IEATA NE SoulCollage® Snack 05/14/24
Opening the Circle
Whenever I facilitate SoulCollage®, I invite my cards to tell me about what's important to remember and to include. I'll dive right in with a four-card reading from my cards, on the question, "What should I tell the Expressive Arts Therapists about SoulCollage® at tonight's session? What is important for me to tell them and them to know?"
Card One:
Distant Thinker (Committee Suit)
You could get really into the theory of SoulCollage®, but what your colleagues are here for is a sense of the life of the practice. I’ll be here to keep you steady, but be sure to move out of your head into the magical heart of the matter.
Distant Thinker (Committee Suit)
You could get really into the theory of SoulCollage®, but what your colleagues are here for is a sense of the life of the practice. I’ll be here to keep you steady, but be sure to move out of your head into the magical heart of the matter.
Card 2:
Durga (Community Suit)
Tell them SoulCollage® is a dance. There's your soul, and there's the world, and you're dancing together, laughing demons out of their old jobs. You can get naked and invite tigers, if that's your thing. You can be quiet, too.
Durga (Community Suit)
Tell them SoulCollage® is a dance. There's your soul, and there's the world, and you're dancing together, laughing demons out of their old jobs. You can get naked and invite tigers, if that's your thing. You can be quiet, too.
Card 3:
Ratna (Council)
Tell them how generous this practice is. You take a bunch of stuff that would have wound up in the garbage, and you let it show you all-encompassing wisdom. Tell them there's no end to this practice, because there's no end to the soul. Tell them it's generous in community.
Ratna (Council)
Tell them how generous this practice is. You take a bunch of stuff that would have wound up in the garbage, and you let it show you all-encompassing wisdom. Tell them there's no end to this practice, because there's no end to the soul. Tell them it's generous in community.
Card 2:
Animal Wisdom Ancestor (Community Suit)
Tell them this practice is helping you rewild your family lineages and your parts. Tell them it's been part of owning who you are and who your ancestors are.
Animal Wisdom Ancestor (Community Suit)
Tell them this practice is helping you rewild your family lineages and your parts. Tell them it's been part of owning who you are and who your ancestors are.
The SoulCollage® Map
Seena Frost, the creator or SoulCollage®, organized the infinitely expandable possibilities of this practice into Suits, somewhat like the Suits of a Tarot deck (except there is no set number of cards in a SoulCollage® deck, and everyone decides for themself what to include). She used Neter (a word from ancient Egyptian spirituality that means "god," or a part of the whole soul) to refer to the beings honored in SoulCollage® cards.
Darshan: Seeing and Being Seen
SoulCollage® stems in part from some really old, fundamental magic that says, Images have the power to hold qualities that we wish to be reminded of at times of distress and disorientation, The gaze of a beloved / sacred image can remind us of our wholeness, even when we are feeling broken, or the world is telling us that we are worthless.
An image can remind us and reorient us, when we are lost. An image can hold space for us to explore the edges of the known, with a lifeline back to safety.
Many religious traditions carry some version of this belief. In Hindu practice, it's called darshan (Sanskrit, an opportunity or occasion of seeing a holy person or the image of a deity.) In Catholicism, reverence for images of holy beings is an important devotional practice.
An image can remind us and reorient us, when we are lost. An image can hold space for us to explore the edges of the known, with a lifeline back to safety.
Many religious traditions carry some version of this belief. In Hindu practice, it's called darshan (Sanskrit, an opportunity or occasion of seeing a holy person or the image of a deity.) In Catholicism, reverence for images of holy beings is an important devotional practice.
I Am One Who...
One of the first steps towards working this image-magic is to practice letting images speak. In SoulCollage®, we often use the starting prompts,
I am one who... or
I am the one who...
...I need
...I bring
...as invitations to shift out of everyday, making-a-webpage mode of consciousness, into an empathic, expanded state of awareness that allows knowing and curiosity.
At the intersection of my awareness and the image above, here's what that expanded awareness sounds like:
I am the one who is plump from good springtime eating. I am the one whose little hands brush aside river silt to find what I am looking for. I am the one who can swim beneath the surface and who can walk on land. I am the one who migrates and is vulnerable. I am the one who needs protected waters and deep forests to live. I am the one who brings wild sweet depth to life.
