Getting Started with SoulCollage

Getting Started with SoulCollage®

This module is designed to provide you with some introductory information about SoulCollage® in preparation for participating in my self-study SoulCollage® courses, my in-person SoulCollage® Circles, or as a starting point for exploring the process further on your own.

Invitations:

Begin by listening to the audio above, 'Getting Started with SoulCollage®'.
You may wish to print out or simply view the pdf, 'How to Create a SoulCollage® Card', which includes a list of materials and where to obtain them (this is information is also included on this page below).
The View-finder is a useful tool for composing your cards.
A 3-page introductory handout is provided here as a beginning place.

How to Create a SoulCollage® Card

Begin by Gathering these Basic Materials:

5” x 8” card blanks: These can be purchased from the SoulCollage® website (www.soulcollage.com), the Kaleidosoul website (www.kaleidosoul.com) or you can ask your local frame shop for mat drops and cut the cards yourself.
Paper View Finder: also called a Card Frame, paper or mat board with a 5” x 8” opening cut out to help you compose/ see what will fit the card
Glue Stick: Preferably acid free, such as the Pioneer glue stick.
Scrap paper for gluing on: Old phone books work well.
A small utility knife such as Xacto knife: useful for detail work and for trimming the excess from around the edges of your completed card.
Scissors: any small sharp scissors will do, such as Fiskars or Cutter Bees.
Cutting mat: I like the self-healing mats (eg: Helix). You can also use cardboard.
Magazine Images: Favorites include: National Geographic, Smithsonian, Click, Oprah, Discover. Simply tear out images which grab your attention even if you don’t know why. A few hints that an image belongs to you: you find yourself looking at it for longer than 5 seconds; you pass it up but return to it; you experience a vague sense of recognition; you have a physiological response such as a leap of joy in your heart!
Card Sleeves: clear protective sleeves for your completed cards. Available on the SoulCollage® website or from www.clearbags.com.

'Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.'--C.G. Jung

Creating an Intentional Workspace

SoulCollage® is a practice of creating and holding space for yourself; a still point in your life where parts of self and scattered energies find their way home through the creation of your SoulCollage® cards.

Gathering what you need and creating an intentional work space for your card-making sends the message to your soul, and to yourself, that the work you are doing is sacred and important.

Each time you move into card-making time, take a moment to consider what supports you in your own unique way of working. You may wish, for example, to signal the shift into sacred space with a simple ritual such as lighting a candle before you begin to create; lighting the hearth that calls you home to yourself…

Basic Card-Making Steps

Once you have gathered your materials and images, you are ready to begin creating your SoulCollage® cards! You will find what works best for you, and you may find that you like to create in more than one way and in more than one place. Use the steps below as a guide, a suggested way of beginning as you discover your own unique way.

Begin by grounding yourself in the moment with a few deep cleansing breaths.
Ask, what wants to be worked with right now? Begin moving the images around, letting them find their way to you and to each other.
Feel something shift in your body—a click or wave of joy-- that lets you know a card is coming together.
Compose using the card frame to see what will fit.
Glue images, using scrap paper, spread glue to the edges, working from the bottom/ background layer up. Smooth any lumps with your hand or a brayer.
Keep to one energy or essence per card, even if you can’t name it…this allows it to be what it is and will allow you to honor and interact with it in a singular way.
Refrain from using words on your cards; words tend to shift us into our left brain. We will invite our own words later on in the process.
Trim the outer edges of your completed card with your Xacto knife.
Place inside a protective sleeve once you know the glue is dry.

Getting to Know your Cards

The practice of SoulCollage® is a two layered process: making our cards and then allowing our cards to sing back to us the self-knowing that went into their making. This is where we close the loop and honor our own creative work as expressions of our soul’s wisdom and longings. The way we do this is to give voice to our cards and listen to what they have to say. This can be done through journaling with your cards or by speaking from them while another scribes your words.

Deeply behold your Card: take a moment to deeply behold your card, taking in the details and the essence.
Give Voice: the suggested way of doing this is to speak or journal from the card beginning with the words “I Am One Who…”and allowing the words to emanate spontaneously. This IAOW process involves stepping into and becoming the image, staying true to the image and trying not to add in too much from your thinking mind. Repeating the IAOW refrain helps to move through deeper layers of listening, as does adding “…and what I want you to know is….”; “I am here to remind you…”; “the gift I bring…”

Soul Whispering

Though we are journaling or speaking, this aspect of the process is really about listening; a means of becoming Soul Whisperers. Much of what we receive from our cards happens wordlessly, on the level of direct transmission received on a soul level. Words may not arrive for every card; they may arrive slowly or may even arrive in unexpected ways such as through a poem that crosses your path.

This is a Beginning

Your relationship to your SoulCollage® cards will continue to deepen and evolve over time and you will discover surprising ways that the wisdom embedded in their creation and your deepened connection to your soul guides and informs your life.

Resources

My website: www.sarapranikoff.com
SoulCollage®: www.soulcollage.com
Kaleidosoul: www.kaleidosoul.com
Clear Bags: www.clearbags.com

how_to_create_a_soulcollage_card_scp.pdf
File Size:	343 kb
File Type:	pdf

view-finder_card_frame.pdf
File Size:	81 kb
File Type:	pdf

welcome_to_soulcollage_3_pg_scp.pdf
File Size:	343 kb
File Type:	pdf