by LeAnne Nesbitt
A woman walked up to me after the workshop with tears in her eyes, I often half-joke that I know it's been a good workshop if someone cries, and I can usually count on a few tears coming forth. The safe, gentle process of SoulCollage® has a way of sneaking up on a person. As we meet again those parts of ourselves that we've lost touch with or perhaps disowned, the reunion can be quite emotional.
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Contemplative Artist
(Committee Suit)
by LeAnne Nesbitt
I Am One Who is inspired and healed in the process of making art
.
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Instant Artists
For this woman, it was meeting her inner artist for the first time that prompted the flow of tears. She said, "I never thought of myself as a creative person, much less artistic. My card is beautiful! I had no idea I could do something like this." I've heard many variations of this same sentiment over the years since I became a Facilitator.
In the opening paragraph of
SoulCollage® Evolving, Seena Frost immediately challenges the reader to move past this first, common obstacle expressed by those who are new to SoulCollage®:
"Come, let us sit down together for an hour or so and each of us will create a collage! What? You are not an artist? Not true. Using the SoulCollage® process everyone becomes an instant artist, and we also become explorers of Soul." (p. 1)
My Introduction to SoulCollage®
When I first discovered SoulCollage® in 2012, I had long been exploring personal creativity through writing and photography and made the connection between art-making and soul work.
At the time, I was deep in the throes of my personal mid-life crisis and dark night of the soul. Steeped in grief over the loss of some of my most cherished dreams, looking at a life that was nothing at all like I'd imagined it would be, and with the future looking dim and uncertain, the method found me when I needed it the most.
I intuited that it was time to recover something that I'd lost in service to building a life that no longer seemed to fit. This turning inward led me to sign up for a free journal writing group at the local library. My instructor also happened to be a SoulCollage® Facilitator, and she invited me to a "Playshop" she was hosting.
She had me at the word SoulCollage®! When Seena Frost first conceived the idea in the late 1980s (p. 4), she initially dubbed it "the Neter Card process." Later the name SoulCollage® was chosen as more relatable and inviting. This turned out to be a brilliant decision. I find people are drawn to the process, as I was, by the mere mention of the name.
Little did I know that I was embarking on a journey of self-discovery that changed my life in myriad ways and brought me into a community of kindred spirits who inspire me every step of the way.
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Creative Potential
(Committee Suit)
by LeAnne Nesbitt
I Am One Who
is pregnant with creative inspiration and ready to bring my new life into being.
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Start Right Where You Are
To truly answer the question, "What is SoulCollage®?" one must experience it. Getting started is easy with just brief instructions, a few basic materials, and a little bit of time. I'm consistently amazed at how even the shortest introductory workshops can impact participants in profound and memorable ways.
You don't need to know much about SoulCollage® to create your first card. Seena gives us the recipe in Chapter 1. Just three readily accessible ingredients
- Images, Intuition, and Imagination - are all you need to get started (p. 1).
For those who continue to explore on their own, taking workshops, and perhaps even training as a Facilitator, SoulCollage® offers a path to self-discovery, personal growth, and a reliable source of guidance for a lifetime.
As Seena writes,
"The longer you work with the images, the more power they have to reveal and change patterns in your life." (p. 2)
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Wounded Healer
(Council Suit)
by LeAnne Nesbitt
I Am One Who i
s not afraid to my scars as I move toward the healing light of self-knowledge.
By compassionately tending my own wounds, fully committing to my own healing journey and sharing what I've learned, I participate in the healing of the world.
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The Call to Individuate
My first SoulCollage® card, which I entitled
Wounded Healer, turned out to be representative of Larger Story energies.
These are, as Seena explains,
"energies that have chosen to work in you, and who are guiding, nudging you ... even dragging you along your path ... -- the universal, eternal and invisible ones who weave your local story into the Larger Story of all creation" (p. 3).
Following C.G. Jung, Seena named these energies "archetypes." The Wounded Healer archetype is one specifically identified by Jung to explain how a personal wounding is often a factor behind an analyst's choice of career.
At the time I made this card, I'd been exposed to Jungian thought through my favorite self-help authors, but didn't begin to explore his theories in depth until two years later when I began my studies in Spiritual Direction, and subsequently Dream Work, at the Haden Institute. Looking back, I can see how my own wounding might have informed my decision to pursue vocational training to companion other seekers in service to their healing and wholeness.
My Wounded Healer not only illumined that aspect of self for me, she was also leading me towards my personal journey of individuation. As Jung's close colleague Marie-Louise von Franz wrote,
"The process of individuation, of becoming whole, generally begins with a wounding of the personality and the suffering that accompanies it.
This initial shock amounts to a sort of 'call,' although it is not often recognized as such." (C. G. Jung, J. Henderson, M.-L. von Franz, A. Jaffé, J. Jacobi, Man and His Symbols (New York: Doubleday, 1964), p.166).
Thus, my first SoulCollage® card has been my companion and guide for the past eight years as I deepened my practice and discovered many of the parts that make up the whole of who I am. Without a doubt, there are still many yet to be revealed and healed. Individuation is, after all, a lifelong journey -- one which was assisted immeasurably by my own asking of the simple question posed in this chapter: "What is SoulCollage®?"
LeAnne Nesbitt is a SoulCollage® Facilitator from Nashville, Tennessee and holds certificates in Spiritual Direction and Dream Work from the Haden Institute. She believes in the healing power of images and metaphor and uses dream work, poetry, and a variety of intuitive creative practices to help others connect to inner divine wisdom. LeAnne also serves the SoulCollage® community as Editor-in-Chief of the Neter Letter and SoulCollage® Community Update newsletters, and Soul-cial Media™ Coordinator.