Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Committee Suit: The Balanced Self

I am one who balances time so that I am not overwhelmed with too much of one thing. I am one who balances what is needed for mental and spiritual health. I am one who is centered and grounded and veers from overextension. I am one who has time for the self and time for community, time for quiet and family, time for friends and work - all these without being over committed. I am one who has mastered a life of balance.

I give you the ability to discern when too much is too much. I give you the desire to add elements into your life that is needed for a healthy balance. I give you the wisdom to notice when balance needs to be checked and the knowledge in how to adjust your life. My gift to you is in the serenity that balance creates.

I want you to find ways to manage your time so that you are not overwhelmed and overcommitted. I want you to take time to quiet the self and feed the inner harmony that is needed for balance. I want you to step back and learn to say no when too much is asked from you. I want you to know how to cull out your calendar for the sake of the time you need for your spiritual health.

Companion Suit: 3rd Eye Chakra - Snow Owl

I am one who peers into the darkness but knows the way. I am one who hears that small voice within you, even when you do not have the courage to speak. I am one who flies silently into the shadows and emerges without harm. I sense the dawn before it begins.

My gift to you is in the heightened senses of hearing and seeing and stillness. I will help you sit with your shadow self until you gain knowledge and personal power. And from that knowledge you will be able to see life with clarity.

I want you to be still and watch those around you and learn. Embrace your shadow self and understand it. Gather the wisdom you carry within, the wisdom that the shadow teaches you and use it to help give others something to ponder. Refine your listening and your seeing. I want you to learn to see behind the masks people wear, particularly those you struggle with.

Community Suit: Fernando

I am one who loves you without restriction. I am one who is accepting of your faults and shortcomings. I am one with whom you can rely on to support you. I am one who wants all your dreams to come true. I have waited for you from time's beginning and will be with you until its end.

My gift to you is to show you that you can be completely real and I will not leave you. In fact, I encourage you to be more of who you are. My gift to you is to support you and stand by you as you strive for your dreams and fulfill your desires. My gift to you is in bringing humor and laughter and acceptance into your life. I will reflect back to you all the best parts of yourself and support you as you discover your shadow. My gift is my love to my love.

I want you to adore yourself as much as I adore you. I want you to grasp happiness and to continue to use your ability to to create. I want you to discover your own goodness and embrace your shadow self.

Committee Suit: My Body, My Temple

I am one who represents a beautiful working machine, pulsing with regenerative qualities, oxygen flowing through every cell. I breathe in the world, I breathe out the world. I am one who carries the spirit and houses the soul. I am one who gave life to daughters and am capable of amazing feats.

I bring to you the gift of possibilities. I am a shape shifter. No matter what shape I'm in, I can always re-shape myself. I may grow old and begin to wear, but as I do so, I fill with wisdom and stories and experiences.

I want you to honor me as a temple, a place where you would enter with sacredness. I want you to care for me as you would anything sacred in your life. I want you to give me your time.

Committee Suit: The Creative Child Within

I am the Creative Child once hidden, who is now bursting forth in color and form. I am the one who sees the world through different eyes. I am the one who needs to take what is within me and express it outside of me. I can become lost within my many avenues of expression. I create with a child's freedom.

My gift to you is to teach you how to emmerse yourself in the process of creating, no matter what the end result is. It is in the process and application that changes you. My gift to you is to believe anything is possible, to birth these new possibilities with abandon. My gift is in exploring color and form and shape, to breathe life into clay, to capture the elements of pigment and water and to express the self with a visual component.

I want you to always create something from nothing - to take what is inside of you and bring it into the light for others to view. I want you to honor the "process" rather than the end result. I want you to learn more of the inner self through self expression and explore the non traditional that you feel pulled to explore. I don't want you to play it safe any more. I want you to write again and dance again and know that the visual form is not the only creation you can do. I want you to hold sacred all your creations and your ability for creativity rather than putting a value on it which may be determined merely by a sale. Know that in creating, you are also the Creator.

Committee Suit: The Perfect Hostess

I am one who sets a stage by thinking of the details. I serve the guests in my home and create space for pampering. I am one who needs for everything to fall in place. I am one who hopes for my peers to see me as skillful and gracious.

I bring with me the ability to create a beautiful space so others feel special and important. I also bring the ability to make a comfortable home so that my guests think of my home as theirs.

I want you to do the same for yourself by creating your own space to pamper you within. I want you to take the extra time to set the china for yourself, arrange flowers for your table, and cook yourself a special meal. You don't always need guests as an excuse to pamper.

THE SOURCE

I am the Beginning, the Source of all there is. I am pure conciousness, Creator, Big Mind and Big Heart. I am within and without. I am. And I am not. I am breath.

The process of SoulCollage®

When I first discovered the process of SoulCollage® , I was attending an annual women's retreat in Arizona. As a professional artist, the workshop description of a creative collage experience really piqued my interest, particularly as it was focused on exploring the self - something very familiar to me. I had never heard of SoulCollage® but within the few hours of the workshop, I knew it touched me deep within my soul and spoke to me in a way that was a natural, creative companion to my journaling, writing, and self-discovery work. Working with these small creations, I leave the behind the world of the rational mind, concrete logic and the need to strive for perfection and I step into imagination, poetry and imagery as the process takes wings.

SoulCollage® is a unique process developed by therapist Seena Frost over twenty-five years ago which takes symbols, images, spiritual practices and reflection on archetypes to create small artistic collages that illustrates one's story. Each card is very personal and represents portions of one's journey, yet is also creative and fun to do as a group with others. Quiet reflection combined with the intuitive process of creating these collages opens up yet another world of expression as one taps into an inner knowing and journal the words, prayers and inspiration that arise from this process.

With this process, a deck of artistic cards is created - small collages that represent your personal mythology and the many aspects of your very self, your soul, and all the guides and companions that walk your journey with you. Each "suit" represents one of the following facets of your life: a part of your personality, people who support you, an animal that has special significance to you or a mythical or religious figure which guides you. Anyone can make these cards and there is no artistic skill needed. By "paying attention" to your life, the images from various ordinary magazines and other published works will almost choose you.

This blog was created in order to share my collages with students, family and friends that are interested and eager in begining this collage and journalling process.


- Debbie Cannatella