Ya Gotta Have Heart

I am thrilled to be included in Andrea Schroeder's Mandala Blog Hop.  This post also marks my return to blogging in over a year. I will be posting more often now, as Spirit moves me.

Since many of you might not know me, here is a little background. I began creating digital mandalas in 2006. I had found the website earthmandalas.com in 1999. It took a while for everything to come together - the right computer, my own version of Photoshop, and two semesters of digital art classes. I knew when I first saw Komra Moriko's website that someday I would be creating digital mandalas as well. And once I started, I couldn't stop. I loved capturing the everyday beauty I saw around me in mandala form.

But as time went on and my practice deepened, I began to understand that the bigger picture of this mandala art is really a transmission of Love.

You might  know that one meaning of 'mandala' is containing essence. The love that Nature offers us (whether flower, or tree, or crystal, or feather, or cloud, or maybe even bug) expresses the essence of its Love for humanity in mandala form. I am in service to humanity by being its conduit.

At the time of the March New Moon this year, I asked in meditation what most wanted to come forth. This is how I most often begin my mandala meditations these days. I felt the theme of Love wanting to be explored more fully. I chose these four source inspirations - rose, bleeding heart, antherium, and succulent leaf. I created mandalas from each of these sources and blended them together until satisfied with what was before me.

I have created hand drawn mandalas, but I love the magic and thrill of the unknown when I import images of nature into Photoshop and begin the transformation process.

                       

This was the first mandala to find form. I love the three hearts in the center.  Ya Gotta Have Heart is also the name of this love exploration series.

                                                  Ya Gotta Have Heart

     ( This image will also be part of my upcoming 2015 mandala calendar, Circles of Love.)

                                                        Love's Vibration

I was intrigued by the lines in the succulent (which I later found out was an infection caused by insects).  Personally, I saw a message inscribed in the leaves. What do you see?

                                                        Love Light

                      I embedded the word Love in one of the layers of this mandala.

I don't attempt to interpret the mandala images. Instead I leave it up to you to find  your own stories about the mandalas so the images are personally meaningful to you. And I offer it all with Love.

Mandala blessings,
Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas



Pssst! Don't forget to click on the graphic below to read the rest of the offerings in this radical mandala sharing!






The Magic of Mandalas Blog Hop is a radically inspiring sharing circle, with artists from around the globe sharing the stories behind their process of creating mandalas. Our mission: To inspire you to see new possibilities for your own creative practice.  Click HERE for a full list of the participants

Fierce Transformation Mandala

Fierce Transformation Mandala (Mandala Messages) © Sue O'Kieffe 2012

source images: butterfly, red shouldered hawk feather, danburite crystal

I sat down, took a few deep breaths, and asked What most wants to come through right now? And then I waited.

Celestite rested on one knee; danburite rested on the other. And black tourmaline hung out on the chair cushion, between my legs. These are my crystal trinity. I waited some more.

And then  Butterfly floated into my vision.

What? Oh great, I muttered. Where am I gonna find butterflies? I mean, it’s winter here. And raining.
And then....

Oh wait. Yes. I did capture some photos of a butterfly a while back, didn’t I?

I felt something nod and smile at me.

And then Hawk swooped and soared. I heard Hawk's cry as he headed straight for my third eye. Yikes!

Could I use a feather for this? I wondered. Show me.

And a red shouldered hawk feather appeared in my inner eye. And I felt an incredible feeling of fierceness wanting to be expressed.

More deep breaths. More waiting. I’m starting to feel fidgety and impatient. My mind wants answers. NOW, darnit.

And then I saw soft, soft pink surrounding it all.

Rose quartz? I wondered.

No. Danburite. This friend in my hand had something she wanted  to share.

More listening.  And I’m feeling the danburite is sharing the energy of the Divine Feminine. This is a high vibrational love coming through. The message I’m getting is

Love, No Matter What.

So here we are at the beginning of December. Twenty some days before the world is supposed to come to an end.

I don't believe that for a moment. Do you? I think the world is about to begin, that we are transforming bravely with a great strength and fierce courage to a world where love is all there is. I'm not sure how easy this will be for many of us, but I do think it's worth it.

Love is our first priority.

This is the message that most wanted to come forth.

~Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas


I am so happy to be offering these mandala messages to share with all of you. If this message resonates for you, remember, that we are all one. Are you interested in commissioning me to create a mandala message based on this process for yourself? Please send me an email for further details. I am happy to ship your art anywhere in the world.

Opening with Love

Opening with Love (Circle of Love series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2011

source image  - currently unidentified

After a  lovely Facebook convo with the very wise Julie Bernstein Englemann, who suggested I ask the spirit of Mandala how it would like to be created, I tuned in and did just that. The response I felt was that she would like to be created with the more traditional four-points. I realized, once I began creating again,  that I have been craving the expansiveness of this configuration. I love the harkening to the four directions and the four guardians who sit at the corners of the central diamond. I see angels. I feel the burst of spring.  As of this writing, I do not know the name of the plant used for the source image, but I am sure it is related to Queen Anne's lace and cow parsnip. If anyone out there can identify it, I would be grateful to know.

