This post contains a letter written by a woman who has had personal experience with the New Age practice called SoulCollage® that we blogged about in January. Her descriptions are self-explanatory.

Here in California, Soul Collage® seems to be everywhere. For example, I hired a small business coach back in 2005; well, she had as one of her tools, SoulCollage®. Here is what she & others that I know are doing with it…..  You gather in a group, or alone, and get magazines to cut up; other art materials can also be used. The leader, who may be trained in SoulCollage®, hands out cards that are heavyweight – almost like illustration board, hard backed, rather thick – these cards are about 5″ x 8″ in size. They are plain white and have a decent texture for drawing or gluing.

Then, you get into a meditative, quiet state. You consider some aspect of your life that you want to deal with – it could be a problem area, something you love, a person and relationship things, whatever. You then peruse magazines for pictures, numbers, letters, words; anything that brings to mind something about this topic that you want to convey. You then assemble, draw, glue these items onto your card, and it becomes your ____________ card. For instance, a card can be termed, “mom’s death” or “prosperity in business” or “jack my boyfriend”. When you look at this card, you are reminded of a time, a person, an experience, a problem – whatever.

People who do SoulCollage® encourage others to make MANY cards like this; and then to refer to them when they want insights. For instance, one might have a card expressing “freedom” and another expressing “business dilemma”. One would sit quietly, pondering these cards, and see what one learns – what insights one has. This is said to be helpful in clarifying one’s intention, perhaps. Or it can help one to see a pattern. And so on. It is supposed to inform you about your life…..

The business coach that I had did “Card Readings” for people with SoulCollage® cards. So, people bring their “deck” of cards (however many they have made, or specific ones that they want to share). The “reading” might be in a group, or one-on-one. The one reading the card then sits quietly with the card-maker, and they discuss what is depicted, it’s meaning to the card maker. Then, the reader points out various aspects that seem to refer to the person’s life – things they might not see on their own…..

I never got in to this. To me, it seemed very close to Tarot Card reading, although it is said to NOT be used explicitly for fortune telling. However, I think this IS used in that way. I really do.

In California this practice is common in all kinds of quasi-religious or spiritual centers, in art classes that are in informal venues, and I think they may be used on retreats, although I DO NOT know this for sure. I can certainly see that someone who is not informed may think this is a nice way to help people tune in to themselves while in a beautiful and relaxing situation.

We’re grateful to her for sharing these valuable insights with us – and for her very timely warning about this practice.

Send your New Age questions to newage@womenofgrace.com