My Mandala Adventures
My First Mandala – Focused
The shape and colors are symbolic of the authentic me being focused and centered with each beautiful moment, represented by the multiple colors.
A Brief and Incomplete History of Mandalas
When my interests led to mandalas, my first reaction led me to research their history. Mandala is a word from the ancient Hindu language of Sanskrit that means circle. This is a fascinating study in itself. Many cultures have mandalas as part of their religious or spiritual practices. Mandalas are frequently found in Buddhism, Tibet, Hinduism, Celts, Native North American, and South American tribes.
Tibetan Buddhism build some of their sacred buildings that are 3-D mandalas. They have rituals where they make sand mandalas, too. Eventually, the sand is swept up and put into a river, the sea, or distributed to the audience to send the healing energies and blessings to the world.
Mandalas are created at the front door of homes in India as a welcome, blessings, and protection. For other cultures, a mandala is a means to record their spiritual beliefs.
Mandalas are found in churches, hospitals, logos for support groups, gatherings, and retreats to support balance. Mandalas are found in nature—flowers, spider webs, snowflakes, and water crystals. Mandalas can be made from paints, sand, stones, tree cones, chalk, or any craft or collage material.
My fascination with mandalas came from a class on drawing mandalas. A book, Mandala: Luminous Symbols for Healing by Judith Cornell, Ph.D. was my first manual to learn how to draw mandalas. That caught my attention because of feeling a need for emotional healing. The blank spots in my life, buried deep in my unconscious had left me unhappy, empty, and desperate for some peace. My journey with mandalas turned out to be instrumental in my eventual healing. My mandalas are my go-to to set goals and work through some unknown emotional issues—my blank spots—by just letting my feelings flow as I drew them.
Colored pencils are the first media that caught my attention. The pencils were easy to use and allowed me to quickly create a new mandala. Dr. Cornell gives her readers details on how to start to draw them. Following her suggestions, my first mandala is the one at the beginning of this appendix—Focused. Mandalas are a healing and beautiful creative outlet for me from the beginning. Here is another one of my colored pencil creations.
Love Mandala
The many colors—characteristics—of your life with love being the center of it all is represented in this mandala.
The next media that captivated me was fabric paint. After that came confetti and glitter. Holographic glitter is my all-time favorite. My house sparkled for months in that phase. Occasionally, glitter could be found in my clothes and hair.
Hope Mandala
Symbolic of the rose, this holographic glitter mandala, represents hope.
Loving One Another Mandala
This confetti mandala is symbolic of loving one another.
Continuously in looking for new media, this mandala came from trying pine needle basket weaving methods.
Growing Connections to Family Mandala
This mandala illustrates how you grow in your connections to family.
Feathers and jewelry turned out to be appealing too.
 Rewiring My Mind Mandala |  Rewiring My Mind Mandala |
These two mandalas represent the concept of rewiring my mind.
The “before” on the left is symbolic of the period in my life where misunderstandings and chaos darkened my life because of so many blank spots.
The “after” rewiring on the right is when a critical mass of new ideas and understanding as well as new confidence and self-acceptance came. It represents another aspect of my journey to come alive.
Today, both mandalas strike me as having a beauty of their own. Every moment of your life contains some beauty.
In my adventure with mandalas, a period came that the various media stopped inspiring me—even gave up drawing mandalas for a while. Around that time, the digital world started to evolve and caught my attention. The first software out there turned out to be crude and difficult to create mandalas. Yet, one of my first software-generated mandala remains my favorite. Turned out to be a personal prophetic picture of me alive.
Coralee’s Personal Come Alive Mandala
A few years later Mandala Maker™ created by Alan Goodwin came into my world. Most of my mandalas are created these days with this software. Mandala Maker is an excellent program that is user friendly and full of many features and symbols. Most the mandalas in this book series are made with this software. Here is a fun one.
The Taste of Chocolate Mandala
This mandala symbolizes the taste of chocolate made on the Mandala Maker software. Yum.
