The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean "circle," a mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself, - a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.
Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: in nature, in the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.
Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: in nature, in the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.
If you take the link to the Mandala Project you'll find some really beautiful almost mathmatically precise mandalas ... much like the mandalas we find in creation for God is the greatest creator of mandalas. Maybe you will draw your mandalas that way.
Mine are more ... chaotic. I just use the colors that I am drawn to at the time and draw what emerges. These days I prefer oil pastels as my medium and love smudging the colors and blurring the lines. There is often not a center ... I'm not sure what that means. I find much pleasure and much processing in working with mandalas. I usually name my mandalas and it is a good idea to date them. Maybe you will draw mandalas the way I do ... Or maybe you will become a photographer of mandalas of God, like I am.
As you can tell from the pictures I have drawn, I draw mine in my journal and there is much journalling that goes along with each one. Although there are many resources that give you a hint at the symbolism of colors and numbers, etc ... Over time I have figured out a lot of the symbolism that emerges from within my own soul.
Just do whatever works for you!
but whatever you do ...
HAVE FUN as you are being drawn into God's heart!
Mine are more ... chaotic. I just use the colors that I am drawn to at the time and draw what emerges. These days I prefer oil pastels as my medium and love smudging the colors and blurring the lines. There is often not a center ... I'm not sure what that means. I find much pleasure and much processing in working with mandalas. I usually name my mandalas and it is a good idea to date them. Maybe you will draw mandalas the way I do ... Or maybe you will become a photographer of mandalas of God, like I am.
As you can tell from the pictures I have drawn, I draw mine in my journal and there is much journalling that goes along with each one. Although there are many resources that give you a hint at the symbolism of colors and numbers, etc ... Over time I have figured out a lot of the symbolism that emerges from within my own soul.
Just do whatever works for you!
but whatever you do ...
HAVE FUN as you are being drawn into God's heart!
Chartres/Sept 2008
Nov 2008
Mother God
Dec 2008
A Resting Place for Weary Souls Dec 2008
Proverbs 8.22-32 (adapted)
Wisdom’s Part in Creation
The Lord created me at the beginning,
the first of God's acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up, at the first,
before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths
I was brought forth,
when there were no springs
abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
when God had not yet made
earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
When God established the heavens,
I was there,
when God drew a circle
on the face of the deep,
when God made firm the skies above,
when God established the fountains
of the deep,
when God assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not
transgress the command,
when God marked out the foundations
of the earth,
then I was beside God,
like a master worker;
and I was daily God's delight,
rejoicing always,
rejoicing in the inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
‘And now, my children, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.
Wisdom’s Part in Creation
The Lord created me at the beginning,
the first of God's acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up, at the first,
before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths
I was brought forth,
when there were no springs
abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
when God had not yet made
earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
When God established the heavens,
I was there,
when God drew a circle
on the face of the deep,
when God made firm the skies above,
when God established the fountains
of the deep,
when God assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not
transgress the command,
when God marked out the foundations
of the earth,
then I was beside God,
like a master worker;
and I was daily God's delight,
rejoicing always,
rejoicing in the inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
‘And now, my children, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.
Chartres/Sept 2008
Mandalas
Mandalas
M O S A I C
Spiritual
Formation
Ministry
...creating beauty from the broken pieces of life
