SoulCircles

Principles:

• In the last chapter, we saw how a HOPE Group helps people discover the soul’s purpose and bring meaning to their lives.
• Whereas a HOPE Group does the work in short meetings over a long time, a SoulCircle provides a safe place for the work to be done in less than two days.

Small groups:

SoulCircles, as used in this work, are small groups that convene for the express purpose of helping one, some, or all of its members open the envelope(s) that contains their “Earth Orders” A SoulCircle can be of any size. SoulCircles have a precedent in Quaker clearness committees. I appreciate clearness committees for their ability to do creative, supportive work without the direction of a trained minister, counselor, or “facilitator.” In Quaker practice, a Friend seeking help in finding a solution to a problem (aconcern in Quaker terminology) convenes a clearness committee to which s-he brings the concern. As s-he is (obviously) the center of attention for the clearness committee, s-he is its focus person, and they are her or his support persons. Friends make wonderful support persons because of their support and sympathy.

Quakers long ago established guidelines that would help support people avoid personality traps when they worked in clearness committees. Quaker-Rumi ways of doing the work with the unseen presence of The Friend facilitates the process.

The Quaker educator, Parker J. Palmer, led me and twenty-four previously unacquainted people through a workshop experience of the value and power of clearness committees. He asked for five people to volunteer as focus persons and randomly chose the four support people for each of them. Within a matter of two hours, we completed the work to the satisfaction and benefit of each focus person.

SoulCircling was already using small group process and experiencing its wonderful benefits. The addition of the clearness committee guidelines added a powerfully supportive quality to the process. SoulCircles and SoulCircling are suitable for participants of all spiritual callings including scientism and atheism.

Participants in SoulCircling workshops describe the process as one of taking a fearless personal inventory of their assets and describing them to like-minded, supportive people. Because the purpose of a SoulCircle is to help the focus person find out the purpose of her or his soul’s journey on Earth in this lifetime, their usual concern is along the lines of, “How do I find the meaning, value, and purpose of my life?” Our SoulCircle response to that question is, “Tell us your story. Lastly, let us affirm you for your good work.”

SoulCircles search for those paths of life that bring meaning to the lives of all their members. The work of circling one’s soul is never done, so SoulCircles can continue to meet for a lifetime.

Love is the primary characteristic of a SoulCircle. Hope is a secondary characteristic of a SoulCircle. Intention is the focus of a SoulCircle, for it focuses on discovering the reason for a soul to come into human form. Faith is the belief system behind the spiritual process of a SoulCircle.

The group’s primary responsibility is to support the focus person by keeping in mind the awareness that the focus person has all the answers within. “Feedback” is a living instrument affirming the focus person by answering the question, “How am I doing?” We need loving feedback, which holds us in respect and care. It is Nature and Spirit talking to us… body and soul working together. Support persons take notes that will help them recall the points of the story that got their attention. Support persons make a gift of these written notes to the focus person.

Support persons are there for but one person, the focus person. Every member of the group benefits from the work whether or not s-he takes a turn as the focus person. In SoulCircling workshops, people who have been through the process commonly come to other SoulCircling workshops to guide those who are inexperienced. The group can be their friends, members of their congregation, participants from their SoulCircling workshop or from other guided groups that gather for creating synergy for each other.

You are now ready for the creative work of your SoulCircle—SoulCircling.