Mandalas as Sacred Art
Mandalas are steeped in history and a valuable tool for inner work.
My experience with mandalas began with doodles in my journal and became an obsession, leading me down a 9-year (so far) deep dive into their meaning, power and transformational capabilities. In 2021 I wrote my masters thesis on mandalas and altered states of consciousness; a synthesis has been published in the Journal of Consciousness, Spirituality & Transpersonal Psychology. I am also certified in the MARI© program (mandala assessment research instrument) and work with clients interested in learning more about themselves through their personal mandalas.
Jungian Influence
Carl Jung, famous Swiss psychoanalyst worked extensively with the sacred art of mandalas and found them to be an incredible tool for healing and transformation. He wrote, “had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them.”
I began drawing mandalas on my first layover in Delhi in what turned out to be a 28 month inner and outer odyssey. As I traveled, they became an extension of my traveling self—my companion when alone, my meditation when confronting myself and a description of the day when there were no words.
Only in the final month of my trip did I learn of Jung’s work and realized they were one of his most prized tools to aid in self-realization and individuation. I’d been healing all along while drawing them, I just didn’t know it until then!
“It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to individuation.” ~ Carl Jung
My mandalas were once only in the worn pages of my journals. Now they are penned in gallery quality art-form, hand drawn with no measuring tools. First exhibited in London, May 2017. Now currently in my studio space at C3 in Hillsborough, NC.
Mandalas as a healing tool
Art, in the west, is primarily viewed as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘amateur’ or ‘professional’; all of these are labels given to place monetary value on someone’s creation. What if we were viewing artistic expression all wrong?
What if the act of creating itself was healing? Well it is! When we work with our hands it allows our brains to rest and work through things in natural ways, much like a computer that updates in the background at night. Any form of creativity is great, whether you’re a carpenter or a crocheter, painter or sculptor.
Many are drawn to working with mandalas, even if they don’t know why. Mandalas symbolize wholeness and unity with the earth. They are an archetypal image of what we’re all striving for, wholeness. Art in the form of circles is found in all cultures across the globe and many religious traditions from Christianity to Buddhism to indigenous people.
Eryn Donnalley 