Ep.48 Plant Companions in SoulCollage® with Lucy Schaaphok

Welcome to ReConnect with Plant Wisdom. I am your host, Tigrilla Gardenia, Nature-Inspired Mentor and Leadership Coach. In this podcast, I share ancient and modern knowledge, from biology to spirituality, about the wondrous ways plants can help you lead a Naturally Conscious Life.

Hello, hello everyone, welcome to episode 48 of Reconnect with plant wisdom. This is, well actually to be honest, it’s an unexpected episode in the sense that when I was planning out my schedule this was not originally on it and then the other day I had a call with one of my students one of my students in the medit action initiate program at Dom and her and so we were talking about what she does

and I had to have her. I had to have her on. So this episode is all about using soul collage to connect with plants.

And this is with Lucy. Look, I’m gonna butcher her last day, but I’m gonna attempt it anyway.

She’s gonna say her name when we actually start, but her name is Lucy. She’s gonna kill me for that because I really just butchered it but I did my best I could she’s gonna pronounce her right she’s Duchess butchered it but I did my best that could she’s butchered it but I did my best I could she’s gonna pronounce her right she’s Dutch it’s beautiful

it’s an amazing conversation and I am so excited for you to learn all about Soul Collage, this amazing tool for really getting deeper into your own personal personalities and archetypes and essences, but also into the fascinating world of all the different places where your plantness can shine through.

So enjoy episode 48.

Lucy, take what? Third times a charm, they say. We tried to record this last week and had some problems, so I’m super happy that we’re here. We’re going to do it all over again.

It’s going to be amazing. First and foremost, Introduce yourself to the audience who is Lucy and why are we here today?

What does Lucy do? Well, I’m Lucy Schaaphok. I’m from the Netherlands.

And I’m a sucklage facilitator and trainer and an artist. And I go to Domino since 2,004.

And it has struck me very much, it’s very inspiring place so I became an initiative as well.

And so that’s why I know you, of course. And, so. I do coaching, I organize retreats around self-development and getting to know your potential and really have more self-love.

For example. Awesome. So you said a word that’s really important in there. You said soul collage.

Yes. What is so clash? Tell us more because that’s what I want to hear more about.

Tell me about So-called not that everything you don’t do, that’s what I want to hear more about. Tell me about Socala.

Not that everything you don’t do, everything else you do is amazing. But so much. Tell me about Sokolosh.

Yeah. Well, sokash is a method that is about creativity. But also getting insights so you make collages on cards.

And, every card, so I have some cards here. So I had more than 300 parts and this is one of One of the cards.

I have. Right. That’s a collage. That’s awesome.

Yeah, so you kind of. So, but if I would have this pile of cards, I could see it could say this is me.

So I’m one. But I also exist in many parts. So each card is about a part of yourself and you cut it so small that it is about one energy of yourself.

And in that way you can really dive into this part. So like this is my teacher. Part, a role that I have.

In my life. But I’m also an artist, so I have An artist card. That’s gorgeous.

And but we all have an inner critic as well and getting to know this inner critic like saying that you’re not good enough, you’re not beautiful enough, you cannot do it, all those things that you say to yourself.

I have also a card around that one. So I call her my ice cream. Yes.

So what do you do with this method is that you really step into the images like if you are the images and in that way you go around your mind.

And you step into your subconsciousness. Sometimes it’s conscious, but sometimes it’s not conscious.

So you get to know yourself much much better. Because most of the times I always use this fan this bus that you have You’re on the steering wheel and those personalities are behind you in your back also archetypes sometimes.

And something happens in the during the drive and one personality is triggered and gets the steering wheel pushes you or side and thinks It is only there.

Sometimes we’re in a situation that we only feel like we’re a victim or something. And nothing else is there anywhere, all the other personalities are gone.

We think that we are that at that moment. And also by getting to know the victim, for example, but shining your light on all the personalities in this way by using your cards.

And give them a voice through the cards. You can make more balance inside of yourself. That’s awesome.

I could totally see that the process of just even creating the card, like if you allow yourself to completely let go.

And you really call in that energy even as uncomfortable or as. Maybe that that particular piece of yourself is sitting in the shadows right now so it’s not really easy for you to consciously get to it but just the idea of like Okay, I have all these materials in front of me.

