Suitplay: A SoulCollage® Partswork Odyssey
all images copyright Julie Püttgen
Description
This course is a deep dive invitation to savor your relationships with your inner committee, honor the sacred/ordinary maps/mandalas of your life, explore gender in inner and external community; and generate cards, garments, and imagery to carry you forward with body / heart / soul insight on your path.
Let’s say that the Five Buddha families have presence within your internal family system. How might these parts personify themselves, in their burdened and unburdened states? If we listen for gender within these sub-families, what might we learn?
SoulCollage® decks have Suits for intra-psychic, archetypal, external community, energetic, and transpersonal elements of a card-maker’s Soul. So do Tarot decks, where each Suit includes Kings, Queens, Knights, and Pages (in old-school decks); or (for example in the intentionally gender-neutral Threads of Fate deck) Rulers, Sovereigns, Conquerors, and Seekers. What might it be like to make SoulCollage® cards for members of each of these five internal families, fleshing them out into Suits?
And, while we’re asking big questions, what might it be like to Suit ourselves into regalia that honors and invokes members of each of our Five Families?
This freewheeling odyssey will take us into exploration and play.
We’ll
make cards
explore gender in its inner and external manifestations
play with costumes
do readings together
dance like the wild creatures we are
listen deep
be surprised
enjoy community
In my wildest dreams, we become the seed of a thousand parades and sacred/anarchic/raucous/grieving dances.
Let’s say that the Five Buddha families have presence within your internal family system. How might these parts personify themselves, in their burdened and unburdened states? If we listen for gender within these sub-families, what might we learn?
SoulCollage® decks have Suits for intra-psychic, archetypal, external community, energetic, and transpersonal elements of a card-maker’s Soul. So do Tarot decks, where each Suit includes Kings, Queens, Knights, and Pages (in old-school decks); or (for example in the intentionally gender-neutral Threads of Fate deck) Rulers, Sovereigns, Conquerors, and Seekers. What might it be like to make SoulCollage® cards for members of each of these five internal families, fleshing them out into Suits?
And, while we’re asking big questions, what might it be like to Suit ourselves into regalia that honors and invokes members of each of our Five Families?
This freewheeling odyssey will take us into exploration and play.
We’ll
make cards
explore gender in its inner and external manifestations
play with costumes
do readings together
dance like the wild creatures we are
listen deep
be surprised
enjoy community
In my wildest dreams, we become the seed of a thousand parades and sacred/anarchic/raucous/grieving dances.
Source Maps
Five Buddha Families:
Blue: east / water / reflection / anger
Yellow: south / earth / abundance / complacence
Red: west / fire / discernment / craving
Green: north / air / accomplishment / neurotic speed
Black/White: center / space / all-encompassing knowing / acceptance / numbness / dissociation
Blue: east / water / reflection / anger
Yellow: south / earth / abundance / complacence
Red: west / fire / discernment / craving
Green: north / air / accomplishment / neurotic speed
Black/White: center / space / all-encompassing knowing / acceptance / numbness / dissociation
SoulCollage® Suits:
All SoulCollage® decks contain cards from the following Suits
Committee - the maker's intrapsychic parts - like IFS parts
Community - those beings who comprise the maker's external community
Council - the archetypal energies present in the maker's consciousness and life - like the Major Arcana and ruling families in a Tarot deck
Companion - the animal protectors at each of the maker's major energy centers
Transpersonal - Source, Essence, and Witness cards - like the Ground of Being from which the Five Families arise
All SoulCollage® decks contain cards from the following Suits
Committee - the maker's intrapsychic parts - like IFS parts
Community - those beings who comprise the maker's external community
Council - the archetypal energies present in the maker's consciousness and life - like the Major Arcana and ruling families in a Tarot deck
Companion - the animal protectors at each of the maker's major energy centers
Transpersonal - Source, Essence, and Witness cards - like the Ground of Being from which the Five Families arise
Four Tarot Suits:
Wands: Fire
Pentacles: Earth
Cups: Water
Swords: Air
Each of the Suits also comprises a ruling family, with older and younger members
Wands: Fire
Pentacles: Earth
Cups: Water
Swords: Air
Each of the Suits also comprises a ruling family, with older and younger members
Internal Family Systems Therapy:
The Self (ideally, listens to the Parts and leads with wisdom & compassion)
Parts: Managers, Firefighters, Exiles (exist in burdened and unburdened states; parts can be of any gender or age, and comprise a family system.)
