Greetings!
This morning, I walked around the Brookside pond, a wetland area fed by Johnson Creek. The birds are taking the month of August off, so I used my binoculars to watch for fish, beaver and dragonflies. My patience paid off. Looking like a piece of driftwood, I spotted a huge beaver working the edge of the pond.
Who would have suspected just 15 minutes from downtown Portland, in the middle of suburbia, such wildlife would thrive.
Like our lives, with patience and a good pair of "inner binoculars," we can spot our wildness, our animal intelligence. And in case you mislaid your "inner binoculars," pull out your SoulCollage cards. They are portals to your rich inner kingdom. They will connect you to your wildish nature, your creativity, your wisdom and your shadow.
Below, you'll find some tips for using your SoulCollage cards, some workshops and food for the Soul.
Hope
this little newsletter finds you happy and healthy and enjoying the
summer.
 Fondly,
Suzie
PS. I recently completed a 12 month art challenge called Nature Gathered with 12 other artists. We're thrilled to have our 120+ canvases hanging in the Sixth Street Gallery in Vancouver from August 1 - 31. If you'd like to see it, join us Friday August 7 at 7:00 pm at the Sixth Street Gallery 105 W Sixth
Street, Vancouver, WA 98660, www.sixthstreetgallery.com,
360-693-7340
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Quick Calendar
Saturday August 8 - SoulCollage to the Rescue PCC
Saturday August 15 - SoulCollage Archetypes at New Renaissance.
Saturday October 31 - All Soul's at New Renaissance
Friday - Sunday Dec 11 - 13 - Breitenbush Retreat
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NEW SoulCollage to the Rescue Portland Community College - Sylvania Campus
Saturday August 8, 2009 1 - 5:00 HT 320 $29
Struggling with anxiety or depression? Stressed out? Learn how to relax and find your inner wisdom with SoulCollage. No experience necessary. All materials provided. (Last I checked there were only 4 spaces left, so sign up now!)
Register at PCC
SoulCollage: The Power of Archetypes.
Saturday August 15, 2009 11 - 4:00 pm $60
New Renaissance Books, 23rd & NW Pettygrove
 Carl
Jung suggested that the archetypes choose us, we don't choose them.
Find out which
archetypes are active in your life and how they can both challenge and
empower you! Maybe you'll discover such characters as The Wild
Woman (as in Women Who Run with the Wolves), The Crone or Wise Woman,
The Healer, The Artist, Mother or Fool to name a few.
Carolyn Myss
describes Archetypal forces in her book Sacred Contracts. In this
workshop you will discover them for yourself. Open the doorway to begin the fascinating journey of
conscious partnership with your Council of Archetypes. The answers are waiting
inside you.
In this in-depth workshop, you will learn how to make
SoulCollage cards, as well as meet your Archetypes. You will have time
to make a number of cards, as well as consult your cards using the amazing
SoulCollage "reading" process.
All materials are provided. Come play,
have fun, and discover yourself. Be preprepared to be amazed. Register at New RenaissanceNEW SoulCollage on All Soul's Day
Saturday October 31 11- 4:00 pm
$60
New Renaissance Books 23rd and NW Pettygrove
Enjoy a dialogue with the Soul in all
its facets. With simple materials, you can create your own amazing deck of
cards. These cards will help you call in your ancestors, your animal guides, the
archetypes, and your Neters. Have a fascinating dialogue with them, play,
create, and celebrate all the aspects of your Soul. Creativity has never been so
easy and so fun. All materials provided for a different sort of Halloween.
