Week 34. The End.

This week's mandala speaks of the inevitable.

The energy around my mandala project has already begun to fade sometime ago. The flow was there, but it wasn't so fresh in energy anymore, inspiration called less often. Creating today, there was a special energy present - though I was excited, there was a certain heaviness to the excitement. First I didn't want to see it, but it was clear that this was death, the letting go of this project.

Like each mandala, this project has followed a pattern, the pattern of life. Birth, growth, flowering, faiding, death. It is important to be open to endings. To respectfully let go of what has lived out it's purpose, be thankful of the flower that bloomed and all it's blessings. I'm so happy for this journey I made with my mandalas, from the first one to the last, enriching me with such insight, leading me deeper to understanding. Many journeys within a journey. Thank you for following and feedback, I'm so happy my work has touched so many.

I'm just amazed by how everything speaks to the one who is listening. Saturate everything with love, and all you will ever see is beauty.

With this mandala I clear the desk, 

and wait in darkness for a new seed to sprout...

who knows what kind of a flower it'll be :)

Week 31. Simple enjoyment.

This week's mandala is created with wood, stones and the pit of a plum as a center.

The flesh of the plum has been eaten, the wood is cut and dry and the stones are hard. Do I get feelings of distress, of deprivation? Yes. Actually, they do come from these thoughts now, but while creating the energy was far from that. The dry, cut wood felt soft and velvety to my fingers, the special stones as honoured guests, the pit of the plum as a seed for something new (carrying the memory of the wonderful, lush and tasty flesh). What a great reminder how over-analyzing leads us away from enjoying what is. The life and beauty in everything.

Leo full moon, stay grounded, enjoy.

Week 31. So simple, so capturing.
A balancing one.

Week 28. Loving attention.

This mandala is absolutely amazing. It is a little wobbly, like a jellyfish, not so symmetrical, you could say shaky, but it has a smile. It's a shy smile, the kind of smile shy children have when they notice someone gives them loving attention.

I'm pissed off. The glaciers are melting, forests are dying, the news get worse every day, and still so many of us ignore the change that is happening, hide.

The summer has been cold, rainy, and yet all the flowers are in full bloom, spreading their scent, colours and beauty all around, filling the air with joy. They are giving their everything, everything, to wake us up with beauty, joy and prosperity, but if we don't see it, the tactics will change. It won't be nice.

The shy smile of this mandala says - the Earth needs our loving attention. Loving action in defence of our home. Home is not your house, your city, your country, but home is Earth. Cause when the rain falls, it won't fall on one man's house.

With rage, love, saddness, helplesness - whatever creates your energy -  chanelled into contsructive actions, start acting, using your power. Look yourself honestly in the eye and you will know what it is that you need to do. Because when that shy child smiles, it is something special, and you know it.

We all need loving attention to flourish.

The Earth is no exception.

Week 27. Courage.

Whereever there is fear, there is courage.

Contemplate it for a while, for it is a very powerful statement that this mandala is making.

Fear is not trying to keep us from what we are, what we love, it is guiding us there. It is showing us the way, directly and sometimes very ruthlessly, but once we see that fear always works together with it's twin - courage - we begin to understand that fear is on our side. It is a subordinate of the heart. A teacher that gives straight answers once we learn the language it speaks.

Fear will show you the way to yourself, courage will help you walk it. And as twins, fear and courage always show up in equal measure. Trying to avoid one, you'll avoid the other as well. Look the other directly in the eye, and the other is there as well.

 Week 27. Bite your own apple, befriend the snake. 

Learn to know yourself as a woman, as a man, as a child. 

Come to love yourself as a woman, as a man, as a child. 

That is the most courageous act a human being can ever do.

Week 25. Sirens.

This must be the best smelling mandala that ever presented itself in front of me! Lilacs...much love. This one is dedicated to you.

Lilacs are sirens. Literally, obviously, but also symbolically. Not like those that lure you to your death with magical songs, but rather beauties that wake you up with their magical smell, softly reaching you when passing by. Penetrating the busy mind with their message: come, come smell us, pause, inhale our sweet wisdom, we'll bring you back to what's here and now, come, connect with us... And you do, and with a single inhalation you are in tune again.

Please, do yourself and the world a favor. When passing by these gorgeous, fresh, straightforward teachers - listen to them through your nostrils, accept their invitation, pause.

Lilacs, sirens. Every year they bloom for us,

offering everything. Simply everything. 

Amen.

Week 23. Summer celebration.

A long way from November, when I began this project...

While creating this mandala, there was a strong vibe of celebration present. On the computer screen, the first reaction to seeing this was a strong intuitive flash - Summer! Could it be more accurate? 2nd of June, full moon in Sagittarius.

