Rita had come to her therapist ruminating and rambling about her loss of Roy, yet in her inward journey she encountered a healing Self that knew her greatest need was to waken peristalsis, the wavelike contracting and dilating that her stomach so desperately needed. Ever ready to take Roy back should the flame of his rekindledfirst loveflicker, Rita began to eat more, gain weight, and enjoy time alone without a constant parade of people marching through her life. The battle between personality parts acting the playgirl or the clinging vine had reached an impasse right in the middle of Rita’s alimentary canal. It took akinesthetic Selfto unblock dammed up energies and lower the decibel level between dueling parts so Rita could begin to understand the quiet murmurings that knew her true needs.
MANDALAS
Tunneling inward is one way to find a route to the center of your Self. But, what if it were possible to draw a (symbolic) map to locate or define your core? Carl Jung (1875–1961) was one of the early explorers in charting the psyche. At 37 years of age, he quit his university post to devote himself to his and his patients’ inner lives. Each morning, he sketched circular designs that he believed helped him develop more of his Self. Thesemandalastook their name from the Sanskrit wordmanda, which means essence. The suffixlastands for container, making a mandala the container of one’s essence (Cunningham, 2002).
The Self was one of Jung’s archetypes or ideal forms that gives people an image of their own unique, individual existence. Every organism is driven to assume a form characteristic of its nature.
The Self is the driving force that compels people to find their own identity or to individuate. It does this by producing (thought) patterns, direction, and meaning. It is constantly digesting and unifying everyday experiences. Mandalas symbolize this with circular designs that organize perception, ideas, and physical sensations (Fincher, 2000).
Jung made it clear that the Self is at a person’s core, not the ego. Unlike Freud, who defined the ego as the personality part that mediates between id impulses and superego rules, Jung thought of ego as the part that is consciously known, can be wounded or hurt, and needs protection. Thisegois similar to Assagioli’spersonal selfthat is acutely aware of itself as distinct and separate. The Self stands behind the ego orsmall selfas a safety net when it is challenged and not functioning well (Fincher, 2000).
Interpretations of Mandalas
Mandalas communicate information between the Self and the ego; and, conversely, they translate information from the personal self into symbols that speak to the Self. These designs reveal stages of a person’s development in cyclic phases that repeat as a person evolves.
The uroboros or snake swallowing its tail, the illustration that tops the Preface of this book, encircles a void or abeginningbefore a beginning. Searching and starting a journey is suggested in the labyrinth illustration above the Introduction. The ‘‘Spiral’’ mandala (Chapter 7) may suggest the longing for growth toward wholeness or the need to translate knowledge into useful forms.
Mandalas may contain conflicting parts of a person’s nature, but the very expression of tension within the safe boundary of the circle showsreconciliation of opposites. This can be seen in the
muscle, and play me like a piano, while giant thumbs support my back. It is not sexual or sensual . . . it’s magical. I do not know how long it goes on. Time is collapsing again, and the hands have retreated. I walk out of the tunnel, back the way I came, until I’m in the crisp open air of the meadow again.’’
Synthesizing the Self
center circle of the mandala in Chapter 1. The upward/downward pointing triangles are an ancient, universal sign representing integration, union, and wholeness. The ‘‘Landscape’’ mandala (Chapter 6) shows the division of polar opposites (earth mother/sky father) with a new sense of Self (the tree) superimposed on split halves. It was designed by a 13-year-old female expressing a desire to interact with others suggested by a tree with its expansive canopy of branches that emerges in the foreground.
As the ego or ‘‘I’’ expands, mandalas start to showalignment with the Self. Circles with a dot in the center show a dawning sense of Self. The ‘‘Web of Life’’ mandala that heads this chapter reaches out to fill the fertile void creating a gateway to the infinite. When squares or four-petaled flowers fill a circle, the clash of opposites has been resolved, and the Self is ready to initiate action. Stars, flowers, or a human figure reaching out (with five points) show a sense of mission. Even a swastika with four bent arms radiating out from the center, add up to the five facets needed for movement and power.
The profiles that were uneven in the Chapter 4 mandala have turned inward, become balanced, and integrated in the ‘‘Crystal’’ mandala that heads Chapter 5. In the center, is the suggestion of a vessel or container in which transformation can take place. Designs with even numbers greater than four (six- pointed stars, eight-petaled flowers) signify crystallization, accomplishment, or meaning. The thousand-petaled lotus in the ‘‘Crown Chakra’’ mandala (Chapter 1) is the traditional yogi symbol of the ultimate achievement of connecting the corporal body to transcendent Spirit.
During the height of achievement, seeds are sown for destructive processes. Shapes emerge that implyfragmentation of the egowhen it is not fully allied with the Self. The mandala that heads Chapter 4 shows pie-shaped wedges of different sizes, which suggest unbalanced personality parts.
The downward pointing triangle in the mandala for Chapter 3 is the standard Yogi symbol for bringing Spirit into matter in an act of personal power. Similarly, the spokes of a wheel can suggest collapse and the relentless turning of life. Prominent X-designs symbolize facing a crossroad. There may be tiny, scattered, fluid figures lacking shape. Designs can be disorderly or disjointed when defenses are weak. Concentric circles ortargetmandalas can suggest obsessive thinking, struggling to maintain control (rather than fragment), or the projection of anger onto others (Fincher, 1991).
Ultimately, fragmentation is overcome in new alignments. Theecstasy of unityis seen in
mandalas with infusions of light from above, birds in flight, and focal points near the top of the circle (Fincher, 2000). It seems unusual that the ‘‘Landscape’’ mandala (Chapter 6) would have an eye peering into infinity at the apex of the mandala. However, it is not uncommon for mandalas to have mixed themes as they help us spiral inward again and again to find the transcendent Self.
Mandala Making
Making mandalas creates a sacred space into which the Self can be invited. This is an especially soothing exercise when experiencing a crisis, illness, or emotional wounds. Let everything you have read earlier float to the back of your mind so that the organizing capacity of your very own Self can resolve any impasses in your current mental state by following the simple instructions below.
Exercise 4
Creating Mandalas
Have a full range of colors at your disposal. Use whatever medium is most comfortable for you—pencil, crayon, pastels, markers, and so on. Shape makers can be helpful, but there are times for flowing, free-form designs. You can use a plate to draw a circle or themandala graph paperoffered (Figure 2.1). You may start drawing from the center or from the edges of the circle. A design can emerge, or you may simply draw a scene within the circle. When you are finished, give your mandala a title. Allow it to come to your mind with as little thought as possible. Drawing mandalas is a type of meditation. You may want to make this a daily exercise and date your work. It is natural to see progression and themes, but be careful of too much analysis.
Synthesizing the Self
Figure 2.1 Mandala Graph Paper Synthesizing the Self