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Fearless Reviews— S. Ardrian (October, 2001, Berkeley, CA USA)
Do you enjoy Tarot and other divinatory cards but can never find just the right imagery? Well, here’s the solution: make your own personal deck using available art and photographs. SoulCollage® explains how to make a divinatory deck tuned to your particular needs. Each deck has four suits: Committee (psychological aspects), Community (social aspects), Companion (energy aspects), and Council (archetypes). There’s also a Source card for depicting the ineffable, the divine. You make the cards yourself by cutting out pictures that you like from magazines or catalogs, and gluing them together in a collage on heavy pieces of cardstock. This is a fun process, whether you do it alone or in a group.
The book includes a lot of supporting material to help you make the deck. Frost thoughtfully covers background and symbolism, collage techniques, and much more. Numerous examples from custom-made decks show you what these cards can look like. I was so captivated by the images in the book that I wished I could buy a deck of them! This is a terrific resource for spiritual circles, women’s clubs, study groups, and anyone interested in archetypes or divination. Most highly recommended.
Jean Houston, author of A Mythic Life, Jump Time:
Seena Frost’s work with SoulCollage® represents an insightful and original path to the depths…I cannot recommend this too highly.
Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D., author of Psychology of the Future, Adventure of Self-Discovery, Holotropic Mind:
The most original contribution to the battery of tools for deep self-exploration and psychotherapy in years.
from NewPages Reviews:
A long-time fan of creating and evaluating images in collage, I was excited to come across this book. The SoulCollage® concept involves creating multiple individual, personalized collage cards by cutting and pasting pictures onto 5 × 8 inch mat board, and then utilizing these cards for self-exploration. Author Seena B. Frost, M. Div, M.A., studied theology at Yale Divinity School, holds a Master’s in Psychology from Santa Clara University, and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California.
Frost guides her readers in creating a personal deck of “soul-tending cards,” with each card being a “mirror of self and soul.” Some reviewers have likened this to tarot, and while Frost suggests that it can be used in a similar manner, it is far more introspective due to the personalized nature of the cards. The great mystique of the cards comes from the selection and arrangement of images and archetypes each user creates for her/himself.
To briefly explain the concept, the SoulCollage deck contains one Source card, symbolizing the “Oneness of All Things,” and at least four separate suits: The Committee Suit (The Psychological Dimension), The Community Suit (The Communal Dimension), The Companion Suit (The Energetic Dimension), and the Council Suit (The Spiritual Dimension). There is no prescribed limit as to the number of cards one may create, and each card is said to have a presence or essence, identified as the “Neter.”
Frost provides detailed guidance as to how cards can be created, accompanied by numerous black and white reproductions. She offers ideas on how the cards can then be used to tap into inner wisdom, develop dream imagery, explore health issues, and be used for individual consultation or with others in small groups. An additional chapter gives further creative suggestions, such as using the cards for journaling, divination, and art shows.
A middle section contains only ten color plates of completed cards, but the companion web site (www.soulcollage.com) offers plenty of beautifully reproduced cards in color. You can also receive a personal “reading” from the site, but aside from that, don’t expect to find much more information there. Understandably, Frost wants you to buy the book.
I enjoyed this book as someone who teeters from time to time on that metaphysical / psychoanalytical edge of creativity and analysis, and as a lover of images and archetypes. I know from my own work with collage that images often help us to tap into thoughts and feelings that words are unable to express. It is just such revelations that Frost guides the reader to pursue, and what then to make of such discoveries in our lives.
-Denise Bazzett
Today’s Librarian (December 2001)
In this exciting, spiritual “craft” book, readers combine intuition with imagery to make personalized Tarot-like cards. SoulCollage® cards carry more personal meaning than Tarot, and the process of creating them is presented as a therapy. Using cutouts from magazines, greeting cards, etc., crafters arrange images as they are internally guided, then glue the collages on cards. The process is a way to lure to the surface a person’s inner wishes and thoughts. Frost outlines the steps for making and consulting the collage cards. Collage decks have four “suits,” representing personality traits, community, archetypes, and dreams. The cards can be used as an interpretive tool or displayed in frames. This book will attract anyone with creative flair, but also holds appeal for those seeking answers to life’s deeper questions. It includes beautiful images of cards made by real people — not artists — as well as useful lists of resources and suggestions for alternative uses. A unique approach to self-exploration through artistic expression, this handsome and well-presented guide should find an enthusiastic audience.
