Beginning the Mandala Project

I have my favorite medium but once in a while I feel the need to try something new.  If I do only one thing, I begin to feel stuck in a rut.  New ideas don't come as easily.  I guess I am in on of those phases at the moment.   Usually I have a backlog of things I can't wait to get started on, but at the moment I'm not really feeling like starting anything.  That is why I decided to get back to something I started on a long time ago, but was sidetracked after an being injured in an accident.  This project has some special themes that seem like it might help get me back on track.  Another reason for not getting anything going is that Spring is here
and outdoor projects, trips, and events are

This is the workbook with exercises.

holding my attention.  After a cold and snowy winter, it is just to nice to be indoors.  As the
summer heat builds, I will be spending more time indoors, which means more time in my studio.

Mandalas are ancient ideas.  They are drawings about energy manifesting as vibration and light and creating form.  It is energy coming from elsewhere and manifesting into something tangible.  In a way, this is how all art is made.   A project starts as an idea.  Some people say that they feel inspired to make something, or that something they have seen or heard has inspired him or her to create a piece of art.  Think about that for a moment.  Something that was not there before managed to come enter into someone's mind as an idea.  That idea is then manifest into form.  Something has been created that was not there before. 

Where do these ideas come from?  In ancient times people said it was a Muse, an actual spirit.  (At least for men it was a Muse.  I think the term used for spirits inspiring women was a Djin.)  Later ideas, such as those written about by Carl Jung call it the Collective Unconscious, psychic material stored in the unconscious.   Some people call it the Abyss.  Whatever the actual name or method, if there is one, something entered into conscious thought and proceeded through physical effort (energy) to become a solid object. 

Since I am stuck for manifesting ideas at the moment, working with the Mandalas seems like a good way to get started again.  Focusing on creating symbols that represent the process of creation will hopefully help stimulate creation in other areas.  The brain tends to develop in areas that are given attention and exercise.

I am planning on working with Mandala in a couple of different ways.  My primary focus will be on a workbook with exercises on creating healing Mandala.  Why healing?  What is burnout but a form of psychic illness.  The cure for burnout and depression is to bring energy and light back into your life.  The book I am going to be working with is called Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing.  Judith Cornell, PHD. : Quest Books, Wheaton, Illinois, USA: second edition 2006.  This book is still available on Amazon.  I will also be working with some other forms of Mandala from time to time.  I will tell you the books I am working from as I get to them.

The photo above is one of my first exercises from the book.  It is just about envisioning light manifesting.  I had a hard time starting it.  Sometimes just making the first mark is intimidating.  The only thing to do was begin.  I could only come up with the idea of the Big Bang.  There was nothing; then there was an a moment when energy tore from somewhere into our sphere of existence.  Then came an explosion, and matter went spiraling out in all directions.  It is not great, but it is a start.  I will see how it goes from there.

I am not sure how long this process of working with Mandalas is going to take.  I also plan to be working on a walking stick.  I will be blogging about both projects as they come along.  Maybe between the two projects I will feel like I am getting back to having all sorts of ideas again.