The thing is, I have been feeling stuck, unworthy, constricted. I haven't felt like this for a long time, but I recognized the feeling. This was the feeling of giving up, and it scared me. A lot.

I have decided to share my heartspace with you all here, because I know we all have those feelings from time to time. But they sure aren't a stopping point. I wanted to work myself out of this funk I would much rather live in a place of excitement and joy. Joy trumps funk any old day. And as the entity known as Abraham points out  The best thing you could do for anyone that you love, is be happy! I'm pretty sure that translates to our art as well.

So  I have decided  to create a series of these four pointed mandalas, and then morph them into new iterations using the mehdi Photoshop plug-in as I described on this blog posting.

 

Opening with Love 5x5 (5x5 series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2011

source image - Opening with Love Mandala, Circle of Love series

The creation of art is a reflection of our inner landscape. My inner landscape was feeling a little ouchy and needed to be treated with kindness and love. I hope this is reflected in these mandalas as well.

I'm looking forward to this meditation on Love and the Four Directions.

Bright blessings!

~Sue O'Kieffe

Sacred Circle Mandalas

OPENING THE HEART

Love Vibrations - (Spring Series) - © Sue O'Kieffe 2009
source image - hydrangea bud

My desire was to have this post ready for Valentine's Day email, but we all know how life sometimes get in the way of our best intentions. Instead this arrived in my email this morning:

At dawn on February 14th , the day dedicated to St.Valentine, the patron saint of Love, the moon in Libra enters the seventh house of relationship. And Jupiter and Mars are aligned in Aquarius in the twelfth house of spiritual transformation. Forty years ago the intuitive words of a song called Aquarius brought the dawning of the New Age into our collective awareness:

When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars,
Then peace will guide the planets,
And love will steer the stars.

At dawn on 14th February the Cosmos actually embodies this perfect alignment to support our collective manifestation of love and peace and dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

The Aquarian chart of 14th February reveals an incredible concentration of cosmic influences blending with the energies of Aquarius in the 12th house. Expansive Jupiter and energetic Mars are aligned with the higher purpose of the North Node. The presence of Chiron the wounded healer offers us the opportunity to heal the schisms that have separated us for so long. Neptune emphasizes collective humanitarian movements and the co-creation of social justice. And the presence of the radiant Sun enlightens the entire alignment.
(thanks to my friend Lorlyn for sending this email)

I have been feeling my heart expanding and softening and opening to the world around me. I witness nature getting ready to burst. While capturing this hydrangea bud, I could almost feel it vibrating with new life and begging me to notice it. I especially love taking photographs of nature when the sun first comes out after a long rainy stretch . Sun on raindrops is a fine combination.

Nature shows us how to buzz with new life. Sleep for a while and then stretch yourself into a brand new day. Open your arms wide. Breathe in and out. Put your hand on your heart.Breathe in breath out ahhhhhhh.

Everyday is such a fine time to be alive.

Happy Valentine's Day, whenever you read this!

THE GLORY OF LOVE

Love's Glory Mandala - (Mandalas for Peace Project) - © Sue O'Kieffe 2009
source image - piers japonica

Slowly but surely color is returning to my part of the world. Last weekend I went out for a walk and captured photographs of first hints of spring. Piers japonica is a shrub that is used in a lot of landscaping where I live. In a few weeks little white flowers that look like lily of the valley will begin to appear.

The mandala speaks to me of the power of love...glorious, deeply abiding, receptive and unconditional.

In case you hadn't noticed, music is an important part of my creative life.(Turn up your speakers!) I love finding different songs to accompany my art. The first four selections on this playlist were especially chosen for this mandala; all of the songs really are about love in one theme or another. I would invite you to minimize my blog and then go about your business ...wherever you go after you leave here...and enjoy the serenade, let the words embrace you.

(Of course, those of you reading from email or an RSS feed will have to come to the blog)


Go in peace.

~Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas

LOVE MANDALA

Layers of Love Mandala - © Sue O'Kieffe 2008
source image- flower bouquet
----------------
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose
~e.e.cummings
---------------
I was going to make this mandala into part of my meditation card series, but I do not have a font that adequately captures the essence of the opening of the heart to the myriad expressions of Love. Everything I tried looked too much like Hallmark variety hearts and flowers.

Back in March I told the story of a homeless family who was living under a bridge with their dog. I found out last month that the woman is still alive, having survived her fifth admission into the local hospital since November. I was glad to hear the rest of that story and to know that I can put my mind at ease a bit.

I find I am in a period of productivity and experimentation. Language is not coming easily. I am touched by the miracle of Spring and her beauty.


Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas