I'm not promising one every week but this is one that I drew today using felt-tip pens on cartridge paper. I have done quite a few mandalas off-line but rarely post them so I thought maybe I'd start.
Update: And since Andrea asked: Mandala Wednesday
Enigma 743: Two dreams
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From New Scientist #1898, 6th November 1993 [link] Last night I dreamt I
went to Wander Lea again. In the moonlight I imagined that I stood at a
mysterious...
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10 comments:
This is mesmerising! What is Mandala Wednesday? Do you have a link?
I just invented it... ;-)
I am getting sleepy... veeerry sleeppy.... (Cool Dalek picture, btw)
A Mandala Wednesday Happened to be my birthday. thank you!
Pat
Despite feeding myself hungrily on Jung when in my late teens, I always read Mandela when I see mandala.
As an aside, 'madala' is an almost universal African word from southern African meaning venerable old man.
Reluctant Nomad - gosh have you actually read Jung? Did you ever make any mandalas?
Do you think Mandela benefited from this assoication with madala? Since he does appear from my (distant) point of view to be one.
Hmm... Some optical illusions happening here... Neat!
I read lots of Jung and lots on Jung - all a long time ago in the dim mists of time.
I haven't made any Mandalas but I have painted them. My wife travelled quite extensively in India and Nepal in the late seventies and brought back some beautiful prints on rice paper from Nepal. Most were black ink drawings on a semi-white background. I spent many hours painstakingly painting quite a number of them - I enjoyed it immensely!
Not sure if Mandela benefitted from the mandala link but it's a lovely idea. You must know about ley lines? Do you know that Table Mountain is associated with a major one?
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Since we humans first stood up on our hind legs, we have been trying to make sense of the universe. We’ve tried to figure out why we’re here, how we got here, and what we should be doing about it. And, in the millennia-long course of this quest, we have found some places more amenable to deep thought than others. Some places, in fact, seem to encourage a thoughtful introspection and inspire great insights – in short, they are places of power and enlightenment.
Not surprisingly, people have always gravitated to these sites, where they’ve settled, built centres of worship and also buried their dead. Table Mountain is one of earth’s geographical features that have historically been regarded as special places of power. It’s therefore not surprising that the city in its shadow has been described as one of the places everyone has to visit before they die. Capetonians have always loved Table Mountain and retreated to it for relaxation, recreation and healing.
Former Prime Minister Jan Smuts, among others, was noted for his regular sorties onto the slopes of the mountain where he found solace, peace and inspiration – and he was instrumental in some of the most far-reaching political decisions of the twentieth century.
He said, at the unveiling of a memorial to Mountain Club members who had died during World War I: ‘Table Mountain was their cathedral where they heard a subtler music and saw wider visions and were inspired with a loftier spirit. Here in life they breathed the great air; here in death their memory will fill the upper spaces.’
The Earth Spinner
Over the last few decades many people have come to realise and generally accept that all life on earth is interconnected, and that what happens in one place affects the whole planet. We know there are wind systems and ocean currents that circulate tangible solar energy around the world, so it’s not hard to believe that there are other energy fields circulating other forms of energy – perhaps magnetic, perhaps electrical, perhaps spiritual.
There is an ever-increasing body of people who believe that the earth has a number of energy centres, of which 12 are major. These are the eight chakras and the four spinner wheels, each relating to one of the four elements: earth, air, fire and water. Chakras are energy centres, and spinner wheels are places that radiate this energy out to the chakras along ley lines, also called serpent or dragon lines.
St George’s Cathedral, at the foot of the mountain, is built on such a ley line so it’s not surprising that this lovely building, and the institution it represents, has had a positive effect on South African society. For many years the cathedral was the focus of resistance against apartheid, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who presided over the cathedral from 1986 to 1996, is widely recognised as having contributed extensively towards the making of South Africa’s new democracy.
Each spinner wheel has its own purpose. The water wheel, Lake Rotopounamu in New Zealand, is intuitive and expands love; the fire wheel, Haleakala Crater, Hawaii, radiates masculine energy and increases will and liberty; the air wheel, which occupies a space stretching from the Great Pyramid in Egypt to the Mount of Olives, concentrates the more abstract and mental energies, thus contributing to more abundant qualities of life; and the earth wheel, Table Mountain, is nurturing and sustaining and generates light. For our planet to survive and prosper, we need all four to be able to operate freely and without any restrictions.
All centres of earth energy are reputed to be excellent places for meditating but we all know that the mountain is also just a great place to be, to chill out, to relax, to revitalise and clear your head. It is also widely believed that the presence of people thinking positive thoughts and doing positive things in a place of earth energy contributes to planetary health.
And you thought walking on the mountain was just good for you – it’s possible that every step you take in love, peace and harmony spreads positive energy around the world. Now that’s a pretty good reason to go for a walk, isn’t it?
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In fact, I had read/heard , or so I had thought, that Robben Island off Cape Town where Mandela was imprisoned for so many years was/is associated with major spiritual energy/ley lines but a brief google doesn't turn much up.
Sorry to be so late in replying to these comments - I was having trouble getting on my blog...
Viking - I've always been rather drawn to optical illusions but rarely draw them ;-)
Reluctant Nomad - brilliant quote thank you. I am only vaguely aware of ley lines - (I'm qualified in healing houses from poor earth energies but I don't like to do it as it means having to work with the unpleasant energies and I'm too sensitive to them ;-() - these beneficial energies sound much more up my street but weren't on the ciriculum! Maybe I'll have to make some pilgramages...
I love the idea of Mandala Wednesday! I will try one for next week.
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