SoulCollage Tarot: The Masculine Edge

Throughout Winter I created SoulCollage cards for the first 3 major arcana cards in a Tarot deck; The Fool, The Magician and The High Priestess. 

Most of the cards in my deck have female imagery on them, which is fitting since it's my personal deck. However, I wanted to bring more masculine energy into my deck, and into my life, so I focused on creating SoulCollage cards with male imagery on them. 

Creating cards for The Fool, Magician, and High Priestess with male imagery on them was a powerful process on many levels. As I explored these energies through art, I was able to better honor these forces in the men around me. Also, as I created these cards, I found myself cultivating more relationships with men in my life, which has been a super nice side effect of SoulCollage! 

Spring SoulCollage

With the activation of Spring upon us, I am resuming my SoulCollage journey through Tarot, picking up where I left off, and focusing on The Empress and The Emperor. These archetypal forces are core aspects of my vision for partnership. As I explore these energies throughout the season, through both male and female lenses, I will be able to more fully honor and cultivate these types of connections in my personal life...which will support me in creating my Lover cards for my deck...and hopefully bring this energy into my life as well! 

Here are some of the male themed SoulCollage cards I created for my SoulCollage deck this winter. I look forward to deepening this aspect of my prayer to continue cultivating my relationship with the Divine Masculine. 

The Fool: The Hero Starts out on the Journey 

The Magician: Has all the tools to engage with life.
Ability to work with the elements:

The Day After...

This blog entry was written the day after the 2016 US elections that Donald trump won the Presidency. 

I did it. 

After praying and crying most of the night. 

on very little sleep, I put in a full days work 

at both jobs. 

I talked with parents regarding their concerns 

about how to tell their children 

why and how the “mean bully” won presidency. 

I talked to people that voted for Trump. 

I heard the message, ‘

“I do not like his character, but I like his policies.”  

This makes me think of women 

marrying men who are assholes

but they are rich 

so they disregard content of character. 

I had several business meetings today 

during which no one talked about the subject matter, 

it was business as usual, 

but not really…

I showed up differently. 

I stood in my power more. 

I have to compromise less now. 

There is more opposition coming into the light. 

I must take advantage of my resources; 

my spirit 

my special super hero powers 

Now, 

more then ever.

This is what I have been training for. 

It is time for me to step 

more fully 

into this second adulthood 

I have been crafting. 

Bringing soul work 

more alive into how I live my life 

and how I bring the service of me 

into community mentorship 

and heart centered leadership. 

(all while being human 

and still on my own evolutionary journey

into wholeness) 

The essence of Trump

and the critical mass supporting him  

and his ideologies 

against people, the planet, compassion….

seems daunting.

       

However, I must stand up to it,

and stand up to myself as well. 

I must stare in the mirror

and see my own beauty, my own strength 

my own need to meet this ache 

of the universal soul 

as it screams on this 

evolution wave through humanity. 

I must mother this moment with compassion 

Father this now into accountability. 

and love it, in the ravishing 

and soul stirring way 

that I love. 

This is a call to action

I am answering.

New Moon Gratitude 2: Dance

Continuing to honor the sweet beginnings of Autumns first new moon. Tonight, I bow in deep gratitude for something very dear in my life...DANCE.

Dance has been a core aspect of my life. Dance is how I move feelings through my being. Dance is how I express soul and play with spirit. It is how I find myself, and how I let others find me.

When I was young, jazz class was therapy for me. It provided me with a safe place away from my parents to emote and process the energies of growing up in my household.

In high school I choreographed dance routines for flag teams and cheerleaders. In my twenties I taught ballroom and latin dance classes at Arthur Murray's dance studio (and was the first person to bring Hip Hop classes to the franchise)

4 years ago I moved to Denver and found myself welcomed into the ecstatic dance community of Rhythm Sanctuary. Being a part of this tribe 500+ people strong has been deep medicine for me. It not only supports my individual expression and evolution, it bridges connections between my heart and the hearts of others.

Dance is a powerful and primal language that unites communities, cultures and lovers. Dance shares prayer between bodies, bringing our species together in rhythmic and primal ways to explore and express the energies we all experience simply by being human.

Happiness, sadness, anger, hope, love, strength, fear...these are all emotions we share as humans. They are the waves of energy that ebb and flow through us as we travel the spiral of life and death. Dancing with self and others supports us in honoring and celebrating the collective in beautiful, integrative ways.

I am so grateful I have a body that can move, a soul that has deep longings, and a spirit full of fire. These elements within me find voice through dance and I am so grateful for this creative outlet in my life.

New Moon Gratitude 1: Body

Tonight is the first new Moon of Autumn 2014; a powerful time to set sacred intention for the upcoming season of harvest and release.

To honor passage from my Heart Chakra Summer into my Throat Chakra Autumn, I will be expressing (chakra 5) gratitude (chakra 4) each day during the waxing phase of this moon cycle. This is a great way to cross the bridge from my heart up into the expressive channel of my throat.

To initiate this process I start with the Root Chakra. I am thankful for my body. It is healthy. It is strong. It is durable. It is flexible.

