Now it's Monday

I didn't write for Sunday Scribblings this week because my weekend was a busy one, and it strikes me that, not having done that, a space opens up where I might just write a post that's not tied into Sunday Scribblings or Poetry Thursday. (I didn't do anything for Poetry Thursday last week either). Life's been busy. I got a job, which I will be starting in a few weeks' time - and for which I have already begun a series of training-days. I'll be counselling in schools, and am really looking forward to starting. I'm still teaching my psychology class, which is taking a good deal of preparation work, and last weekend I facilitated my first public SoulCollage(R) workshop. That took a bit of preparation, and went very well. I enjoyed it, and had the company of a fellow blogger who travelled to be here for the workshop - Caroline of Caro's Lines came over from England and was great company and a fantastic support, too.

At the workshop, I watched 16 women, many of whom had never encountered the SoulCollage process, take it to themselves and immerse themselves in the business of finding images (or allowing the images to find them) which would express some part of their being. It was an honour to be present for that, and I really feel grateful that I have found this wonderful process at this time in my life. I didn't intend to work on cards, but found at one stage, a few images were in my hand, and just wanted to get glued down, so I made this card.

I call it my Dressmakers card, and it honours the women in my ancestry who all made their living as dressmakers. - My maternal grandmother, and many of my mother's sisters. Even those who didn't work as seamstresses had the skill, or knit instead. I don't sew, but I do some crafts, and feel that in a way, the SoulCollage process is one of my ways of expressing this aspect of my heritage.

The other card I made, oddly enough, echoes the theme that this week's Sunday Scribbling had. It was "Deepest, Darkest", and this card, which I call "Going into the Deep", says:

"I am one who goes into the deepest, darkest places; who is willing to descend. I am one who emerges transformed after the descent."