Before, I may have thought, Oh, that's a nice picture. Now I have some deeper sense of what this image might mean from a soul-perspective.
You might say I've received salamander-darshan.
I am one who... or
I am the one who...
...I need
...I bring
...as invitations to shift out of everyday, making-a-webpage mode of consciousness, into an empathic, expanded state of awareness that allows knowing and curiosity.
At the intersection of my awareness and the image above, here's what that expanded awareness sounds like:
I am the one who is plump from good springtime eating. I am the one whose little hands brush aside river silt to find what I am looking for. I am the one who can swim beneath the surface and who can walk on land. I am the one who migrates and is vulnerable. I am the one who needs protected waters and deep forests to live. I am the one who brings wild sweet depth to life.
Before, I may have thought, Oh, that's a nice picture. Now I have some deeper sense of what this image might mean from a soul-perspective.
You might say I've received salamander-darshan.
Making a Card for One of Your Healer Parts
Here's a chance to make a card for one of your Healer parts. Might be a shaman. Might be a dutiful scientist. Might be a wild warrior. Only your intuition knows.
STEP ONE
Lay out a supply of printed images without text. Let your hands, eyes, intuition rove among them. Which ones are you called to? Pull them aside. Your choices don't need to make any kind of intellectual sense.
STEP TWO
Begin to think about which ones feel more like worlds/backgrounds, and which ones feel more like inhabitants of worlds. As a card starts to come together, discern which world you are drawn to make, and who lives there. Try to keep things somewhat simple - no more than 4-5 elements to a card. Why? Because otherwise it's possible to futz around so much that the initial, clear message of the card gets obscured.
STEP THREE
Trace around your card, so that you can cut your background/world image(s) down to size.
Cut around your inhabitant image(s) and play around with where you want to place them.
STEP FOUR
It's good to cover the whole card in some way. Why? Because then you are looking into a complete world.
It's also good not to go beyond the edges of the card. Why? Because eventually you'll be doing readings, and it's good for all the cards to be neutral from the back. Also, the boundary of the card's edge helps keep contents contained.
STEP FIVE
Use your glue stick to tack down the layers and parts of your card.
STEP SIX
Eventually, you may decide to use plastic sleeves.
STEP SEVEN
Invite your Healer card to introduce themself, using
I am one who... or
I am the one who...
...I need
...I bring
Write down the responses you receive.
Lay out a supply of printed images without text. Let your hands, eyes, intuition rove among them. Which ones are you called to? Pull them aside. Your choices don't need to make any kind of intellectual sense.
STEP TWO
Begin to think about which ones feel more like worlds/backgrounds, and which ones feel more like inhabitants of worlds. As a card starts to come together, discern which world you are drawn to make, and who lives there. Try to keep things somewhat simple - no more than 4-5 elements to a card. Why? Because otherwise it's possible to futz around so much that the initial, clear message of the card gets obscured.
STEP THREE
Trace around your card, so that you can cut your background/world image(s) down to size.
Cut around your inhabitant image(s) and play around with where you want to place them.
STEP FOUR
It's good to cover the whole card in some way. Why? Because then you are looking into a complete world.
It's also good not to go beyond the edges of the card. Why? Because eventually you'll be doing readings, and it's good for all the cards to be neutral from the back. Also, the boundary of the card's edge helps keep contents contained.
STEP FIVE
Use your glue stick to tack down the layers and parts of your card.
STEP SIX
Eventually, you may decide to use plastic sleeves.
STEP SEVEN
Invite your Healer card to introduce themself, using
I am one who... or
I am the one who...
...I need
...I bring
Write down the responses you receive.
Dialogue
What happens when two healers meet? Let's find out in breakout rooms :)
If you'd prefer not to go into a breakout room, please direct message the Host of this gathering to let them know.
If you'd prefer not to go into a breakout room, please direct message the Host of this gathering to let them know.
Next Steps
I teach long-form SoulCollage® workshops online and offer Communitea gatherings in my studio/office in Lebanon. If you'd like to be added to my mailing list, please email me: horsefox [at] 108namesofnow.com
You can also find abundant SoulCollage® opportunities at
https://community.soulcollage.com/discovery
You can also find abundant SoulCollage® opportunities at
https://community.soulcollage.com/discovery