Mandala Shield, hand-drawn mandala, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
ONE: Hand-drawn mandala, setting pie-shaped boundaries. Made with Crayola markers, glitter glue, and Portfolio water-soluble oil pastels; started as an empty circle.
Celtic Mandala, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
TWO: Celtic mandala set up much like a castle and moat, with mazelike bands of designs protecting tender, leafy vines at the center. When emotions intensify, personal habits and rituals help you feel safe.
Protection, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
THREE: Perceptions can make you feel sensitive and vulnerable, open to criticism from others (real or imagined). Mandalas during Stage 5 are about vigilance, protection and defense. The walls don’t have to be heavy – your fortress can be a connected ring of flowers.
Hildegard Of Bingen’s Vision, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
FOUR: Mystics transcend the emotional intensity of Stage 5 by using the Target mandala to communicate insights and experiences. This mandala represents the 9 circles of angels and humans in Hildegard of Bingen’s Vision. The empty circle at the center is the mystery of the center where beauty is born.
Circle Boundaries, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
FIVE: Ringed mandala used to explore feelings. The inner circle is filled with things you fear most. The ring around that is a color that represents courage. The second circle contains mentors, guides, teachers (living or dead). The third, negative thoughts that arise from fear. The fourth, positive behaviors that help manage fear. The fifth circle is filled with positive affirmations.
May Mandalas — Stage 5 – Target
May is a turbulent time in Minnesota. It’s tornado season; the weather is unpredictable. Moods in the month of May seem to follow the seasons. The theme for the 5th Stage of The Great Round is similar to Frog Medicine — protection — setting and keeping good boundaries. It is a Catch-22 that strong boundaries allow us to feel safe when exposing our vulnerabilities. I found it difficult, and comforting, to work on Stage 5.
It was Carl Jung who introduced modern Westerners to the psychological significance of mandalas. He believed we all strive to live out our own unique potential, to experience wholeness. We began Coloring Mandalas as a practice in January, working with the archetypal circle, and following the twelve passages of Joan Kellogg’s The Great Round.
Target, the 5th cycle of The Great Round, begins after age two, when you discover yourself as separate from your caregivers, and go after what you want. Sometimes seeking creates conflict, and can lead to disappointment or frustration.
In adulthood, we set and seek personal, creative, and career goals. We may run into resistance from others, feel tired and vulnerable. In Stage 5 we explore ways to set healthy personal boundaries, which allows us to feel safe when we take risks or are in situations where we are emotionally vulnerable.
May’s mandalas are drawn with Crayola markers, glitter glue, and Portfolio water-soluble oil pastels. I find drawing and coloring mandalas fun and relaxing. But there are some artists who consider coloring a serious business. Last weekend, in On The Road, Jason Davis profiled Minnesota Artists. I was delighted to witness the work of Don Marco from Duluth, Minnesota who has been coloring in his Fine Art since the late 1960’s.
In an act of synchronicity that Jung would have loved, about a year ago, a 24-yr-old named Christina Nelson from Superior, Wisconsin decided to try making art with crayons. She thought she was the only one using the medium. Then she met Don Marco working only a few miles away in Duluth; he became her mentor. Now she goes under the name Tiona Marco.
According to the book Coloring Mandalas by Susanne F. Fincher, the healing benefits of The Great Round: Stage 5 — Target are:
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learning to ritualize behaviors of self-care and self-protection
- realizing and appreciating daily rituals and routines
- knowing how to set good boundaries with others
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knowing your limitations and working within them
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cultivating the ability to exceed and transcend limits when needed
The high humidity and blue skies, with a backdrop of billowing, dense gray clouds tell me we are well into June. And I’ve already begun Stage 6.
-posted on red Ravine, Monday, June 9th, 2008
-related to posts: The Void – January Mandalas, Bliss — February Mandalas, Labyrinth — March Mandalas, Beginnings — April Mandalas, and WRITING TOPIC – CIRCLES
This is my favorite mandala post yet. I LOVE seeing the mandalas in this larger format. And each mandala is so gorgeous and interesting and full of energy. The first one is incredible! But they’re all so unique. Did using crayons and glitter glue bring back any memories or sensations (although I think glitter glue is a relatively new thing, yes?)? I get the feeling it was liberating working with these materials.
I also like what the 5th stage is about, and I’m struck by the synchronicity, too, of our recent Frog & Toad Topic, which you linked to. Having known little about Frog Medicine when we embarked on that topic, I am learning so much about frog, its sensitivities and powers; although I would have never known, I am not surprised to learn that it is connected to vulnerabilities and protection.
You mentioned that this was both difficult and comforting. What was the most difficult aspect? And the most comforting?
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ybonesy, thank you. Hmmm. Good questions. The glitter glue, we didn’t have it when I was a kid, that’s for sure. But there was something really freeing about using it. Child-like. The photographs don’t really capture the sparkle, but I was amazed at how they shone in the sun. One thing I’ve found — you have to use it sparingly on this kind of paper (not cover large areas, but rather lines). Otherwise, you get wet paper that folds and takes days to dry! 8)
To answer your last questions, it was comforting to set firm boundaries on paper (subconsciously, I think these were doing their work), because I have felt vulnerable over the last 2 or 3 weeks. And I tend to go inside when I feel that way. So coloring these was soothing.
