THE MANDALA:
A RECURRING SYMBOL
Across the Centenary Celebration, the mandala form can be traced through the presentations, web pages and links as a recurring Jungian theme, symbol and archetype. This imagery is explored from historical, contextual and practice-based perspectives, such as Becca Tarnas in her examination of the synchronicity of the artworks of Jung and Tolkien (open access page); group mandala building and beach ritual as part of Sarah Hall’s re-examination of the Myth of the Medusa (open access page); the traditional circular movements of the Wreckers Border Morris dance side (more information); and in the beach art mandala workshops by Bill Bartlett using sacred geometry (more information).
In his volume examining Mandala Symbolism (pp. 3-5), Jung sets out the shape and boundary of the mandala, noting that “The Sanskrit word mandala means “circle” in the ordinary sense of the word.” He understood the varied and universal nature of the mandala as a symbol central to the systems and practices of many cultures and religions.
Jung describes imagery arising from the individual unconscious, appearing through dreams, imagination or visions that is expressed in external form such as art and dance. This externalisation can form a path to self-understanding. As such, the mandala becomes a symbol of the self, representing ‘wholeness’, integrating the inner being. Its creation becomes part of Jung’s process of individuation. In this way, mandalas are used creatively as tools for self-discovery, meditation and transformation.
Across the Centenary Celebration, the mandala form can be traced through the presentations, web pages and links as a recurring Jungian theme, symbol and archetype. This imagery is explored from historical, contextual and practice-based perspectives, such as Becca Tarnas in her examination of the synchronicity of the artworks of Jung and Tolkien (open access page); group mandala building and beach ritual as part of Sarah Hall’s re-examination of the Myth of the Medusa (open access page); the traditional circular movements of the Wreckers Border Morris dance side (more information); and in the beach art mandala workshops by Bill Bartlett using sacred geometry (more information).
In his volume examining Mandala Symbolism (pp. 3-5), Jung sets out the shape and boundary of the mandala, noting that “The Sanskrit word mandala means “circle” in the ordinary sense of the word.” He understood the varied and universal nature of the mandala as a symbol central to the systems and practices of many cultures and religions.
Jung describes imagery arising from the individual unconscious, appearing through dreams, imagination or visions that is expressed in external form such as art and dance. This externalisation can form a path to self-understanding. As such, the mandala becomes a symbol of the self, representing ‘wholeness’, integrating the inner being. Its creation becomes part of Jung’s process of individuation. In this way, mandalas are used creatively as tools for self-discovery, meditation and transformation.
FURTHER READING
The Centenary Celebration digital resources are aimed at a diverse audience. To foster understanding and engagement with the Mandala, its different roles, forms and implementation, we have compiled (below) a small selection of texts, for varying levels of familiarity, in addition to the Further Reading outlined for each video.
publication
Studies from The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C G Jung, Vol. 9.1) Originally published in 1972
• Mandalas • A Study in the Process of Individuation
• Concerning Mandala Symbolism
In his Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Jung tells of how he painted the first mandala, in 1916, after writing the ·”Seven Sermons to the Dead.” But it was not until 1918-19, when Jung was commandant of a British war prisoners' camp in French Switzerland, that he began to understand mandala drawings. Jung continued to study and to paint mandalas, but he did not publish any of them or present his conclusions about their significance. particularly in connection with the analytical technique he calls ·”active imagination,” until 1929, in his commentary on Richard Wilhelm's translation of “The Secret of the Golden Flower,” Among the mandala paintings given as illustrations were three by Jung, though they were acknowledged to be his only in Memories, Dreams, Reflections, published after his death in 1961. Mandala forms had fascinated Jung from the beginning of his career, and indeed, Jung's discovery of the mandala provided the key to his entire system.
(From Vol. 9i Collected Works)
C. G. Jung
publication
Jung’s practice of visual art was a talent that Jung himself consistently downplayed out of a stated desire never to claim the title “artist.” But the long-awaited and landmark publication, in 2009, of C.G. Jung’s The Red Book revealed an astonishing visual facet of a man so influential in the realm of thought and words, as it integrated stunning symbolic images with an exploration of “thinking in images” in therapeutic work and the development of the method of Active Imagination.
The Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung
web resource
From the publisher: This intriguing, thought-provoking study by one of the world's leading authorities on the subject examines the basic doctrine behind the theory and practice of the Mandala in India and Tibet, by both Hindus and Buddhists. "As a whole," as the author says in his Preface, "the spiritual background is the same: ... the yearning to find out a way from time to eternity, to help the primeval consciousness... to recover its integrity."
Individual chapters consider the doctrinal basis of the mandala, the mandala as a means of reintegration, the symbolism of the mandala and its various parts, the liturgy of the mandala, and the mandala in the human body. Of special interest to students of Eastern philosophy and art, this volume will also fascinate anyone interested in the symbols and psychology of Asian cultures.
Sections available here
Giuseppe Tucci
web resource
This Wikipedia article provides a useful introduction to the strands outlined above. It examines the mandala within spiritual and cultural contexts, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Western psychological interpretations focusing on the work of Jung.
Mandala illustrations from a range of perspectives support these threads, alongside links to additional sources.
Image: Mandala painted by a patient of Carl Jung
(public domain. see: https://w.wiki/ABQG)
IMAGE REFERENCES
01
building the medusa mandala
Participants collaborating in the making of the Beach Mandala, Polhawn Cove (2023). Still from film footage of ritual: Patrick Sturrock (2023). Reproduced with permission.
02
the 'low tide canvas’: starting beach mandalas with bill bartlett
Beach Mandala making workshop, on the ‘Low Tide Canvas’ with Bill Bartlett, Whitsand Bay (2023). Still from drone footage: Patrick Sturrock (2023). Reproduced with permission.
03
‘wreckers border morris’ dancing intersecting ring formations (detail)
‘Wreckers Border Morris’ performing intersecting ring formations (detail)’, Polhawn Fort, Cornwall. Video footage: Denise Reeves (2023). Reproduced with permission.
04
beach ritual with ‘shadow selves’ (aerial photograph)
Beach ritual, showing participants playing with shadows around the emerging mandala form. (2023). Drone footage (still): Patrick Sturrock (2023). Reproduced with permission.
05
‘wreckers border morris’ with audience participation
‘Wreckers Border Morris’ with audience participation, forming circle, Sunset. Jung by the Sea Centenary Celebration of Jung’s Seminars in Cornwall, Polhawn Fort, Cornwall. Image: Richard Jenkins (Saturday 3rd June 2023) Reproduced with permission. Digital Photograph (edited, sharpened).
06
building the medusa mandala
Participants collaborating in the making of the Beach Mandala, Polhawn Cove (2023). Still from film footage of ritual: Patrick Sturrock (2023). Reproduced with permission.
07
drawing interconnected circles: beach mandalas with bill bartlett
Drawing interconnected circles, Beach Mandala making workshop with Bill Bartlett, Whitsand Bay (2023). Still from drone footage: Patrick Sturrock (2023). Reproduced with permission.