Breitenbush Hot Springs
Women's Retreat
Friday December 11 through Sunday December 13, 2009 Detroit, Oregon
Early Registration Before Nov 11 $130 plus lodging, or $149 after Nov 11 plus lodging. Register by calling Reservations: 503.854.3320 Monday through Saturday 9am-4pm
More Details
What
could be more delicious than gathering with a group of women in a yurt,
bathed in the sound of a clear mountain river, surrounded by the
natural beauty of Breitenbush? Allow your creative spirit to soar and
collage to your heart's content? Experience how aspects of your
personality, archetypal influences, animal companions and community
members reveal themselves as you enter into conscious relationship with
them. Open a portal to your inner wisdom. Deepen your connection to
Self and Soul. Awaken your intuition. You will be gently led into the
process through music, meditation, collage card making, guided imagery,
storytelling and journaling.
Take home the beginnings of a magnificent deck of uniquely personal
cards and a creative practice that you can continue on your own,
allowing you to sit at the feet of your inner teacher through the
lovely creations that you have made. You will fall in love with your
cards and be amazed at how beautiful and meaningful they are!
Stay connected with your intuitive mind,
explore life's questions and deepen your process in supportive
collaboration with others. . . .If you've treated yourself to this
retreat before, we'd love to welcome you back. If you're new, we'd
love to meet you and show you the magic of SoulCollage!
Question? Please email me! suzie@suziewolfer.com
Visit Breitenbush online and take an online tour of this unique sanctuary.
SoulCollage Facilitator Training
Friday April 23 - 35, 2010, Portland OR
Details to follow, email me if you'd like an application suzie@suziewolfer.com
Learn more about SoulCollage Workshops |
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SoulCollage and Psychotherapy
People ask me, "Can I do therapy with you and my SoulCollage cards?" The answer is yes! Can you ever!
Over the last 6 years, I've noticed that therapy with SoulCollage imagery seems to be deeper and faster, with more lasting results.
How does this work? SoulCollage imagery gives clients a whole brain perspective which is much less judgemental. It opens up new stories, with hope and possibility. And unlike art alone, because the cards speak, it integrates thinking and feeling. I suspect if we could do brain imaging during SoulCollage based therapy, we'd see 1000s of new neural connections growing.
If you'd like to give this a try, call to chat. If you have health insurance and want to get started, it makes personal growth and recovery work very affordable.
Why wait? Call or email to chat 503-224-3318 suzie@suziewolfer.com
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Which Archetypes are Influencing your life?
Look at
the activities, peoples, stories, metaphors and physical objects in your life
and the archetypes will be revealed. You
can also see it in any enduring frustration that reappears in your life. When we are not aligned in
conscious relationship with archetypal energy, it's shadow can emerge. Barak Obama is greatly influenced by the Leader, Father and Justice Archetype.
Here are some indicators of archetypal forces at work in your life:
 It's a natural talent that needs little hard work. You practice diligently, but it doesn't feel like workIt's something you have a passion for and would do it even if never paidYou have a sense of stamina that keeps you going when things get challenging You don't give up, you get creative, you persevere It's tied to your mission and values, hopes and dreams
If you are not consciously working with the Archetype, or resisting it's purpose, it may be shadowed:
- It could be something you strongly, urgently resist.
- It may show up as a compulsion.
- It's so strongly disowned that you have secret longings but feel hopeless to ever do it.
- You can't help yourself from pursuing things in it's domain, even when others disapprove
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Quick Tip: Copyright Free Imagery
Google software engineers unveiled a change to Google's Image Search that will speed up your ability to find copyright free images!
By checking a few boxes in the "Usage rights" section of the advanced image search page,
you can now filter every image Google has ever indexed so that you see
only files tagged with a license that allows re-use of the image.
What if
you need to modify the image and then use it for commercial
purposes? No problem -- just select which level of usage rights you
need in a drop-down menu, and Google will narrow the search even
further. See the full article by Google.
Tips from Daniel Cook, SoulCollage Facilitator
This is a sample I compiled of search terms and how many images
appeared, showing only images labeled for "reuse with
modification":
Spirit: 573 Woman: 481 Man: 508 Lion: 413 Stress: 444
Beauty: 393 Nature:
461 Birds: 501
For images to use in our
5x8 images that would print well use these sizes:
1) File Size: 744 KB 2a) Width:
5" or 750 px 2b) Height: 8" or 1200 px
3) translates to 150 dpi
minimum
Files that are larger file size (1) or larger dimensions (2) are
safe to use especially to enlarge and crop.