I’m just going to randomly allow myself to create. That must be extremely. Liberating because you’re not you’re not trying to put something together to create something you’re more trying to allow something to express itself through you.

Yes, you can do it 2 both ways so you can start intuitively. So you go you look for images and then you have a look at what triggers you in a positive way also if you have resistance on something.

So, and in that way you just make cards the way it feels feels good at that moment. So you use your gut feeling.

Hmm. And then you find out what is the card about. But you can also make a card about my inner critic for example, so I make a card by intention.

Sometimes that’s not so easy. But you can you can do both ways and I found cards about myself that Sometimes you have personalities that they come up once once in your lifetime or Maybe.

Much less than other personalities and Sometimes I make cards and I step into that and I’m like, is that inside of me?

This is really So you make a kind of a what I call an inner landscape of of who you are.

Sometimes I also call it like like these codes are on the on packages or food that you buy like you have your own code of of your blueprint.

And in the cars are the map so they show what your blueprint is. I can understand that. Do you find also that over time, like let’s assume let’s take the critic, that over time, let’s assume let’s take the critic, you have this inner critic, right? You have this inner critic.

So in the moment that you create the critic, you have this inner critic. So in the moment that you create the card, you have this inner critic.

So in the moment that you create the card, the That’s what that that card represents. Do you find that sometimes you have the same element of yourself but you might have the card over time and that the card is different and the card like reveals different things.

For example, like if you’re really working, right now I’ve identified maybe one or 2 parts of myself that are sitting in the shadows.

And I find that I’m in a process and working very closely with a few of the different my plant partners here to identify those shadow pieces.

And then I would imagine that if I was to do a card before, but if I was to do a card maybe right now when I’m in the middle of the shadow, that card would be different and probably maybe in a year or 2 when I feel like I’ve.

Brought that part outside of the shadows with the card be different then? That’s possible. You don’t necessarily need to make a new card.

But the the voice of the card can change also. But if you feel that you have changed so much, you might want to make a new car.

That’s possible. So I love that also by so collage. You can Everything is totally fine.

You just follow your feeling and there’s no wrong way. And what I also love is that it’s your own process.

So if you would make cards with me I would not say, oh, this is this, this means that, no, I trust your intuition, your inner wisdom.

And I’m not I’m not pushing a pooling or coaching you in a way to get answers out out of you.

So I got you in that you trust your own process. You’re in a healer also and things come up when they need to come up.

So the synchronicity is also very important. It’s all alive. I can see that.

That makes sense to me. So, so it’s more of the voice of that card changes as you go through in that aspect.

So it’s more of the voice of that card changes as you go through in that aspect. I can also see that it’s being extremely powerful from the perspective of if I’m working on something and I don’t even know who’s.

Maybe who are the elements of myself that are creating a situation. If I have a limiting belief. Or a pattern that I keep repeating, something that feels very blocked, I could totally see the idea of if I have these 300 cards that I’ve built in over time and just like sort of connect in and saying, okay, who are the elements of myself that I need to work with?

Like, do you pull those cards out? Do you allow yourself, is that one way that you could use these cards?

Yeah, so you first read the card so you get to know which voice is inside of you that reprints represents this card and you do the this more often like you get to know a new person you don’t know a person by talking once.

And then what you can do is like stating a question. So you want to know something about your life?

Or about your insights or who can help you to deal with things. And then you can draw 4 cards for example by blind so you don’t look at what they are they are you you just pick them from the back So also this is like to row or So you pick 4 cards and then you answer from these cards on your question.

Wow. And that is also, it’s very synchronic. Most of the times when you when you draw these cards

I’m like, how is this possible? Lots of times still after I started in 2,009 with so collage and I’m still sometimes so One, how do you say?

I’m so, What what which cards come up at what moment? That’s, well, I don’t understand what’s happening, but it’s really strong.

And those are the cards so if you draw if you draw 4 cars the 4 cards sometimes also has as a group have a message.

So that’s very special as well. And that way you can use your cards. You can also bring a card like if you have if you have problems with insecurity, for example, or you feel like you feel small, you can make a card about the powerful person, woman or man.

