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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!

Seena's Invitation to SoulCollage®

Meet Seena B Frost, creator of SoulCollage®

Facilitator Training, Netherlands, 13-15th August, 2010

Announcing the first training of SoulCollage® Facilitators on mainland Europe, which will take place at Groesbeek, the Netherlands, Friday 13th August to Sunday 15th August, 2010

(Beginning with lunch on Friday, 12.30 pm, and finishing after lunch on Sunday, 2.30 p.m.)

A rich, diverse group of people, united in their will to deepen their practice of SoulCollage® and to learn how to share this soul-enriching process with others will gather for a weekend of intensive work, experiencing SoulCollage® in some new and some familiar ways.

The Venue

Our base for the weekend is Conference Centre DePoort, Groesbeek, near Nijmegen, a peaceful and spacious centre, set in 24 acres of forest.

Accommodation will be in single en-suite rooms, and all meals will be provided

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The Training.....

This training may be for you if:

• you are interested in forming a new SoulCollage® group, or deepening the work of an existing group working with the SoulCollage® process.
• want to introduce SoulCollage® in an already established group(such as a church group, woman's group, senior group, hospice network, educational class...etc.)
• want to use this simple art technique in connection with other kinds of groups, classes, or workshops
• are a counsellor, therapist or art therapist who is attracted to exploring ways to use SoulCollage® for healing, therapeutic purposes
• are a minister/spiritual guide/active member of any faith who wants to facilitate SoulCollage® in your ministry and use it to build community
• are a teacher, artist, administrator, workshop facilitator, mother-daughter team leader, social worker, Scout leader, nurse, dream group leader, or anyone interested in personal growth or the healing arts.

The training will cover areas such as: How to facilitate SoulCollage® card-making; ... Implementing a therapeutic structure; .... Adapting the process to individual issues and populations ; ..... Ceremonial use of SoulCollage® cards; ..... Support and use of the "SoulCollage® community" worldwide; ..... planning your work with SoulCollage® to fit your own passions, intentions and abilities; ...... ethics, pitfalls and challenges of the work.

We will make cards, share cards, and use our own processes as teaching examples for facilitator training. Participants bring all the SoulCollage® cards they have made so far to use in the group exercises.

You will find a full description of the training HERE on the SoulCollage.com website

NOTE: This training follows the same program and uses the same materials as the training offered in the USA, and the certificate provided on completion is given by SoulCollage LLC

Please also NOTE: This training will be offered in English

Preparation and pre-requisites

No degree or certification is required to take this training, but Seena Frost requests that participants prepare by reading her book, SoulCollage®, listening to her two talks about SoulCollage® on CD ,(Introduction here) and beginning to make SoulCollage® cards for their own decks in each suit, so that they can get experience with their own card-making before working with others who are learning to make cards. It is helpful if participants bring all their SoulCollage® cards when they come for the Training.

To receive a certificate of completion a participant must attend and complete all sessions of this Training. Please find out the beginning and ending times scheduled and make your travel plans accordingly.

Persons who complete the SoulCollage® training will receive a certificate of completion and may use the SoulCollage® trademark in doing individual or group work according to the Principles of SoulCollage®. Thus, SoulCollage® trains, rather than "certifies", facilitators.


The Trainer

Seena B. Frost, originator of the process appointed and is training a number of facilitator-trainers worldwide, to allow access to training in places other than the US west-coast.

Imelda Maguire has been working with the SoulCollage® process since 2003; she trained as a SoulCollage® facilitator in 2006, and in 2008 became the first European-based facilitator-trainer.

Imelda has led SoulCollage® workshops and groups in many parts of Ireland, and is really keen to see the process of SoulCollage® spread widely throughout Ireland, the U.K. and far beyond. In her workshops, in her own work as a counsellor, and in her personal practice, she has witnessed the transformative and healing potential of this marvellous process. She is an active member of the worldwide SoulCollage® community, participating at conferences and trainings, on internet groups, and in teleconference gatherings of facilitators and practitioners. In September, 2009, she trained a small group of facilitators, who found the experience enriching and powerful .

The training fee

The fee for this training is €475, and includes:

• 2 night's accommodation (single, en-suite room)
• 7 meals
• tea, coffee, water, etc
• all training sessions
• All materials including lots of blank cards and an abundance of images
• a year's membership in the SoulCollage® Facilitators' Circle
• subscription to the SoulCollage® Facilitator monthly e-newsletter
• an invitation to join the collaborative SoulCollage® Facilitator list serve (Yahoo group)
• follow up support from Imelda
  

Contact me for booking information or with any queries. Email.... imeldacmaguire(at)gmail.com [insert @ for (at)]

..........Looking forward to meeting you!

