SoulPages & the seven elements….
In 2014, with the help of my long-time student Rakefet Berger, I opened the Creative Journeys School. I wanted to share the joy of creating that I had discovered within me. It took me a year to develop dozens of fascinating lessons on the visual journal. From the moment I opened my first group and until today, five years later, I’m surprised to discover again and again the magic that happens when people meet the visual journal for the first time.
Teaching or facilitating visual journaling is not like teaching a regular art course – it’s a field that touches the soul and walks the fine line between therapy and art. That’s why it became necessary to hold special training sessions for visual journaling instructors. And so, the SoulPages method came to be, a method that integrates a powerful tool together with processes that enable transformation and healing.
In 2016, I opened the training program for Facilitators through “SoulPages” method. I wanted to establish a special course in Israel for professionals who facilitate groups and inner processes, to master the artistic language of the visual journal.
In 2021 I opened the 1st international SoulPages Facilitator course which is running now with 16 amazing women from all around the world.( In March 22 the 2nd i will start registration for the 2nd SoulPages facilitator course)
The “SoulPages” method is based on three pillars – a deep understanding of the elements of visual journaling; the ability to integrate those elements to create experiential processes; and connecting to our unconscious mind as we use the language of metaphors and symbols. In this post i want to demonstrate the 2 main elements, the parents of the elements: Intention and magical coincidence.
The element of Intention
Intention is the heart of the artistic process, and it plays an especially important role in the visual journal. The primary intention of all visual journal spreads is to connect to the soul, and the desire to express all of its parts without being bound to rules of beauty and aesthetics.
Every spread of the journal starts with intention or desire to express something. Sometimes, the intention is clear to us right at the start, and sometimes we start creating intuitively and discover the intention deep into the process.
The natural way for me to create is to start intuitively, and through the process to discover the intention of that person within me – the “dream child”. Creating is the way to communicate with the higher parts of me; it is the only way that it can communicate with me, through lines and colors and the magical mix of the seven elements.
So for me, intention comes from my unconscious mind, from the higher, hidden parts of myself. At a certain point, usually when I add a few layers to the page, I start to understand the message, and then I connect with what has emerged from the spread and continue to create with intention.
Intention is like a cloud that always hovers over us when we work on our visual journal. The higher intention is to express ourselves in a new language, a visual language that touches us, a language that lets us create something from nothing. That is the higher intention of every spread in the journal.
The element of Magical coincidence
If the element of intention is the father of all elements, magical coincidence is the mother. To feel a sense of freedom and inner passion as you create in your journal, you have to love and accept the surprise that magical coincidence offers. Looking at the world through the eyes of a child lets us discover wondrous ways of creating, ways that we wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
Our inner dream child dearly loves magical coincidence; it knows “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” and there’s nothing it likes better than to wander around in new places and get to know them. It loves to gather inspiration as she wanders, and then make unique connections, to create in a way that only she can.
If we can connect to that part inside us, our world will grow and expand and we will feel connected to a new and exciting world of inspiration. Sometimes the feeling is like a curtain opening, suddenly seeing the world differently, from the eyes of the dream child who looks for magical coincidence everywhere she goes.
Magical coincidence is expressed in every stage of creativity:
- Techniques that bring results we have no control over
- Create without judgment and let your heart and hands lead the creation process
- Gather inspiration from the world and use it in visual journaling
- Use your imagination and play with the techniques and materials
- Accept that the creative journey is setting out on a new path – some parts of it may not be pretty, but the process is what’s important, and not necessarily the final product.
The mixed media language that we use in the visual journal opens the doors to many fascinating combinations of techniques that are sometimes unexpected, but the results lead each person in the right direction. I call these techniques magical coincidence, because they enable our inner dream child to get excited and keep going.
There are many techniques of magical coincidence, and even more that you can discover.