And stepping into that brings you closer to that part that really exists in you but it’s this small and so you can make it larger and put it more in front of this bus or even on the steering wheel.

And you can take it also with you in your bag for example or sleep put it on your cushion or place it on your altar.

So you can see it every day. So you can do many things to really have these personalities that you want to give them more space you can give more space in this way.

The first time I connected with a plant and actually received a response, I got chills. It is such an invigorating sensation when you break through like that and realize just how connected we are and that we are nature.

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And some other personalities like the inner critic. They can be a little smaller because sometimes they have 2 large mouths.

Definitely my out my house the inner critic has had has had its period That period is now done. You don’t have to be so allowed.

I can also see as recently we’ve been talking about, you know, doing a D in her mystery school as part of the naturally we’ve been talking about doing a Dumb in her mystery school as part of the naturally conscious school as part of the naturally conscious community our community and I could see this being actually a really valuable companion tool.

To use for something when as you’re discovering your personalities as you’re discovering your past lives like doing cards even for past lives that you might have had and putting all of these things together both as your elements, you know, your 160 third element as the different personalities that you have in this life as the personalities that fuse together as you go forward.

There’s just so many elements that I could see this as being useful. You mentioned to me something really interesting a while back you had talked to me about because we were talking obviously in the context of plants this is a plant podcast, right?

And you were saying that there’s also a way for you to bring in, is it called companions?

Is that what you were talking to me about? Can you tell me more about that? So if you make so clash cards you can divide them in 4 suits So you can make cards for your inner personalities, about archetypes.

That’s called the council suit. About community so you can make cards about. People, paths and places that are important for you in your life.

But you can also make cards for animals that are, so you have the 7 basic chakras.

You can find an animal that is in . So you have most of the time 7 different animals in each check.

Now in the chakras. So we were talking about plans. And we we always say that like Cena is the founder she says it’s about the basic instinct so the basic it’s the earthy energies that can be in these chakras.

So you can also have like, like plants or trees. In these chakras. So we come up with that idea.

So if you’re connected really much more to plants than animals, some people choose to use animal plants.

Nothing. Yeah, I can see that also. I can see it in both places. I could see it under, you know, for I can see why from so many people people people, places, pets make sense.

But for example, our community was Bobby the People Places plants. Because so many of us, for us, our plants are, are, are the people, the persons that are the people, the persons that are most closely connected to us outside of the human realm, the people, the persons that are most closely connected to us outside of the human realm.

Yeah. So I could totally see that. That you really know. Great, so like you have the plant there in the at the back.

If you make a card about this specific plans So like it’s a creature in your life and it’s it’s existing.

It will be in the community. Right, and that’s why I think I could see it in both sides.

I could see it inside of the community in the sense of like for us so if for those that are watching from the video, no name Dressenia is behind me or one half of no-named Tresenia who is still in the process of giving me some kind of way to talk and Spider Plant, for example, who many people have heard me talk over and over again about Spider Plan who’s my business

partner, definitely we’d be part of that community, right? The cards that I would make or, you know, Gary the Silver fir who sitting outside of my window would definitely be one of those types of personalities that or those community members that I would love.

To be able to have a way to connect differently. And so that card would be awesome. And then on the other side, like you said, is more of the archetypes would be awesome.

And then on the other side, like you said, is more of the archetypes connected to many of these plants, similar to animals, like you have your spirit animals and you have your spirit plants or your spirit wild plants in the case of we talk about often.

So I could see the idea of within a chakra, for example, whether right now I’m working very closely with Cat Tail and I could see cattail being inside of, for example, my heart chakra as a way for me to connect to a whole series of different elements that Catal offers around my emotions and around the beauty and around nourishment and all these different pieces and how to give another voice to

Catal, who I can’t always go out and spend time with and I don’t want to cut and have like a dead version here but instead I would love to have something like a card like that that helps me.

First of all, figure out in what shaka is cat tail really helping me move through or work through in this particular moment, but also what are the other messages that are coming from my own vegetation, my own plantness from within, that cattail is helping me as a spirit guide express in that way.

So I’m assuming that that’s kind of how with most people it would be spirit animals but for our community it would be with best spirit plants in that way.