Colors in Your Creative Projects Support You in Coming Alive
“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.” – Oscar Wilde
My mandalas are combinations of colors and shapes. Colors are well-known to affect your emotional state and energy. Colors in your environment and through your creative work are supportive of change. Experiment with it. During an extremely stressed time in my job, I decided to change my little office’s energy. A clock with a waterfall picture on it, a beautiful nature picture, and a little angel figurine graced my new office and changed the energy. They supported me through that difficult time. Looking at these items reminded me to focus on peace and harmony rather than stress. Eventually, peace and harmony came.
Another example of using colors is in my Manifesting Mandala. When looking to manifest something new in my life, gold is a color that truly resonates with me. Gold feels rich and prosperous. Blue feels like success and quiet seriousness or persistence that is a personal characteristic needed to reach my goals. The following mandala is the one for the chapter on manifesting.
Manifesting My Dreams Mandala
My sister-in-law, Elaine Baldon Moeller, is the color expert in our family. You will find a color guide following that is a compilation of color information created by Elaine. This list guided me in creating my mandalas for these books.
Colors
By Elaine Baldon Moeller
We live in a world of color that touches us all on a personal level. All colors affect us physically and emotionally, some colors uplift the spirits, relieve our mind and nerves, enhance feelings of spirituality, encourage the imagination and creativity, and increase nurturing desires.
Amber – Amber provides a friendly, safe environment that is soothing and warm. It is like a piece of the Sun, created by the Earth that has amazing life force healing abilities. Amber dissolves oppositions and frees the spirit of its limitations, this encourages healing energies that bring enlightenment to the soul. Amber helps you understand what questions to ask and assist you in accepting the truth about your life. This can bring about a stable and positive transformation in personal development and healing. Amber represents light, energy, life, healing, sunlight, warmth, stability, protection, purification, enlightenment, and transformation.
Black – Black is the symbol of darkness and the unknown. It is associated with secrets and mysteries. Black represents authority, power, discipline, independence, as well as sophistication, confidence, elegance, and seduction. Black also relates to a lack of self-confidence, we use black to hide our vulnerabilities, insecurities, and youths use black as a form of rebellion. Black is also the color of death and mourning. Black displays both positive and negative attributes.
Blue – Blue is symbolic of our blue sky and deep blue seas. It is peaceful, serene, tranquil, and relaxed. Blue is associated with freedom, imagination, intuition, inspiration, self-expression, faith, intelligence, and heaven. Blue is interested in seeking a higher purpose in life and is often involved in spiritual endeavors. Blue is also a true and trusted friend who takes relationships seriously, this is the friend who will be there when needed. Blue represents trust, sincerity, honesty, loyalty, confidence, success, quiet strength, and determination.
Brown – Brown is connected with the Earth, wood, stone, foundations, structure, support, security, and protection. It is also associated with the seasons of fall and winter, all things natural, farming, history, and organic, as well as feelings of warmth, peace, relaxation, and home. Brown takes its friendships and family obligations to heart. It considers honesty and sincerity a priority in a relationship and returns this with trust and loyalty. Brown offers peace, comfort and reassurance when one is worn down from the pressure and stress of the world.
Gold – Gold is the color of wealth, power, and success. Gold is symbolic of kings, empires and the power to endure through time. Gold is symbolic of the Sun and masculine energy. It represents success, abundance, prosperity, quality, luxury, affluence, courage, passion, wisdom, and compassion. Gold brings warmth and richness to things and inspires courage and ambition in people. At its best, it is associated with illumination and enlightenment of the soul. It also represents immortality, magic, knowledge, and spirituality. Gold attracts positive energy, is able to clear away negativity, and create balance to precarious emotional states, bringing happiness, and beauty to light.
Gray – Gray can be timeless or practical, it is the color of wisdom and knowledge, as nothing in life is black or white. Gray carries authority and is stately and conservative. It is the color for control and compromise. Dark gray communicates strength and practicality, while light gray is more spirited and luminous. Gray is a neutral color, it is calm and tranquil, an island of serenity in our busy world. It is a place of peace allowing us to view our options without pressure. Gray is the color of the numerous possibilities that lies between black and white.
