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
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