So, what you do to find which plant is in your witch shopra. You would do this through a guided meditation.

So it can be very surprising also. Some people find an animal in there. 6 shark shakra for example and I’m like, I don’t like that.

But you don’t get to choose because in this visualization the animal or the plant comes to you it shows itself to you So not us choosing.

But the plant or the animal is choosing us. Because it knows when it where it can help you. So it’s the other conscious state.

That you will find out which which plan is where. And that’s the part that I love the most because I find so as you know I have this spirit wild plant quiz that I’ve had for a long time that I’m constantly revising based on.

And I have a series of wild plants like Dandelion and Purlain and Chickweed that are the main plants that wanted to come out through this quiz.

And it always is so interesting how many people write to me and say, oh, I just got, I don’t know, cat tail, but I expected to get dandelion.

And when you ask them, they want to get dandelion because they love like I mean it could be any other plan like I thought I would get so-and-so and then they say oh it’s because you know I love this plan it’s viewed this key is beautiful and grows in my yard or whatever, whatever.

And then as you ask more questions, you start to understanding, you’re like, when you read the description and you started to get the activities what came up and inevitably so many other pieces that they didn’t expect about themselves sort of show up through the actual wild plant that the spirit wild plant that wants to work with them.

And so they start to discover new elements of themselves that they were maybe just Warrant is obvious. It’s not even always that we’re hiding them.

I think it’s just that it’s easy for us to connect on one level and the deeper work, the work that’s more revealing like you said happens at another level.

And so I like the idea that in this particular case, because you’re creating the card almost subconsciously, it gives you a wide, especially through that guided meditation of like opening yourself up to the entire plant world to that plant king home and saying, okay, plant came home, like what elements of you.

Right now need to, you know, or want to guide me through this process. And it’s probably also very simple.

I mean, I’m assuming you must have a house filled with magazines. You’re old.

Gosh, you know, if you’re doing, you know, different soul collage events. Do you have just like, do you just collect every magazine you could possibly find?

Yeah, well, that’s really how do you call that? I don’t know how you called the I cannot look at magazines in a normal.

I don’t see them anymore. I don’t have pictures like Yeah, and what I hear also from facilitates because I’m a trainer as well.

I also train people to become facilitates because I’m a trainer as well. I also train people to become facilitators because I’m a trainer as well.

I also train people to become facilitators in so collage. And they often say, oh, we’re not the dentist.

I’m just a beautiful, beautiful image and then I have to, I have to tear it out or they ask, it’s inconvenient.

And I also sell magazines in my website because I also have a website for the materials. So I love to also to go to second hand stores for example and to get magazines and books and even books.

With beautiful images, they are not. They are not safe with me anymore. Well the other the other day actually when we were talking was right before that a friend of mine had rang my doorbell and said, hey, I just went and cleared out an old storage area for my parents and there’s some stuff in the in a van and like do you want to go and get it?

So I walked into the van. I wish now I would have gotten them because at the time I had been thinking about, you know, collaging in general, which is kind of how we got into this conversation.

And they, that person had a stack, they had a stack of magazines that were probably from like the 19 fiftys.

Oh and they were very particular in their images. I mean, some of them were cooking magazines and some of them were like home magazines.

So a lot of women in black and white and domestic duties. Yeah. And all of these like different appliances or little images around.

And now I wish I would have gotten a because I think that I think that sometimes having that wide range like you said, nothing is safe with me now, having that wide range of imagery.

Gives us so much more opportunity to express without some of the stereotypes that we have in our heads.

And to and then to see what happens when you put that into a collage. Yes. So cutting C now we said cutting an image is like blessing an image.

And if you put give it another background then you make it really connecting with you also so you change it and then it fits with you You were talking about using.

So collage for past lives, for example. I guess. So I have an original past life. So that’s this card.

Oh, wow. If you can’t see the card, I just want you to know there’s a beautiful spiral, there’s the face of an indigenous person, there’s plants and then the other elements like sky and fire.

Beautiful. And I even, because someone called me who did a past live workshop with Domino and then she could not integrate her life.

And then I thought, well, maybe so Kalash can help.

