Sun Mandala- Finally Complete

As I prepared my supplies for teaching tomorrow's mandala workshop, I pulled out this mandala that I did at last years summer solstice retreat day.  It just didn't feel complete and I realized that it needed something more.  I found myself wonderfully lost for hours several evenings in a row, drawing in more rays to  make it more of a Sun Mandala.  Here is the completed ( at least for now) mandala.  

I definitely like it a lot more now and it really expresses the energy of expansion that the summer, and the sun makes me feel.   Mary Oliver has a wonderful poem about the sun.   Here it is.

The Sun

 

Have you ever seen 

anything 

in your life 

more wonderful 

than the way the sun, 

every evening, 

relaxed and easy, 

floats toward the horizon 

and into the clouds or the hills, 

or the rumpled sea, 

and is gone-- 

and how it slides again 

out of the blackness, 

every morning, 

on the other side of the world, 

like a red flower 

streaming upward on its heavenly oils, 

say, on a morning in early summer, 

at its perfect imperial distance-- 

and have you ever felt for anything 

such wild love-- 

do you think there is anywhere, in any language, 

a word billowing enough 

for the pleasure 

that fills you, 

as the sun 

reaches out, 

as it warms you 

as you stand there, 

empty-handed-- 

or have you too 

turned from this world-- 

or have you too 

gone crazy 

for power, 

for things?

Mandala Workshop REFLECTIONS

Summer Solstice is upon us and this Sunday we are facilitating  the Summer Solstice Mandala Retreat Workshop.  In honor of this   I thought I would post some of my Summer Solstice Mandalas,   as  well as one of  Mary Oliver's most powerful poems.  

Through the ages  there have been traditions and rituals upheld during this 

time, from the Native American Indians to the Nordic and the Celtic people.  Awed by the great power of the sun, the amazing Mandala in the sky, the cycles of the seasons, the earth we live on and the great circular womb of creation, civilizations celebrated the first day of Summer. 

In ancient times, it was considered a time of fullness, worldly blessings and celebration.  Not much has changed for us as we live outdoors, celebrate with friends,  connect with the bounty of the earth with all of  its beauty and  savor life.  I love the experience of stopping   time when I draw mandalas.  When we transition from season to season,   honoring this change and  reflecting on my life  cycles, in always enhanced when I create mandala's in community with others.  This Sunday we will pay homage to Earth, Water, Fire and Air,  the Four Elements in our Mandala Workshop.  I look forward to seeing the that  art will emerge from this day, I will post images next week.

       

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean--

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down,

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

 

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

  

 

~ Mary Oliver ~

 

Evolution of a Mandala - Summer Solstice- Universal Shapes

I have been slowly, but surely working on the mandala that I began at the Summer Solstice Mandala Retreat Day.  I am almost complete, but not quite.  I am just waiting for inspiration to know where to go next to bring it to completion.

Here is its evolution.   

By the way the shapes I chose were the triangle, spiral and equal distant cross...

This is the initial drawing of white on black...finding my way....


This is far as I have gotten.  The summer feel comes through strongly.   It feels like it needs something more...but what....I will wait until I get a sense of direction before I add anything else.  

Happy Summer!