Green – Green represents growth, wealth, abundance, money, and luck. It is also associated with the meanings of healing, good health, freshness, energy, the season of Spring, renewal and rebirth. Green is also connected with nature, the earth, fertility life, balance, and harmony. Green reduces stress and anxiety, and brings feelings of comfort, well-being, relaxation, and calmness, both mentally and physically. Green is a naturally positive color and relates to self-love and the giving and receiving of nurturing, compassion, and unconditional love. It seeks the harmony of good relationships and the peace and transformation that personal growth brings.
Indigo – Indigo represents the mind and the inner thoughts. It promotes deep concentration and focused meditation for looking within, seeking the truth of one’s self. Indigo represents a deep understanding of the spirituality of the soul, the fundamentally good and generous person inside of us. Indigo is associated with trust, truthfulness, stability, justice, sincerity, wisdom, and knowledge. It represents the mind, the intellect, integrity, power, intuition, and perception. Indigo likes rituals and traditions and thrives in a stable environment.
Lavender – Lavender is feminine in nature and is gentle, refined, enchanting, and considered quite precious. Lavender represents elegance, calmness, tranquility, sensitivity, and purification. It encourages meditation and psychic growth and is a great color for those whose work inspires creativity and expands the imagination. Lavender is also associated with the intuition, divination, psychic growth, and spiritual healing. Lavender helps us to reach a higher consciousness and develop skills to break though energy blockages which hinder our personal development.
Orange – Orange is a blend of the enthusiastic happiness of yellow and the fiery passion of red. Orange represents abundance, warmth, sunshine, happiness, affection, passion, determination, challenge, energy, cheerfulness, fun, success, freedom, and the harvest. Orange has a positive uplifting and invigorating effect on the mind, it holds us in a sense of joy and compassion. Orange helps us to feel better when we are down, or have experienced a hardship, and will assist us in recovering from grief.
Pink – The color pink represents love, nurturing, and gentle compassion. Pink relates to understanding, unconditional love of oneself and others, and the giving and receiving of care. It is associated with softness, tenderness, serenity, and inner peace. It is a symbol of season of Spring and new life. The color pink represents affection, peace, charm, love, and romance.
Purple – Purple combines the intense passion of red with the spiritual sensitivity of blue. It inspires creativity, stimulates the imagination, and is full of mystery and magic. It is also associated with wealth, wisdom, power, extravagance, luxury, nobility, and royalty. Purple is associated with spirituality, the consciousness, and higher ideals. It shows concern for our planet and our place in the universe, helping one to find a balance between the spiritual world and the physical realities of life. Purple is also the color for those who seek the enlightenment of the evolving soul.
Red – Red is a passionate, intense color. It represents physical desire, energy, enthusiasm, and lust. Red is determined, powerful, daring, stimulating, confident, and full of action. Red is the color of our blood and is connected to our most primal emotions. It is associated with the meanings of love, sensitivity, willpower, and anger, it covers everything from romance to violence. It is intense, personal, and vibrant. Red increases energy levels, awareness, and confidence.
Silver – Silver is associated with patience, self-control, dignity, responsibility, determination, and courtesy. It is a feminine color related to the moon, energy, the tides, and the emotions. It is gentle, soothing, purifying, and illuminating. Silver also symbolizes prestige, sophistication, wealth, prosperity, and glamor. Silver also restores balance to our physical and spiritual systems and opens energy blockages allowing our imagination to fuel our creativity.
Turquoise – Turquoise is a combination of blue and green and a small amount of yellow. It carries the calmness, peace, and tranquility of blue and the balance and growth of green with the happiness of yellow. Turquoise encourages us to empathize and nurture ourselves to heal our heart. It teaches us to trust in our abilities and to open the door to spiritual growth and the evolution of our soul. It is associated with patience, wisdom, wholeness, and spiritual growth. It represents calming energy, emotional balance, and serenity. It brings feelings of loyalty, friendship, love, and joy to the forefront.
