HISTORY OF MANDALAS part VI
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Boehme was much concerned with opposites. His ideas were influenced by the traditions of alchemy that prescribe the separation of base matter into opposing elements before refinement and distillation into a valuable substance. His work was controversial because he suggested that all things consist of a dark and light aspect, even God. His mandalas appear to be divided into two parts subsumed by the greater wholeness of the circle. We can see in his work a reliance on the form of the circle to contain and organize disparate elements in a harmonious whole. This reflects his mystical vision that all things are contained with the larger reality of God.
Giordano Bruno, an Italian living during the Renaissance, created a series of mandalas he believed would bring about positive changes in individuals who used them. His designs represent perfect forms purported to exist in an ideal plane. He encouraged the use of his mandalas in visualization exercises. Bruno believed that by taking the images into memory, the imagination would become imprinted with ideal forms. This, in turn, could result in a personal transformation for the better, more in keeping with the harmony depicted in his mandalas.
So we see that mandalas in the esoteric European tradition are not unlike those of the East. The form of the circle, filled with carefully calculated shapes and symbols with spiritual significance, celebrates divine perfection. Contemplating these mandalas is thought to bring one into harmony with an ideal plane of existence in ways that change one for the better.
We can see that mandalas have a rich and meaningful past as a method of orientation, a spiritual practice, and a connection to the cosmic harmonies of the universe. Mandalas help human beings to know where they are and to move about safely on the face of the earth. Art, architecture, religion, and philosophy make use of circles to express insights about the nature of reality and the relationship between God and humankind. Traditional peoples all over the world use mandalas in rituals as a way to mediate contact with the sacred and to honor the power behind life’s mysteries. We draw on this history when we create and color our own mandalas.
History of Mandalas Bibliography
- Craven, Roy C. n.d. A Concise History of Indian Art. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Fox, Matthew (ed.) 1985. Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen. Santa Fe: Bear and Company.
- Jung, C. G. 1974. Dreams. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Kaufman, Walter (ed.). 1961. Philosophic Classics: Thales to St. Thomas. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- McLean, Adam. 1989. The Alchemical Mandala: A Survey of the Mandala in the Western Esoteric Traditions. Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press.
- Neihardt, John (ed.). 1961. Black Elk Speaks. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Williamson, Ray. 1978. Native Americans were continent’s first astronomers. Smithsonian, 10:78-85