The difficult part? I encountered a TON of resistance to doing the Hildegard of Bingen angels and humans (#4). Before I added the color, it was a template of detailed curls and lines and circles. I couldn’t even decipher the images. I told Liz I didn’t want to do it. But I’m finding, I want to push myself through as part of the practice.
I’m getting long-winded here! But once I started, it felt good to have the detail and to complete it. I ended up liking it.
The other thing I had resistance to was writing the text into the last mandala — Circle Boundaries. I didn’t want to name the fears and strengths for some reason. I ended up doing it quickly yesterday before I photographed them. Who knows what the resistance is about. But one thing I’m noticing, the mandala series is changing me. It’s another practice. 8)
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BTW, I loved doing the first one. It looks kind of child-like, but it was fun to do. I set an intention of creating boundaries and what came out was a lot of symbology I’ve always been drawn to. I thought that was interesting.
I love working with oil pastels. It’s one of my favorite mediums. I like to use it like scratchboard, putting a layer underneath, and then scratching marks into it with my nails. And I usually come away a real mess!
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QM, I must agree with ybonesy that these are my favorite mandalas thus far! You have no idea how many young children & adults that I have turned on to coloring them! Brant can sit for hours & color them! Of course glitter glue & gel pens are his favorite tools of choice, but do not work as well for a 6 year old as good old Crayola crayons!
Love all of the May mandalas especially #4. D
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wow. these are beautiful. i’ve never seen them before. i love the concept. i think i might set up a day to color & work on my boundaries.
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WoW! these are beautiful! How long did it take you to do #4.? It’s so intricate.
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diddy, thank you. How great that you have turned so many people on to coloring mandalas. I love that! Hey, speaking of Crayolas, check out that Don Marco link, a man, I think in his 80’s, who has been doing Crayola portraits since the 1960’s. Amazing detail. Same with the Tiona Marco link. I have no idea how they get that kind of detail with Crayons.
lissa, thanks. Hope you enjoy doing your own mandalas. Keep us posted.
MOM, diddy liked #4, too, and that’s the one I almost didn’t do because of the detail. It did take a while. When the template was blank of color, I didn’t recognize the shapes. But once I got the color in them, it came to life. That is the most intricate one. It looks like lace to me.
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The mandalas are gorgeous. I finished looking at them and then looked at the clock to see how long until Barnes & Noble opened on the Plaza. For my outing into the outside world, I may have to take a walk and buy the coloring book.
Thanks for sharing your work…photos, mandalas, haiku, writing…all of what you do.
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Bob, thanks. Fincher’s book is fun, simple to use, encompasses mandalas across all cultures, but mostly focuses on the general aspects of meditation, centering, and the psychological impact of coloring or drawing a circular image that keeps bringing us back to center.
Let us know if you end up getting the book. We went to a copy shop and copied the mandalas full-scale on to heavy cardstock paper. It really helped us to be able to experiment with different mediums. And also saved the blank mandalas in the book for future reference. Just a suggestion if you go this route.
Hey, weren’t you thinking of doing a project in your back garden using the mandala form? Something about painting them on windows? Am I remembering correctly?
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QM, I just checked out the links you provided on Don Marco & Tiona Marco! Wow! What amazing details indeed! Crayons, their work is so beautiful! D
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diddy, I was really touched by their story. The way Christina Nelson in Superior, WI had been using crayons in her Fine Art work, then discovered Don Marco only a few miles away (and across the Duluth lift bridge) in Duluth, MN. Total synchronicity.
If you watch the video you can see how proud he is that she is going to carry on his tradition. She will have her own style. But he will teach her what he knows about coloring as a Fine Art medium. Really great story about mentors, teachers, and students.
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I loved these. Sounds like you do them regularly as a kind of practice? I immediately thought of an 18 year old that I see in therapy who will love these. I’m going to buy myself a copy of book 1 and also a copy for this girl, as a graduation gift. We will do some of them together in session.
glitter glue sounds like a must-have.
thank you for sharing these.
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QuoinMonkey, you remember correctly about the windows. My plan was to paint them with different symbols, but the mandalas would look better and give some form to the color. Thanks for the idea. And, thanks for the suggestions about photocopying the mandalas onto card stock paper. I (as you might expect) have quite a collection of glitter glue. I wish I had the green finger nail polish that Em was wearing in the snake photo.
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Hey, what about using nail polish??
QM, I also appreciate the tip about photocopying on to card stock. I bought a mandala coloring book at the local art supply store a few weeks back when I needed to get new inking pens. It was a pretty flimsy book, and I didn’t mind us coloring directly onto it, but with a denser book I would want to keep it in its original shape for many years of use.
(So here’s three more people you have coloring mandalas.)
Also, I wanted to go back and comment on this that you said about the first mandala: It looks kind of child-like — I think that’s exactly what I love about it. To me it looked raw and natural, like it was done with Beginner’s Mind.
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jude, yes, it’s a monthly practice, 3 – 5 mandalas a month. Liz brought the Fincher book home at the end of last year as part of one of her psych classes on art therapy, and I found myself strumming through the book, really drawn to color the mandalas.
I’d been looking for a new yearly practice. breathepeace brought up one haiku a day which I like, too. But I wanted to add something visual – so I decided to follow the structure of The Great Round in the Fincher book.
Each month I paint the mandalas associated with that stage of The Great Round. The first post where we started exploring the mandalas is here:
Coloring Mandalas (LINK)
Great that you’re going to buy the book for some art therapy work. It seems that all ages of kids are especially drawn to coloring these.
alittlediddy, one of our regular commenters, added a link where you can download free mandalas for kids to color. And she followed with their responses.
You can find those two links here:
Comment #36 on Coloring Mandalas (provided by diddy) Provides a link of where to print dozens of free mandalas (LINK)
Comment #43 on Coloring Mandalas (diddy printed 25 of the 90 free mandalas for children and talks about their responses to them) (LINK)
Have fun with them!
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Bob, the nail polish would be really fun to use to paint a mandala! Or at least for a couple of the rings. Hmmm.
Yes, your window project stuck out for me because I once hung full-scale antique windows by steel wires as part of an art project. And then later, we hung those same windows to create the boundaries of our community space in an art studio I once had.
So I could totally relate to wanting to color the mandalas on to the glass panes of the windows. It turns out a lot like stained glass (which in the round forms are also mandalas!).
I hope you do the garden project. It sounds peaceful. And I agree, the mandalas give a great form for the symbols.
ybonesy, totally Beginner’s Mind on these mandalas! Raw and child-like. If I thought too much about it, I wouldn’t do them. I’d get too perfectionistic (sometimes the draw to perfection can kill a good art project).
Yeah, I think the flimsy mandala books work great for kids and you can color right into the books. I agree about something like the Fincher book though — it’s good to preserve the templates for future use.
BTW, we copied them on the cardstock in the 11 x 17 size. Easy to handle with extra white space to try out markers, or simply contemplate….Ohmmmmmm.
It’s exciting that others are off and coloring, too. Sometimes for inspiration, I look at the detail of some of the Buddhist and Tibetan mandalas. I once watched some Tibetan monks create one out of sand at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It’s been years now. It took them days to do it. And then when it was done, they left it up for a short time — then swept it all away.
Impermanence.
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these are wonderful QM…I kept going back to #2. I love that one!
I looked at the links..beautiful work.
Thank you for sharing this!
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gypsy-heart, thank you for you kind words! I appreciate your time checking these out.
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Thanks for the links, Quoinmonkey! I have already checked them out. I’m excited to do this work with my 18 year old client and even more excited to do it for myself.
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Something just clicked with me in the past 24 hours. I am finally noticing the mandalas and am intrigued by them. Do you draw these freehand or copy them from a book or photocopy them and then color them? It is the detail that is pulling me in towards them. I could spend hours on coloring that detail. The bookstores should be open now and I am going to check out one of the books before I order it on Amazon. Right after I buy some more of that $4 gas…
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Jackie, the last few months, I’ve drawn a couple freehand – the top one in this post. And it might have been the top one in April’s post. I also posted a few that Liz drew freehand in other months.
But to answer your question more thoroughly, I started by coloring the mandala templates in the book Coloring Mandalas by Susanne F. Fincher. And within the book, I follow Joan Kellogg’s structure of The Great Round.
The Great Round follows the physical and emotional development we go through from womb to adulthood. And there is a cycle of 12 sets of mandalas. I decided to do one set a month. As adults, the Round follows our spiritual development and maturation. And we all cycle through different stages at different parts of our lives.
That’s my understanding of the book anyway! I copy the mandala templates on to 11×17 cardstock so they are out of the book and on to my lap. And I am free to move them around. I am enjoying both the coloring and freehand drawing. I bought some canvases and want to start painting a few mandalas in the studio in the next month.
I don’t think it matters if you color them or draw them freehand. I’m gathering that it’s the practice part of it that changes us. The coloring is meditative. For me, it’s led to wanting to create more of my own. They can be simple or detailed. They all bring us back to center.
How exciting that you’re going to check out a few of the mandala books. Hope you’ll keep us posted on your exploration. I love learning how other people are using and exploring the circle archetype.
And, yes, gas hit $4 a gallon here in Minnesota last week. I heard a bunch of interviews on Minnesota Public Radio about how that seems to be a breaking point for a lot of people here — they are starting to change their driving habits.
I even heard one man say that older cars that get better MPG, like Pintos and Gremlins and little Mazdas, are going for high prices on Craig’s list. Even with no AC or fancy bells and whistles. People in MN are fond of their cars. And don’t take public transport very much. But that’s starting to change. We do have a ton of bicyclists though. Lots of good parkways and routes into downtown.
Hey, one more thing on the mandalas — go out and buy a bunch of fun options for coloring — glitter glue, tons of different kinds of markers, oil pastels — it really makes it more fun. And I am finding I’ve gone through a lot of markers!
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