Within the circle

It's my understanding that the psychotherapist and writer, Carl Jung, constructed one mandala each morning for a two-year period of his life. I'm not there yet, I'm just learning how to construct mandalas, period.

The circle is a symbol of completeness and wholeness. Last year, in the girls' therapy group at Juvenile Hall, for eight weeks I brought in every kind of circle art project I could think of so the girls would have a series of whole and complete symbols in their art journals. Each time I reminded them that this was a project they could do on their own on the "outs" to calm and comfort themselves instead of using drugs or getting themselves in some sort of trouble.

I have no idea whether this made any kind of impact whatsoever, but it calms ME, so I work within the circle often.

Sad day for Oakland

The funeral service for the four police officers killed in Oakland a few days ago is being held today. Steve, one of the local sheriff's chaplains, will be there. Everything will be televised. 

The anticipated gathering is likely to be so huge that freeways will be temporarily closed for the several processions to the memorial site. All of the Oakland police force will be present while their jobs are being taken over by volunteers from other jurisdictions for this one day.

I was up alone late and felt compelled to attempt to draw a mandala. I was looking through one of Judith Cornell's books and was influenced by her method. Here in northern California there are some really awesome mandala teachers but I've never taken their classes. 

So this was an experiment. The geometrics are way off - I learned about the need for accurate planning and measuring. I don't know why I chose the swan. After I finished the drawing I looked up the image.  There are many meanings attributed to the swan. One makes it a symbol of martyrdom which, in a way, I guess you could use that word to describe the killed officers. At any rate, we can all agree that Oakland is justifiably sad this day.

Kerplunk! Oh, no!!!

Oh, dear. I was rear-ended a couple days ago. It was the most minor of mishaps, just a hassle, and even that will be minor. I was at a complete stop, right turn signal blinking, foot on the brake, watching for an opportunity to turn. Traffic was heavy-ish so I had been stopped for at least 20-30 seconds when, KERPLUNK! OH, NO!!!! The other driver was obviously at fault -- and the officer told him so -- and he was polite and insured. It's something that could have been reversed -- that second of inattention or misjudgement and I could have been the hitter instead of the hittee. So my plan is to get the damaged repaired ASAP and start the new year with a newer looking car. While he's at it, the repair guy can fix up the place where some miscreant keyed two door panels. I'm determined to make something good come of this. By the way, I don't know why we keep saying "fender-bender." The other guy's bumper was made of plastic and all the little pieces came falling to the pavement. Fenders don't bend any more.

I have one mandala to show you that never got posted. I kept thinking it wasn't finished but now I've decided it is. It's just simpler than the fill-every-space mandalas I'm more familiar with. In our art therapy class we were asked to incorporate words in a mandala. So I found a Celtic prayer of protection for pets. And came up with this (if you click on the image you can read the prayer):

Power shield

In our art therapy class this afternoon we finished our "power shields" and told our stories about them. Mine was meant to be a healing mandala so I purposely used images of the human form with atomic power extending out to the periphery. I added symbols for knowledge, courage, dreams, faith and human connections, all set into a field of calming blue. I folded decorative flowers and I made the blue beads at the bottom, then wove the border with raffia. This project was so far from my usual experience that I'm not sure how to think about it and am totally ambivalent -- part of me is mocking my own work as a total waste of time but another part is willing to cling to any visual undertaking that will extend my life.

It definitely is a project I would like to consider for the kids in Juvenile Hall but it takes too long to complete - unless I come up with ways to streamline it for them. Now I need to decide what to do with mine -- at least I know I don't want to trash it, but put it where???

Fried mandala

Today was one of those long days and I didn't get home until after Beulie's training class, about 8:00 this evening. I was feeling frazzled, fried, you know, when you collapse on the couch and you've had it. So I pulled out one of my sketchbooks and constructed a simple mandala, a very simple mandala, just so I could claim that I did something markwise today. It was comforting, soothing. Working within a circle often has the effect of bringing wholeness and calm, something I was happy to accept at the end of a long day.

Thanksgiving mandala

In our art therapy class we were asked to list or draw or collage or whatever what we are thankful for in honor of the Thanksgiving weekend. I decided to make a simple mandala with 12 points. But here are the points: I am grateful 1) For my husband, children and grandchildren 2) For our decision to relocate and for our California home 3) For having enough of everything I need 4) For music, dance, art, film and literature 5) For my animal pets and animals in the wild 6) For my education and my ability to continue to learn 7) For my opening eyes and my increasing ability to notice and see 8) For medicines and treatments and those who assist me with my health 9) For friends and extended family 10) For plants and the beauty of the natural world 11) For the work I have and the clients I serve and 12) For a sense of awe and wonder and the capacity to feel and to love. The center says, "To be thankful is to be alive."