The Self (ideally, listens to the Parts and leads with wisdom & compassion)
Parts: Managers, Firefighters, Exiles (exist in burdened and unburdened states; parts can be of any gender or age, and comprise a family system.)
For Example:
Statement from the Card:
I am the fall of Saigon – the chaos and abandonment, the dissolution of imposed order.
I am also the forest re-growing after napalm, the shields and swords resting.
I need care and clear seeing for my lessons to be learned and not blindly re-created.
I need ground, humility, and grief.
Materials:
lining, rank stripe, and batting from Vietnam-era US Army dress jacket; embroidery floss, printed image of Celtic shield with torc on verso
Buddha family:
Karma / action
Tarot family:
Swords (war) and wands (forest)
Direction: north
Color: green
Element: air (primary), fire
Obstructed state: neurotic speed
Liberated state: all-accomplishing wisdom
Internal Family - obstructed: the restless exile / the burdened veteran (thin middle-aged man in my inner constellation)
Internal Family - unburdened: the forester (contented, active middle-aged man in my inner constellation)
I am the fall of Saigon – the chaos and abandonment, the dissolution of imposed order.
I am also the forest re-growing after napalm, the shields and swords resting.
I need care and clear seeing for my lessons to be learned and not blindly re-created.
I need ground, humility, and grief.
Materials:
lining, rank stripe, and batting from Vietnam-era US Army dress jacket; embroidery floss, printed image of Celtic shield with torc on verso
Buddha family:
Karma / action
Tarot family:
Swords (war) and wands (forest)
Direction: north
Color: green
Element: air (primary), fire
Obstructed state: neurotic speed
Liberated state: all-accomplishing wisdom
Internal Family - obstructed: the restless exile / the burdened veteran (thin middle-aged man in my inner constellation)
Internal Family - unburdened: the forester (contented, active middle-aged man in my inner constellation)
Optional Readings
Lama Tsultrim Allione, Wisdom Rising
Robert Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade, The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: Poems for Men
Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman, Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation
Dominique Christina, This Is Woman’s Work
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run with the Wolves
Seena Frost, SoulCollage® Evolving
Jane Hirshfield, ed. Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women
Rachel Pollack, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot
Richard Schwartz and Martha Sweezy, Internal Family Systems Therapy
Vivek Shraya, She of the Mountains
Marion Woodman and Robert Bly, The Maiden King
Robert Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade, The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: Poems for Men
Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman, Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation
Dominique Christina, This Is Woman’s Work
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run with the Wolves
Seena Frost, SoulCollage® Evolving
Jane Hirshfield, ed. Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women
Rachel Pollack, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot
Richard Schwartz and Martha Sweezy, Internal Family Systems Therapy
Vivek Shraya, She of the Mountains
Marion Woodman and Robert Bly, The Maiden King
Details & Logistics
Schedule:
10 sessions / 20 weeks
Every other Monday evening, 6:15-7:45PM Eastern time, via Zoom.
September 20
October 4
October 18
November 1
November 15
November 29
December 13
January 3
January 17
January 31
PLUS Optional in-person outdoor / safe social distancing sessions for NH/VT participants within traveling distance to the Upper Valley.
(Participants in other shared locations may choose to form their own pods for in-person gatherings.)
