Create Art with Soul: Free SoulCollage® Instructions
Collaging with Cancer: A SoulCollage® Journey
Chapter 8: Celebrating Life
By Anne Marie Bennett | Posted 7/14/13 | Updated 9/10/20
On my recent journey with cancer, the leaden feeling of hopelessness often blocked out any appreciation of life.
I found the background image for this card in a magazine ad for something or other. I can’t remember now. What I do remember is the amazing feeling of HOPE which arose in me as soon as I saw that bright pink and yellow flower rising up out of the vase of dead blooms.
I didn’t have to look far to find an image of a young woman, bursting with life and vitality, and I quickly glued her onto the background. I smiled every time I saw this card, and embraced the very real sense of hope that its message gave to me as I recovered from my cancer surgery and moved on my journey towards chemo treatments.
When I journaled with the images on this card, here is what they said to me:
Who are you?
I Am the One Who says, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of aliveness and well-being.” What do you have to give me?
I Am the One Who is intent on celebrating LIFE in spite of the deadly cancer cells that were inside my beautiful body. I Am the One Who dances in lightly and freely and blesses you with vibrant color and life. I Am the One Who clears away the black flowers and makes room for the bright pink ones instead.
I give you hope and a smile and a new way of looking at things. I give you the surety that out of darkness always comes light, out of death always comes new growth. What do you want from me?
I want you to call on my energy when you are needing some hope, some greening growth in your life. I want you to continue to put water in the vase so that the bright flower can continue to live.
Journaling with this card was by no means the end of its message and meaning for me. It remains in my SoulCollage® deck as a testimony to the bright essence of hope which I continue to need as I thrive on my post-cancer journey.
©2013 Anne Marie Bennett. All rights reserved.
Next: Chapter 9: Goddess of Peace and Mindfulness
Anne Marie Bennett is a published author, self-taught artist, and SoulCollage® Facilitator. more
Goddess of Peace and Mindfulness
Learn more about the origins and techniques of SoulCollage® in the book Soulcollage: An Intuitive Collage Process for Individuals and Groups by Seena B. Frost