SoulCollage® The Gift Within

Ivette Ebaen, SoulCollage® Facilitator in Westport, Ireland, writes about a core activity of the SoulCollage® process: choosing our images.

I. Ebaen. 1st Chakra Animal Companion, from my Animal Companion Suit: “With Temperance and Care I Am the One Who Always Loves You”

For those of us who are new to SoulCollage® what I want to discuss in brief is how to go about choosing your images, or to be exact how the image chooses you. The arising of images to consciousness is how our psyche communicates. Imagery is the language of the soul. The assembling of images is such a mysterious process; a tale beyond the mind’s comprehension, and therefore the more beautiful to accept and conceive because nothing need be censored.

When considering collaging a SoulCollage® card for one of the four Suits, whether it’s a Companion, Community, Council, or the Committee, Seena B. Frost, the creator of SoulCollage® stressed the importance of focusing on one Neter at a time. Imagining that energy, naming this Neter, acknowledging its presence while allowing an image to come to you gives it a place in your life.

Every one of your SoulCollage® cards is a symbol of transmission. A facet and dimension of your person that is easier to access and accept when its wisdom is given a voice. Then its function is understood, existing as a creative force in service and to benefit your life. The SoulCollage® cards you make then show up with purpose. Each card is understood to be part of a whole, representing your wholeness. The deck, a visual autobiography is an evolving, fluid document of your self-discovery.

Seena’s motto on creating cards was: the simpler the better. This means being receptive to receiving a background image then the foreground image, and if needed a third. Devoid of distractions the two or three-image SoulCollage® card is your connection to the whole. Upon contemplating your card, the visual created delivers the message with clarity, because the message arises from a place of wisdom: The message meant only for you.

No premeditated thinking required.

Trust that whatever comes from the mind itself is always fear-based; and what is perceived from higher consciousness is meant with love and compassion. This is the true meaning and the message every one of your SoulCollage® cards seeks to impart.

The Jewel In The Crown

Lala Birchak, SoulCollage® Facilitator in Farnham, Surrey, describes how consulting her SoulCollage® deck enriches her life.

What do you do, where do you go and who do you turn to when you need some guidance or a different perspective on something that’s troubling you? What helps you to see your situation more clearly and provides a way out of a seeming impasse?

One of the places I go is my SoulCollage deck. My deck, of well over a hundred cards, resides in an old shoe box. As I look at it now I see it is very close to bursting. I really must replace it soon, or maybe, I need to stop making cards. I chuckle. I don’t think that will ever happen. 

To prepare for a reading, I settle into a quiet place, light a candle and focus on my intention. Intention is key so I spend some time crafting my intention and being very clear about what it is I would like guidance for. I hold that intention in my mind as I shuffle my cards and then I pick one or more cards. If I am pressed for time or it is something straightforward I will only pick a single card, otherwise I will pick between two and four cards. 

I always write or record my readings, transcribing them into a notebook later. Even after many years of doing readings, there is a part of me that is still taken aback and surprised that it works, surprised by the wisdom that comes through, surprised that it is always so spot on and apposite. How does that happen? I am amazed because I know that depth of wisdom and clarity is not something I normally have access to in my everyday life. 

I have used readings for personal challenges, for running workshops, before travelling, to narrow down choices, to inspire me, to challenge me, to give me a focus for the year ahead and much, much more. There is no limit to how I have used them to help me on my Soul’s journey. My deck of cards and the SoulCollage process is a blessing in my life and I am very grateful.

SoulCollage is by no means the only way to access the deep wisdom and benign intelligence that resides inside each of us and in all of life, but it is a very easy and accessible way. My deck of cards is always there, it’s portable and it’s always available. Much as I love the creative, playful aspect of making the cards, for me the jewel in the crown of SoulCollage is the deep dive into their hidden meaning and wisdom. 

SoulCollage® Sundays

Jane Power, a SoulCollage® Facilitator in the west of England, shares her love and enthusiasm for the evolving SoulCollage® community in her home town, Malvern, Worcestershire

Transcript

Jayne: I’ve probably been interested in SoulCollage® for about five years and I’ve been a facilitator for four years and I’ve been doing it ever since through workshops and building a community here.

Linda: And can you tell us a bit about how the community is evolving, how did it begin and where is it at now?

Jayne: Hmm, well, probably after my training as a facilitator I started doing introductory workshops on a regular basis, and so most of the people in my local community had a go, and from that lots of people were really enthusiastic about how powerful SoulCollage® is and wanted to do more on a regular basis. So we started up a regular monthly group called SoulCollage® Sunday and so we meet once a month so that we can get together in community and use SoulCollage® and, and work with it. Everybody really enjoys it!

Linda: How do you shape those meetings Jayne, what happens?

Jayne: We get together on a Sunday and I ask that everybody brings a shared lunch with them and its nice to be able to do that and share and have the social side of it, but in between that we meet maybe from eleven til about half past three. So in the morning we make SoulCollage® cards, all sitting round a lovely light and airy table, in my house, and make SoulCollage® cards. All the materials are here for them, all the cards are here and they bring along the deck that they have already made - all the cards that they have already made. So we have a lovely, playful time really, making the cards and then have lunch together - so a social time - and then after lunch we sit down and we usually kind of split off into pairs or into triads, into threes, and we do readings of the cards. So we will kind of choose or allow/think of a question and then choose three cards and then we’ll read those cards in turn to answer the question and always get the most powerful answers from them that are lovely.

Linda: And how long have you been having SoulCollage® Sundays now Jayne?

Jayne: Oh, wow, probably probably for about three years maybe!

Linda: Wow, fantastic!

Jayne: And its generally the same people that come, they are quite committed to it. But we have new people that join us too. We’ve just had one person leave and go and live in another part of the country and she was keen to carry on so we’re doing that by Skype and she is still joining us!

Linda: Fantastic!

Jayne: And then another person that’s joined us that was really keen to carry on doing it when she did her introductory (and once everybody has done an introductory workshop with me I kind of invite them to SoulCollage® Sundays) so she decided she’d got space and she’d come to join us. So it’s kind of come and go but there’s a company there.

Linda: But there’s a core of people there regularly?

Jayne: Yeah!

Linda: Jayne can you tell us how it has changed over the three years, your Sunday group, how has it developed, how is it different now?

Jayne: I think now we’ve obviously got to know one another on a much more intimate and deeper level because we’re sharing our, kind of, our lives with one another. And because we are sharing the cards, the cards speak for themselves and tell us about our lives. So we have got to know one another quite deeply, so its developed into a very, a sacred, special safe space to be able to share really … yeah.