Sacred Geometry / Mandalas
What’s the two and are they the same? Essentially yes.
Mandalas is the most widely used term for what are fundamentally sacred geometry symbols.
Mandala is a Sanskrit word which means “sacred circle.” Sanskrit is the language of the Vedic religious text in ancient India. The Vedas are what formed the foundation of Hinduism. Hinduism is one of the oldest formed religions.
Mandala associates certain geometric shapes and proportions to symbolic and scared meanings. In other words, sacred geometry is an ancient art form of science and math that explains our natural self to the spiritual universe.
Hindus aren’t the first people to discover mandalas. Sacred geometry has existed in many forms Even as far back as Shamism, or just after Neanderthals and cave men, Aboriginals have used forms of mandalas in spiritual practice. Various people including The Minoans, Sumerians, Chinese, Phoenicians Egyptians of course the Greeks have all used these as tools to induce trance and meditation.
Native Americans used symbolic circles during prayer and ceremonies throughout various tribes. You may see the likeness in a Dreamcatcher today. Make your own dreamcatcher here. Christianity, Celtic, Judaism, Islamic, Buddhism, all religions that have repeating circular patterns in their religious representations.
People started using these transcended mandalas or sacred geometric shapes for practical reasons like documenting natural cycles of the solar system. Which gave way to things like the Mayan calendar and some of the greatest wonders of the world like western European megaliths.
The Greeks contributed the most to modern day math and geometry. They defined it as earth measuring. Many cathedrals, churches, and temples were built with geometric art and design like stained glass windows to the nature related architecture. It’s the belief that specific ratios, proportions and harmonic repetitions align with the universal law of God and have sacred significance.
Mandalas and sacred geometric symbols throughout many cultures have similar meanings, including the process of truth, thought forms, charts representing the cosmos, the universe from a human perspective, universal harmony and knowledge, self reflections and one I love is that it connects the energy of heaven with earth.
Beyond using them as a finished product for visualization or prayer, creating them brings me focus and a sense of piece. It a great art exercise and therapy tool for stress relief.
Please see this video for creating mandalas to relieve stress.
I chose not to use a protractor for my circles of life pattern. However to keep it somewhat concentric. I did use a ruler to find my center and start the patterns. I used some of my pretty brass containers and vases I had around. You don’t even have to use anything fancy. tape, cups or bowls will do the trick. It’s important to note that these are not exact spacing measurements.
I mostly eyeballed it, but keeping one thing in mind here. Symmetry. Where I drew one circle, I created another one on the opposite side. Then I would measure the outside space to make sure it was mostly even.
I used my intuition as far as my color choices. This piece was full of energy and focus so it was colorful.
This is a very simple way of drawing and painting the sacred geometric patterns and I hope you took away a few new tidbits about their amazing power and stirred up the desire in you to create your own mandala or sacred circle.