Imelda

SoulCollage Facilitator Training, Oct 23-25 2009

Announcing the first European training of SoulCollage® Facilitators, which will take place in Ramelton, Co. Donegal, in Ireland, Friday 23 October til Sunday 25th October, 2009.

The Venue

Our base for the weekend is Carn Lodge, Ramelton, a charming and comfortable country house on the shore of Lough Swilly, surrounded by tranquil, tree-filled grounds that call out for exploration.

Our hosts, Denise and Laurence Blake, provide every comfort for participants. Lunch and Dinner will be served on Friday and Saturday, and lunch on Sunday before departure.

LOCATION and ACCOMMODATION:

The village of Ramelton lies approximately 11 kilometres from Letterkenny, the largest town in Co. Donegal. Participants arriving in Letterkenny by public transport will be facilitated with lifts to the venue as far as possible. Accommodation is available at Bed & Breakfast homes in Ramelton. (Approximately €40-45/night)

The Training.....

The training will cover areas such as: How to facilitate SoulCollage card-making; ... Implementing a therapeutic structure; .... Adaptating the process to individual issues and populations ; ..... Ceremonial use of SoulCollage cards; ..... Support and use of the "SoulCollage community" worldwide; ..... planning your work with SoulCollage to fit your own passions, intentions and abilities; ...... ethics, pitfalls and challenges of the work.

A Blessing for the Unknown Self

Below, a poem from John O'Donohue's Book of Blessings - Beannachtaí or Benedictus. I've been reading and re-reading it, and find it wonderful, especially the final four stanzas.

The Unknown Self

So much of what delights and troubles you
Happens on a surface
You take for ground,
Your mind thinks your life alone,
Your eyes consider air your nearest neighbour,
Yet it seems that a little below your heart
There houses in you an unknown self
Who prefers the patterns of the dark
And is not persuaded by the eye’s affection
Or caught by the flash of thought.

It is a self that enjoys contemplative patience
With all your unfolding expression,
Is never drawn to break into light
Though you entangle yourself in unworthiness
And misjudge what you do and who you are.

It presides within like an evening freedom
That will often see you enchanted by twilight
Without ever recognizing the falling night,

It resembles the under-earth of your visible life:
All you do, and say and think is fostered
Deep in its opaque and prevenient clay,

It dwells in a strange, yet rhythmic ease
That is not ruffled by disappointment,
It presides in a deeper current of time
Free from the force of cause and sequence
That otherwise shapes your life.

Were it to break forth into day,
Its dark light might quench your mind
For it knows how your primeval heart
Sisters every cell of your life
To all your known mind would avoid,

Thus it knows to dwell in you gently,
Offering you only discreet glimpses
Of how you construct your life.

At times it will lead you strangely,
Magnetized by some resonance
That ambushes your vigilance.

It works most resolutely at night
As the poet who draws your dreams,
Creating for you many secret doors,
Decorated with pictures of your hunger,

It has the dignity of the angelic
That knows you to your roots,
Always awaiting your deeper befriending
To take you beyond the threshold of want,
Where all your diverse strainings
Can come to wholesome ease.


[John O’Donohue, from Benedictus – A Book of Blessings, Bantam Press, 2007]

Spiritual Warrior

The Spiritual Warrior sits in the middle of the fire. --- Pema Chodron

Who are you?
I am one who carries the wisdom of years
I am one who faces into the fire
I am one who knows the cleansing of the fire
I am one who has gathered the many-coloured threads and ribbons of my spiritual life and history about my staff
I am one who trusts
I am one who faces what is coming straight-on
I am one who speaks my truth quietly and with dignity
I am one who is ready to raise my standard aloft
I am one who knows that there is much I do not understand but that I can still be a spiritual warrior in that place

What do you have to give me?
I give you courage, assurance, faith. I give you the fire of your own spirit. I give you the standard you can carry, woven about with all your history, all you know. I give you the path for which you are destined.

What do you want from me?
Courage, willingness to lift your standard, and your voice. Faith abiding. Willingness to be a channel. Trust. Readiness to go into the fire.

---------------------------------

Note: This card was made some time ago, and I didn't know quite what to name it, so I called it "Fire-Carrier", but knew the figure isn't carrying the fire, and yet the fire isn't just background. Anne Marie recently asked about our Spiritual Warriors, and shared her Spiritual Warrior card, and the above quote from Pema Chodrom. That resonated for me. I realised that this is the card that represents my Spiritual Warrior. I hadn't quite known how to relate to it, thrown off in part by the presence of a cross as part of the standard or staff he carries, but I've sat with it, and taken the comments of some of the Kaleidosoul participants in, and now realise that this is a wider, older and more all-encompassing symbol than a mere cross, and I am happy with this as a symbol of my spiritual life.

Reflections and comments are welcome!