Magic Mountain Mandala (Circles of Fall) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010source image: dwarf huckleberry leaves
This photograph of dwarf huckleberry was taken during a recent visit to Mount Shasta, which I wrote about earlier. I traveled to the mountain on a full moon, so the energies of that day are contained in this mandala.Curious about those energies? This newsletter , written by astrologer Lisa Zimmerman, offers information about the Full Moon in Aries.
My intuition suggested that I create this mandala with ten points. I was immediately struck by the center of the image looking like an eye. Traditionally, the center of a mandala is the Self/the heart. The Eye is the I, as Life Coach Richard Ingate pointed out to me on a comment he left about the mandala on my Facebook page. The Self reaches up to a circle of ten elders, spirit guides and guardians raising their arms in support and jubilation of the Self. The circle is uplifting. I was curious about the significance of the number ten and discovered that 10 represents unity. In Judaic tradition, ten is used to signifty God, who is thought to incorporate ten intertwining divine attributes. (Susanne Fincher, Creating Mandalas).
One of the messages that I received during my day on the mountain was about change and a shift in consciousness: When you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got. So many of us, including me, fear change and the unknown, even when change is really the only constant. What I/eye perceive when feeling in to the message of the mandala is that through the challenging transitional times when we aren't quite sure what to do next, that there will always be spiritual support available. We can call on it at any time. I forget this.
And it seems appropriate also that the colors in this mandala are of fire and earth - fire to transform and earth to ground it into a new view of reality. (Oh and yes, according to Fincher, the number 10 is also one of realism.).
I sat with this mandala for quite a long time, trying to hear what it was trying to say to me. I suspect the conversation is just opening now, since in my own life I am actively asking for change and shifts to occur to take me to the next level.
If you feel inspired, won't you share your perceptions of this subtly powerful mandala with us?
Bright blessings on your path this day!
Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas
2 comments:
Sue, I found this through your FB page. I must know, did you create this using natural elements or is this drawn or something else? its extraordinarily beautiful. looks like a piece of batik. Thanks for sharing your connection here.
Monisha - Thank you for visiting my blog and for your question about my art. All of my mandalas are created in photoshop using photographs that I have taken of (usually) flowers and trees/shrubs - whatever captures my imagination and attention. In this case, the source image is a photograph of dwarf huckleberry that I discovered on a recent trip to Mt Shasta, California.
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