The celebration of this summer feels to be refreshing, strong in energy. Not the lazy afternoon, cool breeze -kind. The mandala has a shell with water as a center, surrounded with this wonderfully structured square. Together splashing out beauty.

Aphrodite and Ares made a beautiful couple, producing a son, Eros, and a daughter, Harmonia. This summer, may we let our Aphrodite and Ares unite and play... and see what becomes! May we let creativity and beauty join the strategic fire, and no less but restore harmonious, loving balance in an unpredictable way. Wow.

Week 23. Summer, celebration, divine play

between aphrodite and ares.

Week 21. Spring fashion.

Fresh green. Spring green. Soft green.
Green on orange.

(And the little blue forget-me-nots. Like anyone ever could...)

Isn't this planet just a marvellous place? Humbly knowing it, strutting it's spring/summer 2015 -collection in an irresistible way... Once again, success! Brilliance!

The colour of the season - it is green.

Week 18. Structure.

It is a wonderful thing, how your head is filled with ideas, patterns, themes and stories, and then something else forms infront of you. Something you need far more...

This week's mandala speaks of structure. Not of rigid structure, but rather of a firm order, as to bring together and organize all kinds of bits and pieces hanging loose here and there. Start with a strong core (boy is the core in this baby a good example!) and systematically gather all relevant information to form a clear picture. Leave room for expansion.

All kinds of daydreams (not all joyous ones) fill my mind these days, but luckily I constantly get reminders to get my act together and start working with the stuff I've got. There's a time for dreaming, and there's a time to start making those dreams real. Not dream, and then move on to another dream, and then to another... Dreaming only becomes escapism if it never turns to action. If it never gets structure.

Is Mars around?! For I surely feel it!

Week 18. Give your dreams structure. 

See what really fits in, what doesn't. 

Leave space for expansion, 

be open to change.

Week 17. Process.

This week was a special case. I was not at home but in the countryside, and instead of one, two mandalas emerged. Also both mandalas only existed for a short moment (actually only long enough for me to take the pictures).

They don't really speak, I can't verbalize the message. They are focused, intense and clear, yet the mind can't categorize them. Somehow disturbing. But they belong together, the first one birthing the other. It is a process. Maybe a process towards freedom, whaddaya think?

 

the first one

the second one

Week 15. Holiness.

I went wandering on Good Friday. In the middle of a clearcutting there is a small island of forest with two huge rocks of quartz. One of them offered this small piece in the center for me to take with me. This is what it wanted to share through a mandala.

Don't judge something as holy, as opposed to unholy.
Holiness is wholeness.

Week 15. The clearcutting had not taken away 

the power of the land, 

of the rock underneath.

A healing place, pulsating in this mandala as well.

Week 12. Potential.

This week's mandala is small, but none the less powerfull.

We are all smaller than grains of sand in relation to the whole, but each one of us powerfull and important. Each one unique, bringing something special to the mix. Let's not forget that. In times like these, it really matters what you represent. Is it fear, or is it love, is it peace?

I placed a sprouting tomato as a center to start building from. Growing your own vegetables really makes you appreciate the wonder we live in. From a small, dry, grayish seed becomes a sprout, then a plant, a plant which gives so many tomatoes filled with dozens of those little seeds, waiting for their turn to fullfill their potential.

A new moon solar eclipse is leading us 

to the Equinox. 

Be ready to sprout!

Week 10. Power.

"Fight not, and you can not lose."

Paradoxically, all power struggles originate from fear of power. "Power over", an often desired state by a human (whether connected to other beings, nature, one's own feelings, thoughts or desires), is ultimately equal to "fear of". Fear of what? Abandonment, rejection, shame, worthlessness - separation from others.

These few weeks I've become quite aware of the many battle fields (both internal and external) on which I've fought for ages, and all over my body I have heard the call from the heart to move on from the wearing need to win or fear of losing. To stop fighting these battles that lead nowhere and take up way too much energy. To try a different approach - an open heart.

The power in love is amazing. When the heart gets a crack or even breaks completely, don't hurry to fix it or armor the pain. Because slowly, through the cracks true love starts flowing. It flows through abandonment, rejection, feelings of shame, anger and worthlessness and fills everything, washing away the idea of power, replacing it with power.

Love doesn't fight, battle, struggle. Instead, given the chance, it softly penetrates everything far more effectively than any sword of truth ever could. Not by force, but with respect, patiently waiting to be let through. Through you, not others. That's true power.

 

  In love is respect for oneself and others, 

the choices we all make on our individual 

paths.

