Last week, Laura and I walked along the lakefront (the way we take meetings these days) and talked about how difficult it is to set goals right now. Traditional planning tools—calendars, lists, schedules, meetings and budgets—are pretty pointless when everything is uncertain. These times call for a more fluid, flexible way to capture what we want for our future. Enter Kathy Bresler, founder of Chicago’s new ALTAR Community. Kathy has been leading women in the art of SoulCollage, created by Seena B. Frost in the late 80s, for over a decade. Laura and I are going to experience it firsthand this week as part of our first Wellness Style Challenge.
SoulCollage is the process of creating a personalized card deck, using your intuition as a guide to select pictures that resonate with you. “Images are the language of the soul,” says Kathy.”You end up making a visual journal of you, and all the different facets of you.”
Kathy discovered SoulCollage at a big turning point in her life. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in her mid 30s and after completing treatment, she found her career in brand management and consulting was no longer a fit. As she searched to find a meaningful alternate path, she found the SoulCollage website and fell in love with the process. She went on to study with Seena Frost and has led many workshops in the years since. “Each person has their own style,” says Kathy. “The energy and of expression of them (each deck) is so different, just like someone’s soul. It’s quite magical.”
Once you create a deck, you can use the cards for guidance and insight in all sorts of situations. And the deck can grow and evolve along with you. “They’re a powerful tool for navigating life,” says Kathy, whose own deck contains 200 cards.
Kathy, who has gone on to study spirituality in many forms, plans to incorporate SoulCollage at her new space in Logan Square called ALTAR. ALTAR is a social and spiritual gathering space where women can make meaningful connections and pursue spiritual growth. With a large space for lectures and movement classes and smaller rooms for one-on-one consultations and hanging out, it sounds heavenly. The 4,000 square foot lofted space was set to open in mid-March when the pandemic intervened. While waiting for ALTAR to open physically, Kathy is offering a variety of enlightening classes virtually through the ALTAR Community website.
Laura and I are so excited to create our own SoulCollage decks (in an appropriately socially distanced setting of course). We’ll share more about the process—and give you a look at our cards and initial readings—later this week!
Style Challengers 
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