Stage Three

In my last post, I mentioned that I began my Mandala journal as a means of documenting my progress with making Mandalas following Joan Kellogg's Archetypal Stages of the Great Round of Mandala as outlined in Susanne Fincher's book, The Mandala Workbook: A Creative Guide for Self-Exploration, Balance, and Well-Being.  I have just completed stage three, and am ready to move on to stage four.  But before I move on, I want to show you the Mandalas that I've made for this stage.

My journaling is important only to me, as it is both stream of consciousness as I contemplate the Mandala I have just drawn and make some free associations with it, and carefully coded with my own, unique symbols, so that only I will understand fully the connections these musings have to my personal life.  It cannot be taken literally or at face value and be understood for what it really means.

 
In The Mandala Workbook, one of Fincher's suggestions is to draw an umbilical cord attached at the top of the circle, as an example of a stage three Mandala.  The Mandala above was my first attempt.  You may like it better than the example I chose for my journal, but I couldn't include it.  I thought it looked too much like a string of Christmas lights for me to take it seriously.  

In the Mandala I chose for my journal, I chose to make loops in the cord to represent the caring eyes that see our progress along the way and encourage us, and see our failings and sustain us, heal us, and help us keep our balance on the path of our lives.

The Mandala Workbook also contains a variety of Mandalas that represent each of the stages of Kellogg's Great Round Of Mandala.  Like the Mandala I've colored above, many of the images are black and white line drawings specifically included in order to be colored.

Once again, I'd like to remind everyone that I facilitate a weekly Mandala Prompt Group at Wild Precious Studios.  Please stop by and join us!  

Now on to stage four...

Comments

[Rosie]

There is something very calming and almost "belly-of-the-beast" -like in the blue mandala, which I love. I also think the tones of the "stained glass" mandala are beautiful and the definition appeals to me. But I still can't get my head round the concept of drawing a mandala every day. Maybe I should stop thinking so much... =) xo