SoulCollage® Committee Suit: Feline Familiars

I am one who is soft and curvy, and I am one who is fierce. I am one who enjoys pleasure and will communicate. I am one who is a mystery. I am one who is subtle. And I am one who is primal.

What is your gift or message for me?

Remember to indulge in things that give you joy, comfort, and pleasure.

What do you want me to do?

Watch things. Take your head and eyes out of your computer and watch kitty television, which is watching the world. Be curious about everything around you.

Why did you show up today?

It's been almost a year since Stella died. She was a good friend for 17 years and she is still with you.

If you have a shadow, what would it be? Or, what light do you offer?

The shadow is a tendency to laziness and to sneakiness. The light is the magnificent pleasure of being.

SoulCollage® Committee Suit: Drowning Samaritan

I am one who tries to rescue others from churning situations. I am one who is sometimes drowning. Parts of me flail in the chaos of living. I am one who tries to contain myself in a little boat, but it is too frail and too small for the task. The container has cracked, letting water (chaos) in.

What is your gift or message for me?

Adapt. Sometimes you can help others. Other times you need to rescue yourself. Learn to swim. Choose the right tool for the job; a bucket is not a boat.

What do you want me to do?

Recognize and respect the power of flow and chaos.

Why did you show up today?

Because you are preoccupied with the severe drought in California, and with Stella's increasing infirmities which feel overwhelming.

If you have a shadow, what would it be? Or, what light do you offer?

Don't get in over your head.

SoulCollage® Committee Suit: Contentment

I am one who appreciates what I have. I am able to accept what IS. I am free of striving, yearning, and clinging. I simply enjoy what I enjoy. I understand contentment. 

What is your gift or message for me?

I am the outcome of the practice of presence, attunement, experiencing all senses.

What do you want me to do?

Each day notice one small pleasure for each sense: sight, sound, scent, taste, touch.

Why did you show up today?

Because you deserve to be reminded.

If you have a shadow, what would it be? Or, what light do you offer?

Don't pursue me. I cannot be encountered through pursuit. I arrive when you are attending to life's pleasures.

SoulCollage® Committee Suit: Comfort Food

I am one who still enjoys the first food I was able to make in childhood. It was my first step toward independence to be able to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I also have fond memories of eating Fluffernutters. I am the go-to food of choice when a sense of nostalgic comfort is needed. 

What is your gift or message for me?

You are capable of nourishing yourself even if in the most rudimentary ways.

What do you want me to do?

Allow yourself to experience this childhood treat occasionally.

Why did you show up today?

It seemed as good a time as any. Go buy some Fluff.

If you have a shadow, what would it be? Or, what light do you offer?

My shadow is that too much of me will make you ill over time. 

SoulCollage® Committee Suit: 6th Extinction

I am one who feels the tension between the natural world and the human world. I am one who loves color. I am one who secretly wishes and fears that the 6th Extinction would be humans.

What is your gift or message for me?
Seek nature. Trust in the natural process.

What do you want me to do?
As much as possible, spend time not thinking. Imagine being in the body of a woodpecker or fish or mammal. Make this the practice!

Why did you show up today?
Because you need to be reminded that what looks huge on a small level is all part of the puzzle on the big level.

If you have a shadow, what would it be? Or, what light do you offer?
The light is the fact that I am not in control of any of this, and the shadow is that I am not in control of any of this.

SoulCollage® Transpersonal Cards

These are my transpersonal cards. Transpersonal cards do not have a voice or a story. There is the Source card, which represents the Universe; some people call it God, Chi, The Ground of Being, Consciousness and so on. There is Soul Essence, which is incarnated and expressed through one’s body. Lastly there is a Witness, an aspect observing one’s life, thoughts, feelings, and actions without judgment.

Source: The Unmanifest, the Mystery, Ground of Being, the Divine

Soul Essence: Each person’s unique spark of Source, divine potential

Witness: Our Self that observes what is; nonjudgmental consciousness

SoulCollage®

I facilitate a process of personal exploration called SoulCollage®, in which you (the creator!) make a deck of wisdom cards for yourself -- one by one. No art experience is required! I provide orientation to newcomers. 

We meet as a group, and each participant is free to let go of thinking and story, allowing her eyes to lead her to images that feel interesting. These images are trimmed and arranged on a mat board and then glued. When the session ends, we gather to share our cards; we meet that part of ourselves and hear its wisdom using a series of simple questions. 