I am thankful for the cells in my heart that have their own proactive rhythm that keeps me alive and active. I'm grateful for the white blood cells coursing through my veins that fight off infection and help me heal quickly.

I'm thankful to have my limbs, my organs, my senses and my flesh to protect and hug me to my core.

There are so many people in this world that have debilitating illnesses and minimized capabilities for movement. At some point I may be one of them. So right now, and as many moments as I can bring my attention to, I honor my body as an amazing vessel for spirit.

I am thankful my body evolved from sperm and egg, into an organism that can breath air, absorb nutrients and expel wastes. I am thankful for the strength of my muscles to propel me through this world, so that I can move towards things that bring me pleasure (and away from that which brings me pain).

What a gift, this flesh being I get to ride around in. Thank you body for all that you are, all that you support and all that you embody in this world. I bow to you and intend to treat you with deep respect, honoring the animal of your being through my fullest living.

Private SoulCollage Readings

Over the past several months I've been expanding the services I offer through E3 Alchemy. When I moved from San Diego to Denver, I took a break from teaching and focused on landing in my new home and creating community. Now that I am entering YEAR 5 of living in Denver, it is time for me to engage my passions, skills and soul purpose and stand more fully in what I want to do.

Many of you know me as the SoulCollage lady. I've been offering Intro classes and Creative Studio along the front range for the past 3 years and have grown a sweet little community here of SoulCollager's here. I have started offering private SoulCollage readings - amazing journeys that use Sacred Symbols as access points to your own wisdom. I love offering these adventures and would love to book one with you!

Since I am kicking this new service off, and getting the word out there, I am offering a sweet cost structure for this service throughout Summer. I do readings around Body, Mind, Spirit, the Medicine Wheel and the Chakras.

Knowledge of SoulCollage is not needed to participate. You will have access to many powerful imagery stations to work with in your private session. Those of you already creating SOulCollage, bring your cards to your reading and dive deeper into your creations.

Soul Work

SoulCollage creation by Raven Shree

Over the past year I’ve been deeply craving to live my Soul Work, and have this be the primary focal point of my life. The more I become attuned to my gifts, and my desire to be of service, I yearn to engage these forces on a more consistent basis. As I contemplate how to manifest my Soul Work, I have fears come up around not being able to make enough money to support myself living my dreams. 

Last night, in my pre Rhythm Sanctuary ritual, I pulled a series of tarot cards for guidance in this area. The images I pulled opened me up to a new way of seeing my desire. I saw how my vision of Soul Work has solely been tied into a revenue equation. I’ve been exploring the theme of Soul Work only through the lens of a career path. In realty, my Soul Work is something deeper and wider then a job. It’s something I am destined to live, every day, every moment, in every interaction, with self and other. 

On some level I knew this, however, it was only a mental understanding. My deepened embodiment of Soul Work made living my Soul Work unconditional. I do not need to wait to find the perfect job to do my Soul Work, living my life is the only foundation I need. 

This epiphany inspired me on the dance floor at Rhythm Sanctuary. Embodying conscious presence, I stood in the power of my gifts, and engaged them in every interaction I had. Each dance partnership I entered into was an act of service; holding space for other to be seen, felt and honored in their fullness, while at the same time, opening up to receive love, grace and the divine through other. 

I am honored to be a conduit for magic, and am excited to deepen to my commitment to living my Soul Work in all the moments of my life. And maybe, just maybe, by living my Soul Work as the foundational standard of my being, an amazing career will emerge that feeds my passion and supports abundant living in ways that are vibrant, aligned and amazing. 

So Be It. 

Dancing Tree Lessons

On my recent road trip through Utah, I connected with Tree, an old teacher, one I am remembering and reconnecting with. Click here to read mytho-poem I wrote as I apprenticed to Tree. 

I took this lesson from Tree into ceremony space 
and community Ecstatic Dance. Here is how the medicine flowed through...

I started out exploring my various purpi 

(is that plural for purpose?) 

I embodied the purpose of my roots 

and my animal purpose to live. 

I expanded into the bark of my being 

embodying my purpose 
of being support and shelter for others. 

I extended my arms up and out into the world 

baring fruit and blossoming outward. 

I explored and embodied the theme of absorbing; 

absorbing the vitality of my community, 

my dance partners, my breath, the vitality of others. 

I explored and embodied the theme of releasing;

and in this practice, 

came to see I defined releasing as something bad. 

I noticed that I had shame around having things that need released. 

I mean...shouldn’t I be more evolved by now?

My understanding of releasing transformed through this dance.  

I was able to better understand the ebb and flow

of giving and receiving

of absorbing and releasing. 

They are both necessary parts of the cycle

if I did not have anything to release, 

I would be dead. 

the exhale is just as necessary as the inhale! 

As I danced with others, 

I received their vitality, and my inhale. 
I also released anything that prevented me 

from being in the fullness of that moment and connection, 
and honored the exhale as part of this process. 

oh how I love releasing now! 

I bow in gratitude to the trees of our planet, 

the elders that provide shelter, food, 

wisdom, oxygen, inspiration, company

and entrance into deeper embodied experiences.