How I Use SoulCollage® to Access Messages of Hope about Ukraine

A powerful tool to connect with my soul and hear her sing

‘Let a million sunflowers bloom on the morning coming soon.’

That’s part of a message my soul gave me though reading one of my SoulCollage® cards I call Mother Mary Wears the Ruby Slippers.

One of the ways our souls speak to us is through images.

That may not be the only way, given the terms like soul-stirring music.

But knowing that gave me access to a whole new way of connecting to my soul–through the image-rich practice of SoulCollage®.

What is SoulCollage?

I’m not into Tarot like I’m into collage. But I have and love the Voyager Tarot Deck because all the cards in it are collaged.

Every time I held and admired them, I dreamed about making my own collaged deck of cards. They wouldn’t be Tarot, cause I don’t know how to read Tarot. But they would have messages for me that I could discern. If I only knew how.

The day I first Googled soulcollage.com, I jumped out of my chair, and ran naked through the town, shouting Eureka! Okay, I kept my clothes on, but I really was that excited. I’d been waiting for this for a long time.

How does it work?

SoulCollage® works the opposite way dream boards and visualization do.

When making those, we search for images representing what we want in our lives–relationships, homes, careers, etc. And glue them onto a board. Our conscious mind does the selecting.

In SoulCollage®, our souls select the images, based on what appeals to them. We scan for images with no specific intention in mind other than pleasing our souls. These can be from magazines or online image sources like Unsplash.com.

Once we have a pile in front of us, we see what images want to go together, playing with arrangements. They may or may not want or need a background. We’re letting our inner child decide.

When it feels right, we glue the images onto 8 x 5” matt boards–a good size for creating our own personal wisdom deck. There’s no need to have a clue about the card’s message while making it. We’re attracted to images that have personal meaning for us. In combination, meanings multiply.

Once we’ve made our cards. We can ‘read’ them. And consult them, which is what I did with my Mother Mary card for a message about Ukraine. I’ll get to that in a minute.

First, a word about ‘reading’ our cards.

Seena B. Frost, M.Div., M.A., a visionary Jungian art therapist with a Masters in Divinity from Yale created SoulCollage.® She discerned the reading process through working with her own cards and her art therapy clients.

Seena Frost took her spirit walk in 2016, but not before publishing, SoulCollage® Evolving: An Intuitive Collage Process for Self-Discovery and Community,

Here’s how it works: Our soul has a message for us contained in the images. So we spend some moments gazing at and taking in the energy of our card. Then we answer prompts from that energy. As if we are the image of the card, AKA our soul, speaking back to ourselves.

The prompts are:

I am the one who… and The message I have for you is….

These are the basics. Once we have enough cards in our deck, ie two we can turn them face down, mix them around, and pull one at random to answer a specific question.

That’s what I did regarding Ukraine.

Actually, I was on a Zoom session led by Mariabruna Sirabella, MS, LMFT, one of the founding mothers who’s taken on the mantle of training and mentoring Soulcolage facilitators.

Seena and her entourage of facilitators were clear that SoulCollage® is a way to connect deeply to the soul of the world and the issues of our time. Often, they’ve put out invitations for us to make cards in honor of Mother Earth and her dire needs. We made such focused cards after the British Petroleum oil rig explosion disaster in 2010.

This time, the invitation was not to make cards specifically dealing with Ukraine. This time, the invitation was to randomly pick one of our pre-existing cards and read it while holding Ukraine in our hearts.

So that’s what I did.

On my desk at the time were a series of six cards I call my Christmas Angels. Three of them are identifiable as angels. But they all have that kind of energy. I turned them over, shuffled them, and picked.

My heart thrilled when I held Mother Mary Wears the Ruby Slippers. While that may sound silly, it’s a serious card. I couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say.

The card’s main image is a Rafaelesque painting of the Madonna and child. She’s torn out of a magazine, against a background of dark rocks with a red glow behind them. Sticking out from under her robes are a pair of glittery red mary jane shoes. Not exactly Dorothy’s ruby slippers but close.

I am by no means a Catholic or a Christain. But in my personal explorations of the Divine Feminine, images of Mary from a variety of sources speak to me. And speak powerfully, the way only a Holy Mother can.

Here’s what this Mother Mary had to say about Ukraine:

I am the one who holds everyone in/and their pain–in Russia, in Ukraine. Let the world bring their sorrow to me. I have suffered like only mothers can and my breast has been strengthened. I can hold it all. I do hold it all.

I am the one who has and wears the shoes of transformation. Things will not stay as they are. This is an opening for a Russian springing up to set that nation on a courageous course of righteousness.

When I asked if she had a message for us, this is what came:

This is a time to melt national interests into a regional and global community of interest so we can thrive as a planet. Listen to my daughter, Greta.* She knows what can and must be done to bring the Bear to its knees. Out of the mouths of babes–smart babes–will come the healing our planet sorely needs.

This hour looks bleak. It’s darkest before the dawn. But the morning comes. Let it come. Let a million sunflowers bloom on the morning coming soon, bringing with it new ways of doing, being, sharing, living cooperatively, honestly, humbly. Like President Zelensky and First Lady Zelenska model, every today, with courage and steadfast strength.

Take up the mantle, whether or not they fall, of courage and steadfast strength. Do not turn away. Keep your heart facing Ukraine. Lift your voices, children, and sing songs of peace–dona nobis pacem, pacem, pacem.

May we keep singing those songs. Illuminate!

*This refers to climate activist, Greta Thunberg urging nations to bring Russia to its knees by boycotting its fossil fuels and replacing them with sustainable sources. Which would be fantastic for the planet as well.

Enjoy this reading list of Mystical Poetry

Marilyn Flower writes humor to laugh the changes she wants to see and make. She’s the author of Creative Blogging: Ninja Writers Guide to Character Development and Bucket Listers, Get Your Brave On. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times. Follow my Sacred Foolishness and Stay in touch!