Created by Seena B. Frost in the late 1980’s, SoulCollage® is an intuitive art-making process usually done on mat board, 5 by 8 inches in size. As Seena says in her book SoulCollage® Evolving: An Intuitive Collage Process for Self-Discovery and Community, “The SoulCollage® process is a way to tend soul and explore psyche at the same time.”
Absolutely no artistic ability is necessary to create a SoulCollage® card, only a willingness to trust the SoulCollage® process and one’s own intuition. The card-maker creates a collage of images that symbolize the Neters, the many different parts his/her Self and Soul. These Neters are the card-maker’s allies, guides and challengers. Since each SoulCollage® card has a message for the artist, they can be utilized to help the artist answer pressing life questions by tapping into their inner wisdom.
SoulCollage® is a trademarked process created by Seena Frost. For more information on Seena, the process, or Facilitator Training, please visit her website.
SoulCollage® cards are made either from one’s own art or from images found in materials which have been bought by or given to the SoulCollage® card maker.
These collaged cards are used only for the cardmaker’s own inner exploration. SoulCollage® cards are not sold, traded, bartered, or copied (except as a back-up for the cardmaker’s own use) as is stated in the Principles of SoulCollage®. Where SoulCollage® cards are available to be seen by others, it is for the purposes either of demonstrating the SoulCollage® process or for sharing the cardmaker’s inner process in the context of community.
SoulCollage® is grateful to the artists and photographers who make this deep awakening process possible and in all ways SoulCollage® seeks to be respectful of their rights.
You may find lots of wonderful resources about how SoulCollage® can help you “Discover Your Wisdom and Change Your World”™ here at https://www.soulcollage.com/
Your SoulCollage® Deck
Ultimately, the card-maker will compile a deck of SoulCollage® cards, ultimately and typically consisting of three Transpersonal Cards, (Source, Witness and Soul Essence), plus four Suits–Committee, Community, Companion, and Council.
Cards are made intuitively by choosing an assortment of images and arranging them into a collage, or made intentionally by choosing images that symbolize a particular theme in the card-maker’s life.
Once the card is made, the artist asks it to speak about itself and then records the answers to such questions as: Who are you? What do you have to give me? What do you want me to remember? This is called the “I Am One Who…” process of SoulCollage®.
The artist can also receive guidance by consulting their own deck of SoulCollage® cards, asking a question, drawing cards at random, and then allowing each card to respond to the artist’s question.
Transpersonal Cards
There are only three Transpersonal Cards: Source, Witness, and SoulEssence. Unlike all the other members of the deck, the three Transpersonal cards are silent.
Though Source is formless and imageless, the artist attempts to symbolize through images his or her understanding of Source–also called many other names such as Spirit, God, Ground of Being or the “Oneness of all that is.”
The Witness card represents the part of every person’s soul that has the capacity to ascend to a higher state of awareness and see through the lens of Source, observing all of life without judging.
Seena Frost describes the SoulEssence card as depicting the “unique spark of Source that is present in every created form; a spark of divinity within each of us that is our particular essence.”
Committee Suit: The Psychological Dimension
The Committee Suit consists of cards that represent the psychological dimension or the inner parts of the artist’s personality. Making Committee cards has allowed me to celebrate, name, claim, and integrate many parts of my personality.
Seena Frost taught us that everyone should create four cards in their Committee Suit that represent four universal human experiences. The Grateful Self and the Happy Inner Child cards are reminders of that innocent and delighted/delightful aspect of human personality. Two often unclaimed parts of our personality are represented by the Critic of Self and the Judge of Others. Creating these SoulCollage® can bring rich awareness, leading to a feeling of integrity, health and wholeness.
The Community Suit: The Communal Dimension
The Community Suit honors real people in the artist’s life, family and friends, pets, ancestors and mentors, teachers and heroes, public figures as well as fictional characters. It is a great joy to present my Beloveds with a Community card that honors their unique place in my heart.
The Companion Suit: The Energetic Dimension
The Companion Suit taps into the invisible energetic dimension. Seena created this Suit as a way to encourage modern people to be more aware of their relationship to the natural world. Many indigenous people recognize and utilitze this energy. Often during special ceremonies such as vision quests, a particular animal appears to the quester with a special message. That animal then becomes a lifelong, sacred and powerful totem.
In the SoulCollage® process, a special guided visualization helps the artist find images from the natural world to symbolize the artist’s seven major energy centers in the body which some call the chakras. The artist has the possibility of becoming friends with these new allies and to benefit from their wisdom and strength.
The Council Suit: The Archetypal Dimension
The Council Suit depicts the powerful archetypes that influence the artist’s life. Archetypes are universal themes and qualities that dwell in the invisible realm of the spiritual dimension or what Carl Jung called our Collective Unconscious. The Fool and Death are the other two cards that Seena Frost says belong in each deck’s Council Suit since they represent universal human experiences.
An archetype is an energy that claims you early in life. All humans experience a special familiarity with certain archetypes. You may not even know it is there because it feels like breathing to you, like second nature. Often it is an energy that manifests as a preoccupation or a talent that comes easily–to you. The energy becomes an invisible thread woven throughout your life.
If you listen to interviews with gifted people, they will tell stories of their early childhood, of being good at or fascinated with things such as opera, painting, playing sports, charming bullies, singing, leading groups, dressing up, decorating their dollhouse, protesting unfair rules, organizing protests, etc. You are hearing the story of the archetype’s influence in that person’s life.
What are the archetypes that have claimed you?
Certain Committee cards may show how an archetype is manifesting in the personal psyche. For example, my Council card archetype of Great Mother has its corresponding Committee cards in several cards about my journey as a mother from the age of 19 on.
Resources
To assist you in creating your deck, check out KaleidoSoul where will find extensive classes and self-directed classes, created by master teacher and SoulCollage® Trainer and Facilitator Anne Marie Bennett.
Making SoulCollage® cards with others is a great joy!