So I designed a workshop for that and other people came also and she made around 8 cards or something.

Write the cards and and in that way she could really all the parts of this life because it was a kind of an intergalactic life so it was very strange for her.

And then after the workshop she said, yeah, now it feels complete. So it’s very special also.

So I use this. Because the cards are not on theirselves so our parts are not So they are not individuals, they are, but they are connected to the whole.

Course, so they are connected with each other. So you can use the personalities. To get to know other personalities and in Domino we also learned that some personalities now we have our past lives.

So I use it also to research past lives. Oh wow, so that’s powerful. Yeah, that’s a process.

It’s very interesting. I can imagine. I mean, it just sounds like this gives us another window into yourself.

Yeah, that especially for people who are maybe not just visual because I think I think that’s one part I mean I think a lot of different one of the things I love about past lives here in Dom and her is the fact that it is not so mental, you know, there’s there’s theater and dressing up and like performance, he type stuff and music and all kinds of different stuff that you do in order to enter into

the life. And I think that for people who are looking for other avenues, something like so collage could be extremely powerful, especially like I said, obviously I keep going back to the plants and I’m just looking at it going.

And also, so when I teach communication with the plant world, specifically the Dominican course, there is an activity that’s done where you’re blindfolded.

Because we oftentimes associate characteristics to a plant based on what we see. We’re just very much connected in that way.

And that’s what I love about the idea of something like a soul collage because I can build the true essence of that plant.

Without ever having to actually, yeah, maybe I’ll put an image of the plant, of plant key self in a corner, but that’s not the point.

The point is for you to capture the essence of that plant. So if you’re talking about Rosemary or if you’re talking about aloe or if you’re talking about any other kind of plant that might have.

Oh, series of characteristics that in this particular moment are useful to you, but that have nothing to do with how you see.

I’m always amazed when I teach that class how people experience plants. Very much based on their energy and if I have 10 people in the room together for example and I say and I put a plant and I asked the person to really connect to the plants, it’s amazing to me how you could have 10 people who are like the planters are extremely small, like extremely strong and really big and has like all this huge energy and it’s a

teeny tiny teeny tiny plants. But people, if you had used your eyes, you would have assumed.

That that plant was had a small energy. But because you were able and allowed yourself to just really connect to the essence of that plants, you could see, quote unquote, without the vision, the true essence of the plant.

I think we forget about that ourselves. So having something like this where you’re drawing from the essence of the plant and then using that to reconnect into that shockra or in the sense of community of like, what is that energy in my community or other aspects of yourself or even really so we talk a lot about your plantness, embodying your plantness and reawakening your plantness.

And I think that that’s another element that is really important as it comes out is that I could collage my own existence, my own plant body, just as I could, my animal body and all these different parts of myself, but one of my parts is me as a being as a plant being.

And also myself as a plant being. And also myself as nature, right? I could also collage when I embody my true nature, right?

I could also collage like when I embody my true nature, who I truly collage like when I embody my true nature, who I truly am as a being of nature, right?

I could also collage like when I embody my true nature, who I truly am as a being of nature, what does that look like?

Yeah, and then if you step into it. Sometimes you make cards and you think, oh, this will come out or that, but you make yourself, empty, then you start, but you don’t know what what it is really about.

And then you start to speak from these images. And that can be very surprising as well so you can use it also for research.

You can also make cards about plans you say and what I do lots of times is draw 2 cards each day.

Random and then say then look at which cards have a message for me today. So in that way you can also draw plant cards and they have a message so they can help you this day or they have So you don’t choose it, but they choose you because they know how they can help you and when, in which way.

Beautiful. I’m like, I have a feeling that we could probably sit here and come up with so many different ideas and ways you have told me that you’re bringing a group to Dom and her soon.

Yes, I. When is that? That’s in May the nineteenth till the 20 fifth. And it is, we will work with the temples, so Domona has these underbrand temples.

They are really amazing. It’s called the 8 wonder of the world. And it has a, you know, of course, because you live there, it has a strong energy and every whole has a different meaning.

So what we will do be doing is we will have a meditation or a dynamic every morning. We a guide from Damonher.

