AEDM 29: Heavenly Love Mandala

Heavenly Love Mandala (Circles of Light Series & Eleven Point Series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: organic yellow oyster mushrooms

I was totally captivated by these yellow oyster mushrooms when I saw them at the farmer's market. Mushrooms are so mysterious  out in the wild, and these organic mushrooms with their beautiful yellow caps and enticing gills just begged for further inspection.

This will be my last mandala for AEDM. I wanted today's offering to be uplifting.

May this mandala be a reflection to you of the Light that is in you and all around you and available to you whenever you want it. Know that you are Love and that you are Loved. Stretch out your arms. Expand with the Heavenly Love that showers down upon you. Be willing to receive. All is well.

Bright blessings,
Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas

Heavenly Love Mandala is available for purchase at my etsy shop

AEDM #23 Celestial Reunion Mandala

 

Celestial Reunion Mandala (Exploring the Mystery & Eleven Point Series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: Mexican sage

 

The universe and the light of the stars come through me ~ Rumi

 

Exploring the Mystery is one of my favorite themes in this mandala art. I never really know what is going to come through me, for one thing, so the process itself is often mysterious. When I gaze at this mandala, I feel something very familar. Where have I seen you before? Was it last night, in my dreams, when I traveled to galaxies far far away?

I'm curious to know if this mandala, or the feelings it may evoke, are familiar to you as well? Won't you please share  your impressions with me.

AEDM #21 - Cedar Bear Mandala

Cedar Bear Mandala (Circles of Healing and Eleven Point Series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010
source image: cedar tree branch

 

I love studying the patterns in tree bark. Cedar is especially beautiful. I know it has different healing qualities, and what doesn't smell more heavenly than a cedar chest? Ahhhh...

When I created this mandala,  the faces of eleven bears appeared around the perimeter of the circle.Bears are about wisdom and intuition; and, during these darker inner months of winter, seems an appropriate symbol to appear in a mandala.. Oh yes, and the number 11 is also about intuition, so we have come full circle!

For those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere..how are you enjoying these dark days of winter so far?

Sue

AEDM #19 - Love is Our Core

 

Love is the Core (Circles of Healing and Eleven Point Series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: cotoneaster 

No matter how gray life may feel at times, remembering that We Are Love and Our Core is Love helps it go better. Sometimes its hard for me to remember that, but I think that is the message of this mandala.

How does this mandala speak to you? We are all full of such great wisdom. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

AEDM #17 - Ground

Ground © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: mushroom gills

(for Wordless Wednesday)

AEDM #15 - Bountiful Blessings Mandala

 

Bountiful Blessings Mandala (11 Point  Series and Circles of Fall Series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: turban squash

I love walking around the Farmer's Market when the bountiful blessings of harvest are on full display. I'm filled with a sense of gratitude at how fortunate  I really am to live where I do and have so much around me. This turban squash with its multicolored marking really caught my eye, and I wondered what stories it might have to share with us?

When I finished this mandala, I thought about how  much I don't know and may never know about what we call Life. Sometimes writing about these mandalas is difficult. I am filled with so much emotion, and this mandala evokes lots of feelings in me.

The center of this mandala contains the unknown, as well as an ever glowing ember inside. This is our core. We all have that glow. How much we choose to let it shine is a daily choice. The amount at which I am shining these days is way different from how I was a few years ago, and more recently I have gotten in touch with how much more I want to let that light expand. This mandala seems to speak to that desire. From our core, we naturally blossom forth and shine in the world with our very best intentions. It is a choice. We can shine or we can shrink. Most of us, and I definitely include myself in this, have no idea how radiant, powerful, and beautiful we really are.

I am reminded again of Marianne Williamson's powerful words:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Bright blessings,
Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas

AEDM #13 - Angels of Hope Mandala

 

Angels of Hope Mandala (Circles of Healing and Eleven Point AEDM Series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: potato vine flowers

I'm really grateful when people share their responses to the mandalas that pour out of me. My intent in creating is only to be a conduit. I don't have any intention of what the image might be before I begin.  I make my choices for source images by what seems to be speaking to me most at the time I sit down at the computer. Tammy Vitale mentioned in a previous post that my white mandalas spoke to her of hope, and so I decided to go through my photos in search of white flowers.

Potato flower vines are used abundantly as a landscaping element on fence lines where I live, and they seem to bloom all year round. Thank goodness for moderate climates. I took this photo recently. Sometimes it's harder for me to use an image when the energy of plant is not current in me.

When the mandala was finished I was quite amazed to find what reminds me of stars around the circumference of the circle - 22 of them, in fact. Twenty two is another master number. I won't go into all the details about 22, but the energy is powerful and used to turn dreams into reality - a powerful, hopeful meditation indeed.

Curious about 22? You can read more about it here and here.

Filling our lives with symbols that offer hope and inspiration (a quality of 11) is a loving gift that we can offer ourselves and each other.

Bright blessings,
Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas

AEDM#11 Power Within Mandala

Power Within Mandala (Circles of Healing Series and Eleven Point Series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: poison oak bark

I decided my focus for AEDM this month was to create all of my mandalas with 11 points (because AEDM is taking place in the month of November, which  is the eleventh month). I also wanted to honor the number 11 which is a number of deep insight and illumination. Many (including myself) note the numbers 11:11 as a reminder that we are heading towards great transformation. Over a million people will be meditating beginning today for 11 minutes each day starting at 11 pm to envision a world of harmony and peace that is based on the principles of quantum physics. You can find out more about it on New Reality Transmission website.