The experience of being in a room full of people quietly working in the flow of creativity can be deeply heart-satisfying. It is also fun!

SoulCollage® Salons are generally 3-4 hours long. All supplies are included.

SoulCollage® Suits

Transpersonal Cards: Connection with a place of Spirit, a place of knowing Oneness as a container of your Many.

Committee Cards: Our many inner personality parts, our ego, our character.

Council Cards: The archetypes who guide and challenge us personally, and who are active also in the collective consciousness of the planet.

Community Cards: Our guiding sentient beings, teachers, loved ones, pets, even places.

Companion Cards: Animal guides imagined in our body’s energy centers.

You can also purchase the book by Seena Frost, SoulCollage® Evolving: An Intuitive Collage Process for Self-Discovery and Community.

Every Day Like a Vitamin

I'm 62. My child is 18 and will head off to college this fall. I did the heavy lifting of mothering for 18 years, and while I will always be part of my child's life, they will launch into their own. I have more time, energy, and mental capacity free to use in different ways. Working as a therapist is one project, and I love doing the work. I missed it so much before returning in 2021. 

Another project of mine has been to renovate my life in such a way that I become physically healthier and more fit. Losing weight and regular intense exercise has improved my life so much, particularly my mental health. And goodness knows with the state of U.S. politics, I need to take care of this.

Lately, though, I've noticed I am prioritizing creating daily. It brings such joy and equanimity. It feels as important as eating and sleeping. It puts me in a flow state that enables me to be a decent human being and do good things in the world. But most of all, as I'm getting older, I'm acutely aware that my remaining time is finite and precious. I am going to die. Every day I wake up and put that awareness front and center in my attention, because I want to spend some time every day doing this activity that makes my life rich. When I'm on my deathbed, I want to have no regrets. I want the satisfaction of knowing that I gave myself to life and really engaged.

So every day since January I've been collaging (posted here). And lately I've been making small abstract paintings with watercolor, and converting other painted paper into notecards. It makes me grateful to be alive. And I am grateful to myself that I've made this practice a daily priority.

The Huron Carol - Canadian Christmas Chant

Poem

What if I told you 
that the carpet of lights 
below an ascending plane
are sparks of souls, 
our ancestors visiting 
to light our way through life?

-Kathryn Harper

62!

 "The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been." 

--Madeleine L'Engle

This birthday I decided to pull three cards from the Sufi Wisdom Oracle deck. I held the deck for a few moments and breathed, while listening to meditative music. I felt into Presence, touching the stillness, and relaxed. Remember Stereograms? This is a spiritual equivalent. Then I pulled three cards. They are lovely, especially because the three of them speak to the same theme: trusting love and life; releasing defenses and yielding; the assumption that the universe is mostly benevolent.

Comes And Goes (In Waves)

This one's for the lonely, the one's that seek and find
Only to be let down, time after time
This one's for the torn down, the experts at the fall
Come on friends, get up now, you're not alone at all
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
And this part was for her and this part was for her
This part was for her, does she remember?
It comes and goes in waves, I
This one's for the faithless, the ones that are surprised
They're only where they are now, regardless of their fight
This one's for believing, if only for its sake
Come on friends, get up now, love is to be made
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
And this part was for her and this part was for her
This part was for her, does she remember?
It comes and goes in waves, I
Am only led to wonder why
It comes and goes in waves, I
Am only led to wonder why
Why I try
This is for the ones who stand
For the ones who try again
For the ones who need a hand
For the ones who think they can
It comes and goes in waves, I
Am only led to wonder why
It comes and goes in waves, I
Am only led to wonder why
Why I fly

AMORIRI (Official Video)

Shamanic, animistic, primal, intense, and gorgeous. Discovered while at Ecstatic Dance. A shorter version is in rotation on my music service.

 

The Older I Get, the More I Want to Disappear

 "You know, it is good to hide your brilliance under a bushel, to be anonymous, to love what you are doing and not to show off. It is good to be kind without a name. That does not make you famous, it does not cause your photograph to appear in the newspapers. Politicians do not come to your door. You are just a creative human being living anonymously, and in that there is richness and great beauty."

 - Jiddu Krishnamurti

 Admittedly I don't want to disappear entirely, or this blog wouldn't exist. But increasingly the point of blogging is a conversation with myself and anyone else who happens along, rather than being found and known, critiqued or quoted, by many readers.

More Art

 This piece is one I began last September at an art camp. And tonight, it's complete. It's acrylic on paper, 10" x 14".