And this is very strong so it can be about different ages or the metals or . With all the halls, I can imagine like, you know, your physical body, your subtle body, you could enter your physical body, your subtle body, you could enter into your water, your subtle body, you could enter into your water element, you could enter into your water element and your emotions.

I can just imagine what you’re gonna take the people through. Yeah, so that will be wonderful.

And in the afternoon, we will work with Socrates to integrate all your experiences. So you make cards about the holes, about your emotions you had or other things that came up.

So. Well, I’ve organized many retreats to DAMON her and sometimes it feels not finished that people had experiences.

But they go home and they don’t always understand what happened with them. And in this way you can understand more and integrate more and get to know more about yourself.

And your insights. And we will be in, Ali Defarco. That’s a beautiful place where we have, Very good food and So it will be a wonderful, magical trip to a really empower yourself more.

Oh sounds gorgeous. So tell me the dates again. It’s from May, the nineteenth till 25.

So May, 19 to the 25 all of course include the link in the show notes so that people could find it if they’re interested in doing this.

I mean, it’s always such a wonderful experience. I also have a group that’s coming on the thirtieth of April and they’re going to be spending here a week but that group is already full.

Actually, I think there’s like 2, 2 rule play, 2 places left, but that’s a group that’s very much connected obviously to the plant world and we’re gonna be doing a lot in the Sacred Woods Temple.

I could totally understand also the idea of doing cards from the Sacred Woods with all these different elements.

It’s just like you said, that’s why you have 300 cards, right? You just, it’s hard to stop 300 cards right you just it’s hard to stop after a while.

Lots of workshop themes, most, lots of time, so I’ve come up with lots of workshop themes most lots of time, so I’ve given so many different workshops in different themes because you can do so many things with it.

And that’s that’s what I love and I love that you have this with you and so you create this sort of like living record that you can step into and Let that develop inside of you.

Wow, I’m, I’m so happy that we have this conversation. So Louise, how can people find you?

Where do they find you? How do they find out more information about your trip? I know you’re going to send me the link.

But where do they go if they want to know about you and your soul collage work? DANA HAN-KLEIN Yes, they can find me on my website that’s Lucy Schaaphok.

Dot com. Don’t worry, for all of you who don’t know how to spell that, I will make sure and write it in the show notes.

Yeah, well it’s a Dutch name so it’s Exactly. It is hard for people.

So they can find it there. It’s, it’s, there’s a button, a magical retreat so they can find it easily there.

Beautiful and I’m sure that they can also reach out to you if they’re interested in some of your so collage work or if they want to find out when you’re going to be doing things in that way.

It has been an absolute delight to me to actually have this conversation and to be able to go deeper into I have several people in my periphery who all do so collage and they love it.

Every time we’re together doing kind of an event of some sort, you see them pulling out their cards and like laying them out and trying to or creating like taking notes and like sketching to create a new card when they when they will be back to have all of their materials.

So it sounds like such a wonderful tool. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yes.

Well, thank you very much for inviting me. Talk about this. It was really wonderful. Yeah, and I look forward to the next opportunity to create with this idea of creating these like looking inside of your chakras is these companions this is exciting that’s that’s something I hadn’t thought about before so now I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to do that.

Yeah, well, let’s have a look if we can do something. Beautiful. Thank you so much, Lucy.

Conte and we will talk again very soon. Yeah.

All right, that was such an amazing conversation with Lucy. I am just so excited that we had a chance to do it.

Remember as always all this information is going to be in the show notes for you to find it. And if you want to keep talking about these types of tools and other tools that you might have to really connect deeper into the plant world, then remember that the naturally conscious community is the place for you to go.

That’s where we’re going to be hosting this and now Lucy has given me a few ideas for elements that we might be able to add into the Dumb and Her Mystery School, the Sprout version that we’re planning on doing.

So keep an eye out for those and other opportunities to explore some of these topics and to really try these different techniques.

So it’s all in the show notes. You can find the naturally conscious community, Lucy’s website, and everything you’ve ever wanted to know about SoulCollage.

Thanks for listening to this episode of reconnect with plant wisdom, Intro and Outro Music by Steve Shuli and poinsettia from the singing Life of Plants. So join me to give you like our Dania and my plant collaborators next time on reconnect with plant wisdom