The Power of the Mandala

My mandala (the Belonging symbol/icon) invites you to awaken to the vast beauty and power that lives within you. When you meditate upon a beautiful and powerful external image, you connect internally with your own beauty and power. In other words, the outer dimension activates the inner dimension (and vice versa). In that spirit, I have consciously and intentionally designed my mandala to activate the connection between those external and internal realms. When we recognize that the external is mirrored by the internal (and vice versa) we experience healing and wholeness.

For example, consider the beauty and power of nature: tall trees, the blue ocean, the endless sky. Reflect upon how you feel when you enter a forest, or take a trip to the beach, or look up at the sky. When we are open, we become deeply connected to what we experience; we actually become the trees, the ocean and the sky. As with making love, we feel a deep sense of belonging because we become one with what we are experiencing.

The mandala I designed symbolizes several ideas: we belong together; we are connected; we heal when we integrate different parts into one whole. On a more abstract level the mandala is an ecosphere that represents the interconnection of all our relations. At a macro level, the mandala depicts the symbiotic relationship between the sun, the moon, and the earth, bringing the possibility of life to this planet. At a micro level our bodies and minds are actual expressions of the sun, the moon, and the earth, bringing the manifestation of those life forces into our bodies.

The process of using a mandala for meditation is akin to looking into a mirror and making profound discoveries about yourself: “Wow, I contain the warmth of the sun within my heart,” or “I have the power of the moon’s gravity to attract what I desire to me,” or “I represent the beauty of the earth just as I am in this moment.”  My hope and intention for our work together is that you will make those types of discoveries and become one with your most loving, powerful, beautiful, true, whole, healthy, connected, integrated and vibrant natural self.

Beginning from the center of the design and moving outward, I will explain some of the meaning behind the symbols and colors I have selected in the creation of my mandala.

At the center of the design lives the white hot core of pure energy and love. That same energy that is born within the core of our sun is also born within the core of our bodies. It is our essential and elemental nature.

The black triple spiral triskelion symbol emerges from the white core. The triskelion is an ancient symbol that has numerous meanings: all trinities, the cycles of life (birth-death-rebirth), the phases of the moon (waxing-waning-full), the forces of land/sea/sky, the three aspects of dependent relationship (Buddhism), the continuous movement of time, the sun, the womb, the Neolithic Mother Goddess, the Celtic god of the sea and psychopomp Manannan Mac Lir, and a symbol of balance among life’s threefold divisions (Neopaganism). For me personally, the triskelion also represents the koru, snakes, waves, the in/outward movement of breath, the stillness inherent in flowing and the flowing inherent in stillness

The yellow, red, white and black colors that surround and contain the sun represent the colors of all the people that inhabit earth (shamanism). They both stand on their own and blend together harmoniously in my design. One of the unique properties of blackness (the void) is that it can hold everything; for example, the vast darkness of space holds our itty bitty solar system. Whereas whiteness (light) holds nothing. Both blackness and whiteness support each other reciprocally.

In concentric circles (the ripple effect), the black ring gives birth to the white circle which gives birth to the green circle and then to the blue vastness of ocean and sky. Notice that the roots of the trees are nourished by the blackness while the trunks of the trees are nourished by whiteness and greenness (a fourth chakra love and healing association), and the crowns of the trees are reaching into the blueness. The way in which a tree lives and grows represents a balanced energy flow: downward (shadow/unconscious), upward (light/conscious), inward (receiving) and outward (giving). Notice there are eight trees in the design. In feng shui, numerology, tarot, and sacred geometry, the number eight is significant. Some of the qualities that eight represents in those traditions are the primal energies of the universe, the directions, unity, honoring close relations and intimate bonds, self-understanding, good luck, the energy centers of the human body, alignment, balance, beauty, harmony, integration, abundance, power and being in service to the common good.

As a whole, the mandala depicts how we are all connected to each other (trees united). Although we all spring from the same source, we are distinct individuals. For complete health and healing to occur, it is important to balance a sense of self (me) with a connection to others (we). For example, our relationship with our extended community (plants, animals, angels, ancestors, living family members, etc.) is as much a reflection of our well being as is how we relate to ourselves.

Website Photographs

The photos on this website are from my archives of trips I have taken to Thailand, Lake Tahoe (Desolation Wilderness area), Hawaii and various other sacred sites around the world. I hope you are inspired by their beauty.