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Upcycling
 "The Practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value." Wikipedia
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SoulCollage: Plant a Seed for Your Future Awakening
It's all in your perspective.
Michael made a very simple card showing a man in ragged overalls clinging to a vertical rock face. His interpretation reflected the psychiatric emergency that motivated him to get help.
His table mate, an older woman who'd been attending for 2 weeks and doing well, listened warmly, inviting him to speak from the card's perspective.
In this group each person read their own card, and if they were willing, had their partner also read the card from their own perspective.
Michael agreed. So his partner read his card, "I am the One who is strong and optimistic, tackling the mountain, instead of just walking the foothills."
As Michael listened, his face showed surprise. He never considered this version of the story, when depression outsmarted him.
Two weeks later, his own optimism returned. He talked about his card differently, "I was feeling so worthless and hopeless. All I could see was failure, impossible circumstances. Now I feel like someone who has the skills to maybe not tackle Mt. Everest, but to scale my own mountains."
Imagery can help us name the problem, as well as remind us of our strengths and skills until we outsmart the old self-defeating stories and they lose their hold on us.
Art can plant a seed for our future awakening.
Take a look at your own cards. What new stories lie buried in their imagery?
You may be pleasantly surprised.
Things to do with your cards:- Invite a friend or a stranger, or a child to read your cards
- Interview a single card, but ask the same question seven (7) times: What would you like me to know? or What do you do? What are you good at? What do you fear?
- With a friend or your SoulCollage group, have each person pose a meaningful question. Draw a card at random. Read your own card, having it answer the question. Then have each person use your card to answer the same question. Prepare to be amazed.
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Using SoulCollage With Children
by Tanya Prather PsyD
It was my daughter Chenoa's 6th birthday and we were having some conflict between
her and my younger daughter.
So I decided to do a reading, asking 2 of my cards
how we could have a great birthday day. I did it in front of the girls.
Chenoa had something to say from each of my cards. I wanted to share
it with you because it is evidence of the wisdom and joy that came from this
weekend [SoulCollage Facilitator Training]. Because of what you all gave me, I could give this to my daughter and
she could come up with such wisdom:
Each card said one sentence in response to "How to have a great birthday
day." -
Nurse your babies Eat red things -
Laugh if something is funny -
Chenoa is the most wonderful girl -
Find a beautiful journey -
Let your girls sleep if they need to -
When something gets crashed down, help it to get back up When you ride on someone you dream and you are having fun and then you
thank them
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Three-Session Breakthrough
with SoulCollage
- Have you made fabulous cards, yet never seem to find the time to read them?
- Are daily challenges sapping your energy?
- Do you feel like some part of your life is on hold?
If
you answered yes, your cards may be waiting patiently to offer you
insights, encouragement and even solutions to these common challenges.
Use the "Three Session Breakthrough" to find out how to explore your cards in a powerful, fun and what could be life changing journey!
Here's what one client said after her first session:
"Working with you stands at the top of some of the most challenging and rewarding work I have ever done.
The way you worked with me allowed me to dive deep. You do very good
depth work without getting in the way. This is truly a gift. I am
grateful."
C. C., web designer and photographer, Gresham Oregon
Call to set up an appointment 503-224-3318. May be health insurance eligible.
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Soul Whispering
"If you are dreaming
at night and love your dream, do you want anyone to wake you
up?
But if you are in a nightmare, full of fear and stress, don't you want someone to say,
"Wake up"?
Well, if this is true
as well for your
waking dreams,
and you are in a nightmare,
the someone
to wake you up is
yourself,
and The Work is how.
With all my heart I welcome to
The Work
everyone caught in the
dream of
suffering."
Love,
byron katie
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Quick Links
Contact Me
503-224-3318
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