This particular mandala speaks to me of personal power and the fire within. This is not power over that is coercive and manipulative and destructive, but the power that comes from knowing who we are. We are called more and more to step up to who we really are and embrace the reasons why we are on the planet right now. This knowingness and beingness is really at the heart of my mandala art.

I smile at the use of a photo of poison oak to create this mandala. Now there is one little plant who surely has a grasp of its own power!

Have a beautiful day envisioning a new reality for our planet!

Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas

AEDM# 9 - Looking Up Gives Light Mandala

 

Looking Up Gives Light - (Circles of Fall and Eleven Points Series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010source image: autumn leaves treetops

I think Rumi pretty much says it all --
Looking up gives light, though at first it makes you dizzy ~ Rumi



For those of you new to my blog, I wanted to let you know too that I have calendars available for 2011 containing my mandalas with inspirational quotes. They make excellent gifts for the holidays and provide beauty and inspiration for all of your friends (and you) 365 days a year
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Here is a link to my newsletter that just went out. (By the way, anyone subscribed to my newsletter is entered into a random drawing each month that I publish to win 3 of my greeting cards).


Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas

AEDM #7 - The Burning Circle

 

The Burning Circle (Circles of Healing and 11 Point Series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: crocosmia pods

 

The month of November is primarily in the sign of Scorpio. Among other things, the  sign of Scorpio  is about power, control and transformation. When I was creating this mandala, the words the burning rose to the surface.

It got me thinking about letting go of relationships and old patterns that  no longer help me or I've outgrown. Sometimes letting go is just hard. We (I) carry the illusion that we (I) can actually control what goes on around us (me). We (I) resist change.

Burning facilitates transformation. 

Sue O'Kieffe

Sacred Circle Mandalas

AEDM#5 - Celebrating the Mystery

 

Celebrating the Mystery (Exploring the Mystery series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: fennel blossoms

I had the idea while creating this mandala about how we think of the mystery as dark, and well, mysterious. Because the Mystery is always with us, unexplainable and unknown, in a way it is a constant companion. Maybe we need to acknowledge this every now and then and bring it to Light.

The fennel blossoms I used to create this mandala grow in "disturbed places," according to the field guide I use.Most of us would only see it as a weed and not give it a second thought. Run your hand along the stems and your nose is filled with a yummy spicy aroma like licorice. What a gift that is, huh? A little aromatherapy right there in the alleyway.

But isn't it a mystery that such beauty can be found in such common locales? What ever was the creator thinking on this day of creation?

Sue O'Kieffe

Sacred Circle Mandalas

AEDM 3: Walk Between Worlds Mandala

 

Walk Between Worlds Mandala (Power Shield Mandala) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image: red tailed hawk wing feather

I believe that the feather I used for this mandala came from a red tailed hawk. Sometimes it is kind of hard to tell after the fact; but I found a nice website with a good guide to feather identification, so that's what I'm going with.

When I was creating this mandala, the phrase "Walk Between Worlds" came to mind. Think about being able to travel between one dimension or another. You know how that feels when you dream and imagine. Traveling in non ordinary reality, such as during a shamanic journey, is another. I feel the power of wind under wings and soaring easily between one realm and the next when I feel into this mandala.

I'd love to hear your response as well.

Because AEDM is keeping me busy with creating every day, I've decided to forego a lot of the research I often go through for inquiry, and focus on my own intuition with these 11 spoked mandalas.And I think that is a bigger piece of the creative journey for me this month as well! I will rely more on what I know and feel inside, instead of looking for outside sources to validate my experience. Hurrah!

Bright blessings,

Sue O'Kieffe

Sacred Circle Mandalas

AEDM #1 - Spirit Flower Mandala

Spirit Flower Mandala (Circles of Healing series) © Sue O'Kieffe 2010

source image - cactus fruit

In Celtic tradition, November 1st is New Year's Day. This first month of the Celtic calendar is called Samonios - "Seed Fall"  - from death and darkness springs life and light (livingmyths.com)

Im not sure about the plant or the fruit from which this mandala was created, but I believe it is a variety of cactus. I love the way the berries cascade like beads on a string. Seeing the white berries as a contrast to this darker time delights my senses.

I was guided to create this mandala with eleven points. Eleven is a number of transition. In numerology, it  represents illumination and deep insight.

Reach for your light when your days are seemingly filled with  darkness. We may sorrow and grieve for what has fallen away. Life may offer us circumstances that seems hard to navigate. Take deep breaths and reach within and know that your internal brightness is always available, wanting so much to be discovered and brought forth to shine and share with the world. A ring of eleven angels with outstretched wings surrounds this mandala. Let them lift you upward. You are blessed. You are here.

November is the 11th month of the Gregorian calendar. November is also Art Every Day Month. I think this is my 4th year to participate in AEDM, and I only decided to do it this morning. So for the next 30 days, I have decided, as an experiment, to create all of my mandalas with eleven points and to see what messages around the number eleven rise up in me. I will be alternating my AEDM postings here with those on my sister blog,  Sue Doodles, so I am not making myself crazing trying to create for both blogs every day this month.

Bright blessings,

Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas