Mandalas

JUNE 17, 2007

Some of my dear readers have expressed a desire to learn a little more about how to create a mandala.
Mandala is the _Sanskrit_ word for circle or completion. Carl Jung believed that mandalas were the road map of the unconscious, showing us the way to wholeness... Hindu and Buddhist religions create mandalas as a cosmic map, providing a focus for meditation, and revealing the universe from a human perspective... and a mandala is also a flower unfolding in nature... inviting us to contemplate beauty and the wonder that surrounds us...
Milt recently returned from Denver, where he attended a neuropsychology conference... one afternoon, he played hooky and went instead to the Denver Art Museum... he brought home a puzzle for us to do together... a Tibetan Sand Mandala... we started this evening and I realized that this will be our starting circle...
For a mandala usually starts with creating a circle...

When doing my mandala art... I usually use my compass and pencils to create the boundary, defining the space that I am going to explore... you can also use a plate, or anything round as a template...
For traditional mandalas, the circle is usually divided into four quadrants... patterns are usually repeated, or built upon... but this does not always have to be so...
Let us explore this week some of the different ways that mandalas can be created...
Start thinking about making the outer circle... and see what begins to emerge from your creative unconscious...