I looked atit.  I didn't read it.  It didn't draw mein and I couldn't understand why Sonja was so excited about it.  After staying up all night sharing life withSonja at a Tallgrass Retreat in the spring of 2003, she invited me to sign upfor her retreat in the fall and at least give SoulCollage a try. 

I asked her to tell me more about SoulCollageand she proceeded to show me a few of her cards.  I was impressed with what I perceived as her beautifuland soulful artwork.  I promptly told Sonja I don't do visual art!  Sonjawasn't hearing any of that.  She assuredme that I didn't have to be an artist of any sort to do SoulCollage and said it'sjust "cutting and pasting."  Well, let metell you -- on the inside I was screaming "Yuck!"  I did NOT want to go to a retreat to cut andpaste. 

As the story goes, I went to Sonja's retreat because I connected with Sonja andher open, magnetic spirituality - not because I had any interest in cutting andpasting.  As luck would have it, or (Ilike to give credit where credit is due) as the Universe took control and mysteriouslymoved within, I - the resister - fell in love with the SoulCollageprocess!  Sonja's retreat gave my soul along-sought-after way to give voice to my life - to my soul. 

Growing up in analcoholic family, I learned to suppress memories, opinions, thoughts, feelings,and I might even have skipped some developmental stages.  Carrying a huge amount of grief and sadnessinto adulthood, I'd never been able to appropriately recognize, acknowledge andgive voice to my own existence.  Myhealing journey landed me in therapy off and on through the years - usuallyjust long enough to release the built up emotional steam - then I'd be off onmy own again - always believing I would find my way. 

Breathwork with Jacquelyn Small, Dancing the5Rhythms into the Shadowlands, retreats and workshops on anything andeverything that offered a chance to do some inner healing, to go deep and"discover" my past so I could understand my present.  Even through my poetry, I made great effortto tell my story - a story that I didn't really know or remember. 

Those were allimportant and powerful steps on my journey . . . but the alchemy really startedto happen when I began creating SoulCollage cards.  Early on, several cards were so emotionallypowerful that when they came together, I literally ran outside and wailed.  That was not a bad thing.  It was difficult in the moment, but thebeauty came with the knowing that fifty-years' worth of stored up negativeenergy had been released - or at least the process of releasing had started inearnest.

I still may nothave childhood memories, but now I have visual documentation from my soul that assures me I really wascarrying a fair amount of sadness and grief. Since I've given voice to those hurting and frightened aspects ofmyself, they no longer have to keep pounding on the walls of my soul to be heardand acknowledged.  They no longer carrythat power to drain my energy and control my life. 

Making those particular cards early on, anddoing some important release work, made way for many other beautiful, less painfulcards, to surface.  I now have sixty pluscards, have traveled toCalifornia fortraining with Seena, have been facilitating retreats here inKansas, and have a once-a-month session atmy home for those who have participated in one of my retreats or workshops.  Each time I honor and give voice to anotherpart of who I am through SoulCollage, I become more confident, stronger andhealthier.  I have come to feel safer inthe world and it is easier for me to express my presence into the world.

I will be forevergrateful for Seena's brilliant notion to expand the availability of SoulCollageoutside the professional therapeutic realm. It was nothing less than a miracle. The world has been blessed with, and has entered into, a new healingprocess because of Seena's vision. 

Iremember her question at training in June of 2007:  How canwe heal the world with SoulCollage? I still believe the answer is One card at a time. Miraculous, don't you think, how this cut and paste deal has found itsrightful place in my life?

When rubber cementing my card together, I use the artist's "dryinto wet" technique which makes certain that the images won't peel off of themat board.  First I coat the imagebacking with rubber cement. Then I let it dry completely.  Next, I coat the mat board with rubbercement. Then I lay down the image on top of it and smooth it out with a brayeror plastic card.     
--- from Kindred Spirit Wendy inPennsylvania