The Mandala

Crochet Mandala

Mandala is Sanskrit for circle, polygon, community and connection. The circle concept exists in nature, is found in many religious symbols and represents wholeness. Mandalas are intricate designs that can be a part of the meditating experience. When you color a mandala, your goal is to focus on the process of coloring, and being mindful of how the colors make you feel. It is very relaxing and calming.

The psychoanalyst Carl Jung, saw the mandala as "a representation of the unconscious self" and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality. Jung suggests the mandala is a form of expression often found in dreams.  In his writings on mandala symbolism, Carl Jung refers to the mandala as "the psychological expression of the totality of the self."  [C.J. Jung, Mandala Symbolism, Bollingen Series, Princeton University Press, 1972].  http://mandalazone.com/wordpress/archetype-of-wholeness-jung-and-the-mandala/

After all that is said and done...here are a couple of crochet mandala I have done. 

Here are a couple I have done recently, inspired by http://made-in-k-town.blogspot.de/2012/05/little-spring-mandala.html

  I'm not the only one crocheting mandala's.  Check these out as well.

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2013/05/mandala-flowers.html

http://thepatchworkheartuk.blogspot.ca/

Mandala Sand Painting   http://www.mysticalartsoftibet.org/mandala.htm  This is incredible and always has been a fascination to me!!!

I have crocheted doilies for many years...all sizes with assorted colored threads used, "so it has been a psychological expression of the totality of the self" for me for many years. lol  As a young adult, Jung's writings helped 'open my mind' to loftier thoughts.  That lead me to some evening courses at a local college in Calgary, AB where I did some study and experimentation with mandalas.  Here I am now 60+ and still involved in mandala's...making them with yarn, paint, quilling (paper strips), and when nothing else was at hand, jiffy markers and felt pens or whatever.  Mandala's are eternal and I will most likely create them all my days in one medium or another.  Color is good for the soul, color warms my heart, and color soothes and/or invigorates my mind.                             Until next time, MO