Mandala

ART: A Window to the Soul
The Collaborative Gallery, Vail CO
July Show

Nancy Volpe

Mandala is the Sanskrit word for whole World, or healing circle. It is a representation of the universe and everything in it. The mandala is an ancient motif found in various forms in many of the world cultures. There is a conscious, creative harmony that exists in the concentric circles. The origin of the mandala is the center….the dot. It represents the out and inner spaces. There is a coming in, a "window" to the self, that very sacred space in each of us. It is ultimately the "container of our essence," to be explored in the richness of color and context of our beings.

Adam McClean writes in his book, The Western Mandala, "Mandalas are keys that unlock the mysteries of our soul's architecture. If we choose to use them in them way, they can lead us deep into the mysteries of our inner world." Carl Jung's interest in mandalas in his psychological studies brought mandalas into the realm of our western culture. For Jung, mandalas are "vessels" into which we project our psyche. It is then returned to us as a way of restoration. He recognized that archetypes from many cultures were seen in this spontaneous expression of the unconscious. Circles are universally associated with meditation, healing and prayer.

A Tibetan monk, Lobsang Samtem states: "Each individual person who sees and meets the mandala has a different experience."