Choosing love is stepping out of 

the battle. Gone is the fear of separation.

Week 8. Love.

Love. What's there to say?
Reminds me of a Jill Scott song

stop talking
no more conversation necessary
show me

Week 8. The red was calling to me,

yet in the picture, framed, it now feels suffocating.

Freedom is the prerequisite for love. And vice versa.

Week 7. Simplicity.

Sometimes we feel simple isn't enough. Simple equals not making effort. Simple shows lack of ability to create or understand complex.

This week's mandala is simple. I tried adding all kinds of wonderful grids here and there, but no. They didn't belong. Now, who am I to argue that? It is what it is.

I once read a quote somewhere that simplicity is the highest form of sophistication. One of my great inspirations, Emma Kunz, stated that the one mathematical formula behind all that is, is so simple that the human fails to see it.

We often tend to overthink, overdo, overreact, overanalyze. We often tend to look for complex solutions, complex explanations.

The truth is always simple. Simplicity is peace.

 

Week 7. Happy Valentine's Day mother Earth, 

and all beings aboard.

From the most complex to the simplest one :)

Week 2. Time.

I took the picture, downloaded it, clicked for a new entry... but nothing. Not even a theme. Not even a feeling that there is a theme. Disturbing. Have I lost touch?

I went to stand next to the mandala, hoping for it to resonate somehow, when I suddenly saw this pattern which was yet missing from it's earthly form! And as I completed and finished the mandala I had begun creating yesterday, the message became quite clear. Sometimes you got to give things time to complete.

Although I usually create the mandala in one session and put value on that, this mandala was not ready to fully emerge yesterday. To find it's rhythm, the mandala needed time. I took back the material I had already put aside and added the final touch to blow life into it.

Don't force things. Stay patient. Listen.

Week 2. The aswer is always here, there, everywhere.
In it's own time it will emerge.

Week 51. Earth.

Winter solstice, the moment of bottom touch before rising up again. This week's mandala needs no words actually, the message it delivered was the feeling with tears rolling down my cheeks when I looked at it later at night. It looked like the ecosystem of the earth, so fragile, delicate, lighthearted and beyond beautiful.

Winter Solstice, New Moon. Nuf said.

Week 50, pt. 2. Trust.

Water has been (and continues to be) one of my greatest teachers. Therefore the rather lenghty story:

For as long as I remember, when it comes to water I've fantasized about floating. Yet everytime I go swimming and try, my legs begin to sink. Last summer, on a beautiful sunny day, I tried again. I really concentrated and began to give weight to the water, to relax. I sensed into it, relaxed my body conciously, and the more I relaxed, the more clearly I heard this anxious inner voice telling me I'm gonna sink like any heavy object and die. For a moment I could sense the fear and yet stay relaxed (and float!), but soon it took over and I had to stop. It was an intense experience.

This week floating suddenly came up in a conversation and a friend said it : "You can not float because you don't trust the water." This was one of those insightful moments when something you thought you understood sinks even deeper. Yeah, you don't do floating, you float. You don't make effort to float - the water carries you, whether you understand it or not. All you need is to trust that and enjoy. Paddle a little to move around, but floating is something that just happens.

Logic and control are such wonderful tools for operating in this world, but unfortunately they're also quite effective in creating and holding up bubbles which soon become exhausting paradigms (as for a bubble, or actually any object to survive, there is a need for constant tension). You so yearn to float and try your best to figure out a solution to do so. And you keep on trying... But trying to float is the same as trying to float inside the bubble, which isn't really possible. Floating is only possible after the bubble of control has burst, but it's terrifying to the mind. The mind can not be sure what is outside the bubble, what will happen outside the bubble. Logic screams - chaos! Control screams - too much to handle! There are so many bubbles we live in, bigger and smaller, inside each other and overlapping.

What's all this got to do with the mandala?

I wanted to create a mandala as a gift to the waters of this world. The oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, the water inside my human body. I've had it in mind for a few weeks already, but it wasn't until now that it felt like the right time. I had created a picture in my head of how it would have harmonious wavelike patterns and all, but as I began creating, it didn't turn out like I had envisioned at all! Frustration! Anger! Disappointment! I took a deep breath, wiped it off and began anew. Floating in creation. The point in intuitive working is that you do not know where it is going. What it's gonna look like. What it's gonna say. Whether it'll be ugly or pretty. You do not control the process, you do not designate the outcome. You are creating together with all that is, so there's no way of knowing it all, controlling it. You trust that whatever you create, it is the right pattern to emerge, whether you understand it or not. Whether you like it or not. And that is exactly what makes the process "creating". It has never been before, manifested nor envisioned, it is happening here and now and there's the value, there's the beauty. That's floating.

