Back to School!

Yes, it's been a while since I've posted here on this blog, but new (school) year, new leaf, so it seems a good time to update you a little on recent and upcoming happenings in my SoulCollage® world.

First up... The next workshop in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, will be held on Saturday, october 8th, 10.30a.m. to 4p.m., at Letterkenny Women's Centre and you are welcome along whether you've been before or are completely new to the process. There will be a brief introduction, an overview of the creation of a deck of SoulCollage® cards, but mainly, opportunity to play with images and create some cards of your own. As always, you are welcome to bring along a packed lunch, and tea/coffee will be available. Cost for the day's workshop is €30.

I thought I'd take a little time to share with you some of what's been happening for me this summer. I've had quite an exciting time - with my first-ever visit to Denmark, in July, where I shared SoulCollage® with participants at the Baha'i summer-school over the course of three relaxed afternoons. All except one of the participants were new to the process, and they found it fascinating. There were Danes, Norwegian, German and Welsh people there - including a few men, who contributed really interesting perspectives to the sharing.



The photo shows two participants appreciating one of their cards while enjoying a cup of tea - and it allows you a glimpse of the great location - right on the shore of a beautiful fiord, at Holboek, Denmark. I had a wonderful time there, and have the warmest memories of the people I encountered.



Back home, I completed a card that I'd begun during the summer-school - the first to include a specific image of Ireland. It relates to a feeling of inviting protection and shelter for my country.


I spent the first week of August at the Irish Baha'i Summer School in Kilkenny, and during that week, offered 5 evenings of workshops. These were open to all, and I had drop-in visits from children who asked eagerly "Can I make a card?" along with teens and adults. Some people came only once, and a few came on each of the five evenings, having "caught the bug" The hundred blank cards I began the week with were quickly decimated, and I came home with only 2 or 3! That's a lot of cards completed in a short time. As there were alternate programmes of workshops running concurrently, and people had a wonderful range of arts, health, spirituality song, dance and creative activities to choose from, I was delighted to see returnees on the second and subsequent evenings (and quite a few people who had attended when I ran workshops during the 2009 school also).



One busy participant's workspace!

And a final piece of SoulCollage® news from me. - I've just submitted my first guest-column for the monthly Soul Songs newsletter, which comes free to all subscribers from the wonderful Anne Marie Bennett at KaleidoSoul.com. It will be in the October issue, so if you'd like to subscribe, why not go ahead and do it now? You can sign up right there on the home-page - scroll down the right-hand column.

I'm planning to return to the practice of sharing my cards and readings occasionally here, so here's hoping we'll meet again soon!

The Power of Woman

This card is not one of mine, but I have permission to share it here. At the first workshop I gave in Limerick, my home-town, one friend made this card. The power of the image, and the wonderful spirit of survival and feminine strength with which she spoke when she did a brief "I am one who" made me ask Ann if she would email me the card later on. Before she did, I discovered this card on Cheryl's blog, using the same image of that woman, that powerful woman. Seeing this, and telling Cheryl of the synchronicity makes me all the more sure the card is meant to be shared. I asked Ann if she was ok with sharing her card and a few lines, and here is what she sent:

I'm the one who seeks strength from within. Who appreciates that I am only here for a short time on this planet. Regardless of any problems I think I may have I have to remember there is much worse out there. I now appreciate life and no longer take it for granted.

I am the one who dreams...and wish upon that falling star to maintain my free spirit which is often drained and forced from us as we get older. Gazing into the distance of future and past to help improve myself and whilst moving forward in life not to regret any of my past but use as a learning process for my future.

I am the one who wants to be proud of myself and reach deep inside and find every inch of strength as the woman in my card does to stand tall and look both beautiful from the inside and out. I want to believe in myself, trust my own instincts from which my character and confidence can grow.

I am the one who wishes to fly like that butterfly, albeit a short life .....embrace! Look beautiful, think beautiful and always will be beautiful! If that's all I can take from this life then it'll have been worth it.

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I am awestruck at the card and the words Ann has produced! She tells me she has been bringing the card with her to work every day. I'm not surprised. It gives me chills to witness the immediate impact of SoulCollage, and it humbles me to be able to share this with you.

A strange thing happened on the way to the workshop....

This weekend just past was a special weekend for me, in that I held my first public SoulCollage workshop on Saturday. Any others I've facilitated to date, I had been invited to come to a writers' group, a women's group, or a youth class to intoduce SoulCollage, but in this instance, I planned and advertised the day. 16 women came, including the wonderful Caroline, who travelled from England to participate and support, and it was a very special experience for me. It was an honour to witness the process at work in people who had just encountered it, and to see the beautiful cards produced intuitively and gracefully by these women. Feedback was very good, and I hope this was the first of many such days.

And a funny thing happened! (Well, synchronicities abounded, in fact, throughout the weekend). On Saturday evening, chilling and relaxing after the day's intense activity, Caroline and I were sharing one another's decks of cards, and she mentioned her Dalai Lama card. Well... when I went to find mine, it wasn't there, and I realised also that my Time card wasn't there. I didn't really become very concerned, assuming they were misplaced (and also, safe in the knowledge that I have copies scanned in my computer). Yesterday, a thorough search of all possible places they might have been turned up nothing. They're really missing. Ok.

Last night, I began to wonder - Are they the only cards missing? Are there others I haven't noticed that are also gone? So, I printed out a list of all my cards, and ran through the deck, ticking off the cards. Lo and behold! Two others were also gone - My autumn self, and Shyness. Hmm.

I think they've all given themselves to the weekend. If they never turn up again, they have gone to the place of that workshop, saying:

Dalai Lama:

Don't forget that this work has a spiritual element, but that you can also have fun. Take the spiritual aspects lightly. Nothing needs to be heavy. Be happy. Be joyful!

My Autumn Self

Remember to celebrate this weekend's

workshop as one of the fruits of the work

you have been doing in your life over the

past years.

Shyness:

You don't have to be held back by your natural reserve. You can be in groups of people, lead a group, and still be yourself.

Time - Past, Present & Future:

When you are working with Soul, time is not relevant. Soul knows past, present and future at once. Be prepared for time to lose its meaning.

How strange. It's Tuesday now, and the cards still haven't turned up. But the search for them has turned up some surprising and very useful ideas and images. I think my entire deck was getting ready for an evolutionary shift, and this has been part of the review. More on that tomorrow!