Prerequisites:
Participants in this workshop might have previously completed an introduction to SoulCollage® class, be familiar with the card-making process, and have some experience of consulting their cards. Alternately, participants might have zero knowledge of SoulCollage®, be mad Tarot witches or similar, and be willing to fly by the seat of their pants for the sake of beauty, without getting flustered by what they don't know.
Group Size:
This course is limited to 16 participants.
REGISTRATION FOR SUITPLAY IS NOW CLOSED.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THE FORM BELOW TO SIGN UP FOR MY SOULCOLLAGE® ANNOUNCEMENTS LIST.
Materials:
- Card stock/mat board/cereal boxes/other packaging, cut to a consistent size. 5x8" is a standard SoulCollage® size. You can also choose another size that feels good in your hands and gives you room to collage elements together. You'll need about 20 pieces, maybe more, maybe less.
- Glue stick
- Scissors with a good tip
- Old magazines and books for collaging
- You may want to look through the photographs on your phone / computer, and choose some that feel saturated with a particular color energy (as I have done in the slideshow above). Either print them yourself or have them printed in SoulCollage®-friendly 5x7" format.
- You may be drawn to create cards that incorporate stitching, textiles, painting, drawing, and other colored materials. All of this is most welcome. Let your intuition guide you.
- A notebook, loose paper, and a pen
- If you like, you can buy clear plastic sleeves for your cards. This makes them easier to shuffle and protects them. The SoulCollage® website offers these and other prepackaged supplies for making cards.
- If you like, you can prepare backing papers for your cards, to unify them as a deck and/or to identify your Suits. For supply purposes this means you might like to have some decorative / wrapping papers cut to the same size as your cards.
Tech Requirements:
You'll need access to a device with a webcam and fast internet to participate.
You'll also need to make sure you have the most recent version of Zoom downloaded on your device.
Cost:
This course is offered by sliding scale donation:
- $0 if you are in the midst of serious financial challenges
- $500 if you are feeling flush and want to support me in offering this work for all participants, regardless of their ability to pay
- ...or anything in between.
Unless you have made other arrangements with me, payment (if applicable) is due before our first session.
No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Payment:
Venmo @Julie-Puttgen, or contact me for information on how to mail a check.
Facilitator
Julie Püttgen, MA, CMHC, SEP, MFA (she/her/hers)
I show up in the world as an artist, somatic and expressive arts therapist, and meditation teacher. A committed meditator since 1995 and former Buddhist nun, I facilitate retreats and programs exploring the intersections of Art (creativity) and Dharma (applied insight). I offer Expressive and Somatic therapies for adults and adolescents as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor at the Center for Integrative Health in Hanover, NH, where I am Co-director and coordinate Community Enrichment Programs.
I show up in the world as an artist, somatic and expressive arts therapist, and meditation teacher. A committed meditator since 1995 and former Buddhist nun, I facilitate retreats and programs exploring the intersections of Art (creativity) and Dharma (applied insight). I offer Expressive and Somatic therapies for adults and adolescents as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor at the Center for Integrative Health in Hanover, NH, where I am Co-director and coordinate Community Enrichment Programs.
What my cards want me to tell you about this course:
I am the one who breaks up boredom and isolation with wonder, community, and animal intelligence. Bring all these into the work. Name the isolation and ennui of another Fall and Winter lived in the shadow of the pandemic.
I am one who seduces and avoids intimacy. I am one who attends to gorgeous surfaces and longs to get inside. I am one who wants to understand gender and desire, as the immediacy of myself, the world, and others. Make sure you name the Suits aspect of this work. Make sure you name the power and fear of entering into intimacy.
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I am the Temple at the Charnel Grounds. I bring awareness of dissolving and reforming meanings, and the need to pull up what is alive and has seemed dead. Make sure you name this.
I am the Panda Fool, dwelling in a place of hilarious, embodied self-comfort. Yes, the beginning and the end of the world are here. Yes, you can still lick your nose and hug your own furry knees around your belly. I am your beginner’s mind, rediscovering the cosmos and yourself in it.
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Questions?
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