So Week 50, happiness and trust. One and the same really, floating.

Made with seasalt, heilerde, much love, much respect. 

For the water that nourishes, cleanses, teaches and keeps this 

ecosystem alive. Inside and out.

For the water that carries.

Week 50. Happiness.

Two weeks have passed without a new mandala, but lesson nr. 1 - you don't force it. The mandala comes when it comes. The mandala of week 47 stayed on the floor for over a week, it was called for. And it wasn't until yesterday I felt the call to create again.

This week's mandala is a powerful reminder of how happiness is present in every moment. Happiness is not a feeling, it is simply being alive, being life. It has been very gray, I've been ill and frustrated with things not "moving on" and all that. Yet when I heard the call and my hands started creating, along with the mandala my spirits began lifting... All it really took was the 4 dried pink flowers that my cactus had dropped earlier (the cactus which rarely blooms, so these babies are much appreciated!) placed on the blue cloth and boom! I crossed over from thinking about my situation to happiness! I still felt ill and stuck, but the mandala forming before me was so beautiful that I realised it - I'm alive. What more could I ask for, need?
Isn't it funny really? Happiness?
I truly believe, like it says in the wonderful Nick Cave song "Nature Boy": "In the end, it's beauty that is gonna save the world."

Week 50. Happiness is a way of being alive. 

Whatever your situation, scrape the mud from the surface

and see that you are alive. You cannot but be happy.

Week 47. Death.

Just when you think your whole life is falling apart, you suddenly notice that it did, and you're in the middle of a beautiful new dawning.

Week 47 was such an intense struggle to hold on to things that once were so important and fulfilling. Once you lose the feeling for them in your heart, you feel angry and dissappointed, terrified and desperate, for what is left once they're taken away? Nothing? So you try to tell yourself it'll pass, you're just having a bad day, until the weight of the lies crushes all those covers... That's when the new dawn emerges. So sudden, so soft, so full of light air. And you see how nothing actually died, it was just time to step onto the next level and expand. The circle is really a spiral...

Making this was not easy. Death was lingering all over and setting all the rice grains, mungbeans and lentils was such a test for the nerves.

I went to bed feeling uncomfortable with this, wanting to wipe it away.

However, the next morning I saw it in a new light and felt peace.

Life is miraculous.

It is still on the floor, third day.

Week 46. Movement.

Creation that happens in the now and leaves no structure behind to hold energy in place is a wonderful opportunity to study (and celebrate!) your relationship with the eternal momentariness of everything. Like dancing - the very moment the movement manifests into existence it is gone. You can not hold on to it, keep it, freeze it. A little like the mandalas that exist only for a few days. Creation becomes more intense, more precious, when you are consciously aware of the fruit's brief existence in space and time.

Building mandalas which need to be deconstructed as a part of the process help me, among other things, practise letting go. Sometimes I want to prolong having the mandala on place although I get a strong feeling that it is time to take it apart. Like this week. Having created a farewell mandala to a loved one I had to part ways with, it was really difficult to take it apart. I felt it would be like cutting the final chord between us. It was so beautiful and felt safe, yet I had this feeling in my heart that it was time - the energy held in place by the pattern was turning restless to move on. Letting go often generates grief, but stuck energy always generates unneccessary pain and frustration.

What a powerful week.

 

Week 46 began with a powerful conjunction between Mars and Pluto.

To me, the mandala suggested that the fierce fires of transformation would

be delicate and compelling.

Stayed for 4 days.

 

And they were. 

Stayed for 2 days.

November, beginning

November - a month to dive deep, focus on the internal, explore the treasure cave... No choice, as the darkness falls and the energy gets heavy, in a soft and velvety way. You breathe with the Earth's rhythm. A good time to birth a project of building intuitive mandalas. I'm excited about what comes of it...

Building mandalas on the living room floor is a perfect way to live through the creative process as a whole - materia takes shape and scatters again. Birth, growth, flowering, fading, death. Ah, life!
The energy of the mandala, which fills the room and sometimes even lingers on you where ever you go, is sometimes strong and assertive, sometimes airy and subtle, sometimes playful, anything really. Sometimes the mandala speaks, gives words, sometimes it is still. But the message is always there for the reader. True understanding is beyond understanding...

"Welcome, November darkness" was the whisper in it's rhythm.
November's darkness is actually supportive and nurturing, once you lose the collectively
supported idea of it as depressing and draining.

The first mandala to begin the project. Stayed for 3 days.
I'm so happy!