Mandala Madness

Mandalas have been used by Hindu and Buddhist cultures as sacred artworks. These cultures created mandalas as a spiritual tool for meditation and trance. In creating a mandala, there is exponential possibility for symbolic meaning. As a spiritual tool, the mandalas served,

"to access progressively deeper levels of the unconscious, ultimately assisting the meditator to experience a mystical sense of oneness with the ultimate unity from which the cosmos in all its manifold forms arises." -David Fontana

The more common use of a mandala is to represent the microcosm/macrocosm of the Universe, metaphorically and symbolically. It may also be used to induce trance and meditation. which then can allow the creator to dissolve internal struggles, resolve inner conflicts, and subdue emotional irregularities.

"Burst" By Kaylee Hinrichs, 2010. Inks.

(My first mandala)

"Mind Like Water" By Kaylee Hinrichs, 2010. Inks.

"Living In Aqua" By Kaylee Hinrichs, 2010. Inks.

"Blossom" By Kaylee Hinrichs, May 2011. Inks.

In Progress, May 2011. By Kaylee Hinrichs

When creating my mandalas, I often fall into the "trance" which Buddhist and Hindu cultures speak about. I become spellbound by the colors, shapes, and movement of the work. While creating these, a word will sometimes pop into my mind, such as; patience, growth, love, freedom. And I find that creating a mandala representative of a feeling or idea helps me to understand it on a deeper level. 

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I apologize for the poor image quality of my drawings. They were drawn in a thread-bound, hard-cover sketchbook. It's impossible to take nice photos or scans of anything inside a chunky book. (The photos makes the circle shapes look very irregular, but I draw all of my mandalas with compasses.)

I love my mandalas. I hope that someday I can make a giant "coffee table" book full of them. 

But for now, I'm off to draw up some more colorful mandala designs. 

-kaylee

References
 Fontana, David (2005). "Meditating with Mandalas", Duncan Baird Publishers, London.