She sells seashells

Our art therapy class is still working on mandalas. Yesterday we were asked to consider the four elements - Earth, Air, Fire, Water - and to construct a mandala depicting one or more of these. I chose Water and began with a seashell and added waves and sparkling highlights. It was calming, fun, relaxing.



Beulie attends all my classes with me. She is a caped puppy-in-training from Canine Companions for Independence and I cross my fingers every day that she will actually graduate (only about 25-30% actually make the grade). She's a wonderful dog, now ten months old, and accompanies me to class, chemotherapy, shopping, church and just about everywhere I go.


I keep saying this is a gorgeous fall. Here are some maple leaves and squash and pumpkins from the local pumpkin patch. I love living in a semi-rural area.

In a calm and orderly fashion

Today was as jumbled as yesterday but wasn't personally problematic. I had almost four hours of commuting, worked four hours, class two hours and not much else. I like commuting. I usually travel with Beulie who stares out the window while I'm listening to KDFC, the Bay Area's classical music station. We watch the vineyards go by, the ever-changing seasons observed through vines. Right now they are spectacular -- miles of reds and golds, almost orange and some bright green. Or deep green. Or burgundy. I keep forgetting to grab my camera so I can pull over to snap photos -- other people are doing it -- because the vineyards are quite beautiful as they creep up hills and through the entire Sonoma Valley and the Valley of the Moon.

In our art therapy class this afternoon we continued learning various ways to construct mandalas so I'm posting the project I worked on in class. Repetitive designs are soothing, comforting, a pleasant way to just chill for a bit before taking on the rest of the day.

Grow a little every day

I saw a poster recently which depicted a little tree growing in a flower pot. The caption, "Grow a Little Every Day" struck me as a nice motto for all of us. This afternoon, in the art therapy class I take with my daughter, we were asked to use black paper and construct mandalas. The drive through Wine Country to the class had been so stunningly beautiful that I still had a mind full of lingering images of fall leaves. So I began my mandala with a sort of leaf shape and then added this and added that. And then I remembered the poster and gave my mandala a title with that same sentiment.

Pondering out loud

I spent six hours in a PowerPoint lecture yesterday because my profession requires continuing education units. To stay focused I sketched some of the participants.


Last night I was skimming through some pages in Cathy Malchiodi's book on art therapy, THE SOUL'S PALETTE, where she introduced the topic of mandala drawing as a daily practice. "A mandala journal is a special form of image journaling and is a practice that is both soothing and stress reducing. Staying with drawing or painting within a circle is containing, structured, and satisfying and can be particularly healing during times of crisis or loss. Keeping such a journal is a transformative practice because your mandala images will change and evolve over time...." I recall that Carl Jung drew a daily mandala for years and was probably the first person to begin theoretical discussion on the topic although mandalas themselves have been part of every culture for thousands of years. At any rate, today I have no energy whatsoever so I took some time to construct a simple geometric mandala (with a cup of English Breakfast tea) to help me get my day started.

Healing mandalas

I'm learning how to draw mandalas. So far, all I know is that you start in the center and move outward. If you do something on the top, you do the same thing on the bottom. If you draw on the right, repeat it on the left. Beyond that, I know nothing! The hardest part is the initial measuring, I never get that right (so far). But they're fun and absorbing. I'm encouraged to know that Karl Jung drew one every single day for some years and found it helpful. I'm not there yet, I'm just at the having fun stage.

Beautiful Saturday morning

Sometimes I make postcards to mail to my grandsons. This morning I was influenced by Monday's class on mandala making and made a mandala that was meant to be kid-oriented, something to please a seven-year old. I used punched paper shapes on a black background and then ran it all through the copy machine to reduce it to a 4x6 inch postcard. I'm sure he'll enjoy it and I KNOW I enjoyed making it for him.

New ways of healing

I am open to alternative ways to facilitate healing. When I was most sick and was dying, I was referred to a physician who specialized in visualization. I began seeing him every month to stimulate my immune system. I was also getting a different chemotherapy. I don't know what happened and why, I only know that I am still alive five years later. I understand that it could well be the change in chemotherapy. It could also be the visualization, a practice I maintained with that doctor once a month for about two years. I do know that if my health status changed I would go back to him and begin visualization work again.

I bring this up because I am now taking a class through our community college on experiential art processes. Yesterday we were introduced to the mandala as a way to facilitate healing. I want to dedicate one of my sketchbooks to the almost daily process of drawing one mandala and see where that takes me. At the very least, mandalas are balanced and beautiful and I would enjoy them for that alone.