by Anne Marie Bennett
It is the relationship with the card that counts, not how good the art is. ~ Kylea Taylor
| Inner Romantic by Anne Marie Bennett |
I always tell the people in my classes that the whole point of SoulCollage� is not to be creating beautiful works of art, although I like to quote Will Rogers when I say I never met a SoulCollage� card I didn't like. I truly believe that every SoulCollage� card ever made, is being made right now, or ever will be made in years to come, is beautiful, simply because it reflects a bit of a person's soul.
Maybe now you're wondering what the point of making the cards really is, if it's not to be creating beautiful art. Well, my friend, I will tell you. We make SoulCollage� cards in order to create deep relationship with ourselves. And in the process, we sometimes also create deeper relationships with others and with Spirit.
In the long run, we are making meaning, not making art. We are creating relationships, not just collages.
A new SoulCollager recently stood in front of my deck, reverently running her fingers over the many cards contained in the beautiful box. I watched her for a while. Now and then, she would pull one of my cards out and hold it in her hands, gazing at it with a smile on her face. Sometimes her brow would crease into a frown. After she had flipped through both stacks of my cards, she turned to me and said, "You have so many cards. How can you possibly remember which one is which?" I smiled then, because I remember wondering the exact same thing when I first saw a huge SoulCollage� deck, with no words on the back of any of the cards to delineate their meanings.
I replied, "I do remember each and every card, because each one is an integral part of me, even if I don't know what it means yet. I usually can remember when I made it. If not the exact year, then I remember what was happening in my life around the time that I made it."
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Anne Marie Bennett's SoulCollage� Deck
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She was still puzzled until I added, "As I create each card and then work with it, I'm developing a relationship with it. That's what the I Am the One Who ... process is all about. When we journal with a card, we are beginning and then continuing a relationship with it. It's just like when you meet someone new, a potential romantic partner or friend. You ask the person questions to begin to get to know them, and then the relationship continues. There is give and take. You learn something new about them every time. It's like this with our cards, too. We are giving image to parts of our inner and outer worlds, and then we're developing relationships with them."
Unlike a flesh and blood intimate relationship, you don't have to romance your cards by bringing them pretty bouquets of flowers. You don't have to take them on romantic trips to B&B's by the ocean or even buy them expensive jewelry. You just have to be there for them when they need to say something. You just have to ask them how they're feeling, what they need, and how you can care for them.
Time for Reflection
If you have a large deck, spend some time this week with your cards. Take a quick glance at each one. Do you have a relationship with each of your own cards? Can you remember what was happening in your life when you made most of them?
If the "romance" between you and your cards seems a bit lacking, spend some real time in the next few weeks starting to develop a relationship with one of your cards. Try sitting down with the cards and your journal, and doing the I Am the One Who ... exercise with each of them.
SoulCollage� Resource:
Please visit here for more information about journaling with one card at a time.
Anne Marie Bennett is a writer, self-taught artist, cancer survivor, and SoulCollage� Facilitator/Trainer who was mentored directly by Seena Frost. In 2005, she fell in love with SoulCollage� and was inspired to serve the world by putting SoulCollage� "out there" with her website, KaleidoSoul. Anne Marie lives in eastern Massachusetts with her middle-aged husband, an elderly dog and two adolescent felines who keep them all young. |