White – White is a combination of all color within itself, it is associated with purification and cleansing on all levels. It is associated with purity, virginity, goodness, heaven, spirituality, and mental clarity. It also represents new beginnings, fresh starts, cleanliness, renewal, enlightenment and illumination.
Yellow – Yellow is a bright, warm sunshiny day. It represents, idealism, intellect, enlightenment, joy, hope, happiness, optimism, honor, courage, and energy. Yellow brings out the thinker in us, inspiring our curiosity and stimulating our mental faculties and our inquisitiveness. Yellow creates an enthusiasm to learn, to seek knowledge, to find new ways of doing things. Yellow likes a challenge.
Symbols and Shapes in Your Creative Projects Support You in Coming Alive
A symbol is a shape that represents and reflects who you are and what you stand for. They are a means to focus your spirit and energies. Mandalas are an expression of the universe and your place in it. Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist, worked extensively with mandalas. He described them as symbols of psychological wholeness.
Carl Jung describes a mandala this way:
“The mandala is an archetypal image whose occurrence is attested throughout the ages. It signifies the wholeness of the Self. This circular image represents the wholeness of the psychic ground or, to put it in mythic terms, the divinity incarnate in man.”
“In the products of the unconscious we discover mandala symbols, that is, circular and quaternary figures which express wholeness, and whenever we wish to express wholeness, we employ just such figures.”
Over the years my collection of books on symbols has grown. My fascination centered on how they could be used in my mandalas. When writing this book, my curiosity led me to further search symbols on the internet. What kinds of shapes and symbols are out there these days? Whew! There are symbols for everything…even consciousness.
This one symbolizes consciousness.
This one is for people who have taken responsibility for life and conscious creations.
This one is illustrates change from the inside out.
(From www.Symbols.com)
My internet search hit a gold mine for my inner detective that elevated my curosity. Here is the lists of types of symbols that came up. You will find them at www.symbols.com. For a whole different view, search “shapes”. Yes, my exploration of shapes led me to much fun!
- Adinkra symbols
- Alchemical Symbols
- Animal Symbolism
- Astrological Symbols
- Astronomical Symbols
- Awareness Ribbons
- Blissymbolics
- Blueprint Symbols
- Celtic Symbols
- Chinese Symbols
- Computer Games
- Computer Science
- Consciousness
- Corporate Brands
- Currency signs
- Diver Communication Symbols
- Egyptian Hieroglyphs
- Emblems
- Engineering Symbols
- Flags
- Food Symbols and Symbolism
- Gemstones and Natural Substances
- Geometry Symbols
- Good Luck Charms/Symbols
- Governmental Symbols
- Greek Symbols
- Hazard Symbols
- Hobo signs
- Intellectual Property Symbols
- Internet Icons and Symbols
- Language Symbols
- Laundry Care Symbols
- Map Symbolization
- Mathematical Symbols
- Media Control Symbols
- Medical Symbols
- Military Symbols
- Miscellaneous
- Musical Symbols
- Native American Symbols
- Navigation Signs
- Passenger/Pedestrian Signs
- Peace Symbols
- Plants, Trees and Flowers
- Political Symbols
- Recycling Codes
- Religious Symbols
- Rock Carvings and Cave Paintings
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Symbols
- Sports Symbols
- Television Series’ Symbols
- University Symbols
- Video Game Symbols
- Warning Symbols
- Weather Symbols
- Websites
- Wingding Symbols
Then there are Coralee’s shapes and symbols. There are times shapes come to me intuitively or spontaneously. They always fit. Once my fascinated with mandalas turned into a passion, anything in a circle would catch my attention. Consequently, my library is a collection of ideas of colors, symbols, and shapes.
Questions for Reflection:
- What is your favorite color?
- What does that color tell you about yourself?
- What is your personal symbol or shape?
- How does symbol affect you when you see it?
- What feelings came up for you when you read this chapter?
Summary
There is awesome beauty in this world. When you engage your creative self, you will see that beauty. Creativity makes the many challenges you face to come alive a more joyful experience.