Midwest Book Review (July 2001)
SoulCollage® provides everything needed to get in touch with personal intuition and create a fine deck of cards filled with personal meaning. Fine examples of cards made by regular folks are given throughout this workbook on how to handle the language of symbols and dreams.
See Author tab below for audio interview.
(2001) 175 pp. Softcover. 8.5 x 9.5 x 0.5 inches
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Table of Content
About the SoulCollage® Trademark
SoulCollage® is a trademarked process with just a few requirements to follow when using it or talking about it with others. There are certain elements that should be included in SoulCollage® work, such as non-competitive artistic expression and the “I Am One Who…” exercise. SoulCollage® cards are for personal and inner exploration. They are to be shared, but not to be sold, traded, or bartered.
For a full description of these guidelines, please read The Principles of SoulCollage®, written by SoulCollage® author, Seena B. Frost.
Imaging and cherishing yourself
Imagine learning to make your own personal deck of divinatory cards and then learning to consult them! You can do it! One by one you can create lovely cards by selecting images, cutting them out and pasting them on to pieces of matboard. Each SoulCollage® card you make will reflect one facet of your Self and or Soul, while the evolving deck will reflect the whole panorama which is “you” as a whole Being — your SoulCollage®. I guarantee you will cherish your cards as if you were holding yourself in your hands. Bit by bit, you will be making them, fanning them out, putting this and that into perspective in your life, and overall, discovering your inner wisdom.
Inquiring about your life questions
There are many oracular forms available in our world right now, just as there were in ancient times. There are Tarot cards, Runes, I Ching, astrology, and others. Some people take a book of holy scripture, open to a page, point at random to a line and find words of direction and help. Is this a return to superstition and magic? Not at all. It is a return to the valuing of intuition, and also a return to a more mystical understanding of reality. Answers are available to each person without dependence on psychics, gurus, well-known authors, or teachers to access our inner wisdom. With the SoulCollage® process, with the support of a group of like-minded people, we can do this inquiry ourselves.
Honoring the ordinary and extraordinary parts of you
SoulCollage® is a way to tend your soul and explore your psyche at the same time. Some of the images you choose will show pieces of your personality, the actors in your local story such as your “caretaker” or your “controller”, your “dancer” or your “silly child.” Other images will be more mysterious and mythic, images that will represent the archetypes who may be guiding you. These are the Great Ones who inevitably weave your local story into the Larger Story. These might include archetypes such as the “Creator”, or the “Warrior”, the “Wise, Old Woman”, or even the “Fool”.
Healing yourself
When you find a powerful image and create a card you are doing healing therapeutic work. Often your troublesome part quiets down and takes a more appropriate place on your Committee [the suit in your SoulCollage® deck representing your personality parts]. Making SoulCollage® cards for the neutral, everyday parts of the personality is healing as well. When you call forth and name these overlooked workers of the self, you appreciate how complex and marvelous your personality really is.
Exploring yourself
What we are doing as we make SoulCollage® cards for our Council Suit is recognizing, imaging, naming, honoring, and consulting the archetypes who clearly have selected us. We also will be drawn to images representing the less known and mysterious archetypes — the ones who are on the edges of consciousness, flitting in and out, and inviting us to engage with them more deeply….Let me encourage you to gather the most powerful images you can find. Lay them out, move them around, and acknowledge their call to you. Because archetypes are mysterious and fluid you will be drawn to images which seem curious and strange to your logical mind. “Now why do I like this so much?” you will wonder. Do not try to figure it out before you make the card. Create it almost from a dream state. You may find yourself making several cards with a similar feel to them, a similar theme.