The World Offers Itself

"This turning deeply towards what you love, saves you."  Rumi

Wild Geese

"You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes, 

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, 

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting  

over and over announcing your place 

in the family of things."

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver 

published by Atlantic Monthly Press

© Mary Oliver

Ongoing SoulCollage® Journey

My journey with the SoulCollage® process continues......

It's a very, very rainy day here in Northern California. More of a winter than a spring.   It is a great time tolose myself in reverie and let Image, Imagination and Intuition reign.  Here are some of my most recent SoulCollage® cards, that I have made  during each one of my bi-monthly SoulCollage® groups..  I love the intuitive nature of this process. I am always astounded at what comes through.

I am the one who seeks the source,  the maiden self, journeying over hill and dale, carrying my baggage with me, however, by now i have learned to empty my basket, so I can renew and fill myself up when I arrive at the water's source. One part of me, often questions the journey, and has regrets for lost time, but the other part of me, revels in arriving at the deep healing springs, where I can wash the dust from my soul, and drink deeply of inspiration.  I am the seeker, the water bearer, the questioning one.

I am the old peasant wise woman, the sage, the bruja, the healer.  I have lived a long life, and seen many things.  I know the struggles of those here on this plane and have the remedies to help them.  I do not offer my services, but wait for the seekers to approach me.  I take the pain of life experiences and turn them into pearls of wisdom, that are food for the soul.

I am the one who walks with awareness, one foot after the other, in the moment with my breath.  I am the one who meditates through doing and making, and organizing the elements of life into beauty and pattern. I am the pattern maker, the calm one, who takes life's challenges with a grain of sand, and transforms matter into powerful pattern.  I am in alignment with myself and the universe.

I am the one who, honors the connection between the spirit realm and the world of matter.  I salute and welcome the ability to turn matter into gold.  I am the realm of the archetypes, connecting and making sense of the images that spin from my reveries into my conscious mind.  I drink to the beauty of images, I drink to the beauty of imagination.  I salute the magic of life.  

I am the Goddess of Intuition.  I link by the umbilical cord of life force ,to all those  who trust and open to the unconscious.  I stand on the connection, the cord or web that links me to the waters of the unconscious, and to the hearts and minds of the open ones. I am protected by beauty and power even though I hover over the edge.  I wait for the jewels of wisdom and magic to offer up their gifts and then link those gifts to the world.  I am one of the Wise Ones..  I am the Muse.

If you are intrigued, perhaps you might be interested in joining in one of my SoulCollage® groups here in Sonoma County, Northern CA.  ... or you can check www.soulcollage®.com for facilitators near where you live.

Until next time..  ciao.

Open to Unknown Blessings

Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.  

~ Native American Saying~

Happy Thanks Giving!

The Soul Picture Story Continues- The Fuse of the Possible

Here are two recently made SoulCollage® cards of mine.  I love how this process takes on a life of its own and becomes a feedback loop of images, so to speak.  Playing back the storyline of the inner mythic characters that are up in my life at that moment.  The cards become alive and take on a life of their own.

This first card is one that I did on one of  the citra-solve altered, National Geographic Backgrounds.

I am the one who travels through the imagination.  Who flowers as she reads, traveling the world without leaving her home.  I am the one who loves to read a good book, lose herself in a story that unfurls and circumnavigates the breadth of the cosmos.  I am always happy when I have a stack of good books waiting to be read.

I am the one who becomes enchanted when I draw, or do any kind of art.  I am the one who looks deeply, who pierces the vail of reality as my dreams draw themselves.  I take the time to really look, and carefully render the magic of what is right in front of me.  I am an artist.  I am the one who loves to tell a story through pictures.

The fuse of the Possible is lit by the imagination.”

Emily Dickenson

My Deck continues to Grow...

"I am the one who steps into the healing pool and 

is renewed and energized."

Here is the SoulCollage® card that I made last week, using the Citra-Solv page as a back ground.

At first it was too spacey looking for what I was trying to convey in the card, but with some white pen and gold markers, I grounded her in the healing waters and sent light and healing to her from the sun.

I really look forward to using these amazing abstract pages for more S.C. cards as well as in other mixed media art processes.  Wonder how these would work with encaustic, saturated in beeswax?

Hmmmmm?

MORE CARDS

 Now I have 2 SoulCollage® groups going a month, and I am excited that my deck is continuing to grow.  I am also facilitating readings with friends  as well, and am amazed at how potent and powerful they can be.  So this new endeavor, which pulls together all the elements I have used before in my art therapy practice, but in a succinct and structured format, takes on a magical energy when all put together.

