Mandala means circle in Sanskrit. This word is also known as wheel and whole. Beyond its definition as a word, from the spiritual point of view it is an energy center of balance and purification that helps transform the environment and the mind. It is also defined as an ideographic container system of a sacred space.
Mandalas are used since ancient times. They originate in India and spread in Eastern cultures, in the Native Americans and in the aborigines of Australia. In Western culture, it was Carl G. Jung, who used them in therapies in order to achieve the search for individuality in human beings. Jung used to interpret his dreams by drawing a mandala daily, in this activity he discovered the relationship that they had with their center and from there elaborated a theory About the structure of the human psyche.
According to Carl Jung, mandalas represent the totality of the mind, encompassing both the conscious and the unconscious. He affirmed that the archetype of these drawings is firmly anchored in the collective subconscious.
Mandalas are also defined as a cosmological diagram that can be used for meditation. It consists of a series of concentric geometric shapes organized at various visual levels. The most commonly used basic forms are: circles, triangles, squares and rectangles.
These figures can be created in two-dimensional or three-dimensional form. For example, in India there is a large number of temples made in the form of mandalas. The designs are very varied, but they maintain similar characteristics: a center and cardinal points contained in circles and arranged with a certain symmetry.
According to Psychology, the mandala represents the human being. Interacting with them helps you cure the psychic and spiritual fragmentation, manifest your creativity and reconnect with your essential being. It is like starting a journey towards your essence, it opens doors unknown until now and makes your inner wisdom sprout. Integrating them into your life will give you center and a sense of calm in the midst of storms.
Meditation work with mandalas may consist of observation or drawing of these. In the first case, just sitting in a comfortable place, achieving a deep and deep breath, and preparing to observe some mandala of your choice, can lead you to a state of relaxation and you will feel more alert to the events that happen around you. The observation process can last between three and five minutes.
In the second case, you can draw mandalas or color them. It is recommended that if you are linking with these images, start painting them. To do this, choose a model that inspires you, select the instruments (colors, markers, watercolors, for example), and then install yourself in a quiet place. You can place music if you wish and start your work. There are varied techniques, everything will depend on your mood and what the mandala you want to paint transmits to you. If you think you need help to externalize your emotions, you can color them from the inside out; If on the contrary, you want to look for your center, paint them from the outside in.
This is a job that anyone can do, regardless of their age or religion. It is a simple practice that will result in personal benefits and the achievement of internal balance.
Benefits of drawing or painting mandalas
1) Beginning of an active meditation work.
2) Contact with your essence.
3) You will express yourself better with the outside world.
4) Help expand your awareness.
5) Patience development.
6) Awakening of the senses. You are likely to start seeing what is around you with other eyes.
7) You start listening to the voice of your intuition.
8) You will accept yourself and love yourself more.
9) You will be cured physically and psychically.
Forms and their meanings
Mandalas are not simple drawings of colors. All the elements that are integrated into them have a meaning. Meet some of the most used:
• Circle: movement. Absolute. The real me.
• Heart: sun. Love, hapiness. Joy. Feeling of union
• Cross: union of heaven and earth. Life and death. The conscious and the unconscious.
• Square: nature processes. Stability. Balance.
• Star: symbol of the spiritual. Freedom. Elevation.
• Spiral: vitality. Healing energies. Constant search of totality.
• Hexagon: union of opposites.
• Labyrinth: implies the search of the center itself.
• Mariposa: self renewal of the soul. Transformation and death
• Pentagon: silhouette of the human body. Earth, water, fire.
• Rectangle: stability. Intellect performance. Earthly life
• Triangle: water, unconscious (down); vitality, transformation (upwards); aggression towards oneself (towards the center).
What do colors mean?
The use of colors in mandalas also has a special meaning. Its use is related to the mood of who paints or draws them. Discover what each tone hides:
• White: nothing, purity, lighting, perfection.
• Black: death, personal limitation, mystery, rebirth, ignorance.
• Gray: neutrality, wisdom, renewal.
• Red: masculine, sensuality, love, roots, passion.
• Blue: tranquility, peace, happiness, satisfaction, joy.
• Yellow: sun, light, joviality, sympathy, receptivity.
• Orange: energy, dynamism, ambition, tenderness, courage.
• Rosa: feminine and infantile aspects, sweetness, altruism.
• Purple: love of neighbor, idealism and wisdom.
• Green: nature, balance, growth, hope.
• Violet: music, magic, spirituality, transformation, inspiration.
• Gold: wisdom, clarity, lucidity, vitality.
• Silver: extrasensory abilities, fluctuating emotions, well-being.
By Magdalena Daggers *
–Vista in: El-Amarna