Here are 2 more cards that I made last Friday in my Inner Muse Card Making Group.

" I am the one who soars towards my dreams, with childlike enthusiasm.  I am the one who holds the foundation for these dreams to become a reality.  I move towards the light as I follow the path of my life and my right livelihood to the unknown."

"I am the storyteller, the weaver of images and fantasy.  I clear the Open Meadow of your mind to allow the stories to emerge.  I encourage your Inner Child to play in that field of plenty.  I am your grandfather, telling you stories of the old country, making doll houses and murals and stirring the seeds of creativity in you, that will last throughout your life."


More to come....until next time... Ciao.

Citra Solv - Wowie Zowie

I have been thinking about playing around with creating collage paper with Citra-Solv for a while now, but since I have begun leading SoulCollage®  workshops, I have been cutting out background images for the groups obsessively as of late.  The other day I finally got together all the supplies and spent an afternoon, outside under a tree, playing with National Geographics and Citra Solv.

 Oh my goodness, did I have fun, there is a bit of a learning curve getting started, but talk about Easy Peazy...it really is a no brainer.  National Geographics....I used both older and newer and both worked.

 Rubber gloves, and newspapers outside  in the fresh air, and to prevent messes.

 Vibrantly colored images that have lots of contrast...

 Concentrated Citra Solv, a tin pan to pour it in and I used a rubber brush, but a sprayer or any brush will do.

 Dribble, brush, spray, drop or splatter  the citra solv    onto the page, move it around

 Smush the pages onto each other and leave them for a little while

 Pull up the paper as it dries, brush around a little more...or blend in areas with a brush

 and walla, absolutely stunning results....

 Some of these can stand on there own as works of art.

 Perfect for collage backgrounds, as well as SoulCollage® card backgrounds to say the least.

they are gorgeous, absolutely stunning

 So I decided to post them here, just because I am enamored with the results

 The smell is quite strong, but not unpleasant and lasts for days on the pages

 But the results are beyond belief.  Try it if you are intrigued.

I will show the  SoulCollage® card  that I used a citra solv  background in, the next time I post here.
What a blast, absolute joyful creative play, just what the doctor ordered!  Try it, I bet you'll like it as well.

SoulCollage® Facilitator Training...whew!

So I am now a SoulCollage® Facilitator, along with all the other many hats I wear.  I am still integrating everything that occurred this past weekend.  This is such an exciting process, integrating everything I have been doing all these years into a organic, alive, syncronistic structure that allows people to play in the field of image and creativity, while diving deep and contacting their inner guidance.  

To say the readings were amazing, doesn't do the experience justice. More on that and the process later.  For now, I am going to post  images of the process participants cards  and the ones that I created during  the weekend training. 

IMAGE, IMAGINATION AND INTUITION are the guiding words in this process.

 The Circle and our cards being shared.

 As we  walked around the circle witnessing, I photographed some of the cards that participants in the training made.

People  attended from all over the world and it was fascinating to see what emerged in their imagery

Seena Frost, who is the creator of this wonderful process of SoulCollage®,  created this beautiful piece from her wedding gown and a fishing net.  Each

time she trains facilitators, they add a bead to the net, to become part of the whole energy of this work.  The One and the Many.

 Our final Ceremony, with everyone's cards forming this visual feat of an Image Mandala.

 Seena Frost, dancing opening to the group energy in the center of the circle of images.


These last images are the cards I did at the training and right before I got there.

 I Am The One Who finds grounding in creativity, who slows down and finds my center and patience in working with my hands, who sinks deep roots into the earth as I am creative.

 I Am The One Who plays in the field of fools who comes through when you spend time with your dog.

 I Am The One Who finds balance and heart in the center of the thistle, who can do this despite the fears and challenges that circle around me.

 I Am The One Who had deconstructed my old beliefs about money and abundance, who plays in the field of light and beauty as I create money and abundance through sharing creative play. Who cuts away what isn't necessary as I manifest a new way of working in the world.

  I Am The One Who peers into the wellsprings of the unconscious, pulling up the blessings and insight that live within it.

I Am The One Who gives you the energy you need to move forward in the world and do your work with others. 

I Am The One Who reminds you to be happy, be in the moment and move into the forest of the soul.
Blessings to all who read this and see these images.  Ciao. Caterina