by atmara | Jan 9, 2012 | Art, Healing, Mandala Monday, Mandalas
The MARI (Mandala Assessment Research Instrument) is the most comprehensive psychological assessment available today. It is an integrative approach based on the concepts of C.G. Jung, Mandalas, archetypes and evolutionary biology and psychology.
MARI Creative Resources provides teaching and training programs that encourage wellness in mental health based on the MARI psychological assessment. The goal is to provide a quality training program and excellent service in the administration of teacher training and certification. MARI also promotes creativity and innovation within the organization, particularly in areas that promote practitioner satisfaction and continuing education, by providing products and services at a reasonable cost.
The Mandala Assessment Research Instrument is rooted the research and systematic study of thousands of client-drawn mandalas. This research was implemented and conducted by art therapist Joan Kellogg in the 1970’s. The MARI as we know it now first took form in Joan’s Master’s thesis in the 1980’s. Since its invention, the MARI has been continually researched, modified and enhanced for over roughly twenty years with input by the many different therapists who use the MARI with clients. The MARI, as it exists today, will continue to disclose itself and evolve over time. The MARI is a comprehensive system that uses symbols, known as mandalas, to reveal the inner truth and reality of the subject as it is -not what the ego filters of consciousness would want it to be- but how it really is. Carl Jung, world renowned psychiatrist, recognized the mandala as “the centre of personality, a kind of central point within the psyche, to which everything is related, by which everything is arranged and which is, itself, a source of energy.” Jung’s description of the mandala is also an excellent description of the MARI. In addition to symbols, the MARI® is comprised of colors and stages of development. The relationship of these variables creates a visual ‘snapshot’ of the self as experienced in the present moment. This visual relationship is best understood by addressing each variable separately.
For more information, visit the website at www.maricreativeresources.com
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by atmara | Dec 26, 2011 | Art, Healing, Mandala Monday, Mandalas, Peace
The circle is a universal symbol. It appears everywhere in nature that we chose to look: sun, moon, rings on a tree trunk, in a bird’s nest or a lotus flower. It can be found in the iris of the eye or in the cells of the body. These are portals to the greater world, the unseen the Divine. Mandalas are a part of many spiritual traditions around the world. A major part of most eastern religious traditions, mandalas take the viewer into the mysteries of the mind in a wordless meditation. Usually in Buddhist traditions, the circle is enclosed with a deity at each corner, by absorbing the Deities into the unconscious mind, the viewer can shift their focus from the distractions of the outside world into self awareness, love and healing. C.G. Jung the famous Swiss Psychologist instituted the use of mandala in Western Europe as tools for integrating the psyche and accessing the unconscious. He believed that by putting personal symbols in the circle, the mandala itself had healing properties. In Native American tradition, sand mandala is used for healing and teaching about life and community.
In the realm of healing and holistic medicine, mandalas are powerful forms of transformation and integration. They can express anger, pain, grief, and sorrow all within the safe and sacred experience. Mandalas can show us where we have been and where we are going. The process of creating is transformative in itself. The process of viewing can take us deeper into ourselves, creating profound changes. According to David Fontana, PhD. Author of Learn to Meditation. “Their images speak directly to the unconscious, producing and experience of profound harmony and a mystical sense of oneness with the spiritual forces that they represent.” In recent years, Mandalas have been used to enhance Western medical practices. Linda Cornell, PhD., has been using this work to help people in physical crisis create symbolic healing. She used this in combination with traditional medicine when dealing with her own cancer.”Combining these methods proved quite successful. I felt happy that I had taken sensible responsibility for my part in the cure while working in tandem with established medicine.” A number of years ago I participated in one of her workshops, I was personally amazed and in awe at the healing that came through. One of my favorite exercises tapped into our own ability to heal, to be conduits of Divine Light.This exercise is adapted from her book, Mandala Luminous Symbols for Healing. Draw an 18 inch circle on black paper with a white pencil. Within the center draw a smaller circle. Next use a white pencil to trace the outline of your hands and arms inside the larger circle. Leave the center circle blank. Draw very lightly. Have your hands overlap or touch in some way. Now close your eyes. Feet flat on the floor, hands in your lap. Slowly take three deep breaths. With each inhalation bring in peace, joy and love. With each exhalation, release tension, stress and worry. Keeping your heart and mind open, imagine bringing a golden light down through the top of your head, the Divine Life Force through your head, neck and shoulders, arms, into your hands and fingers. Concentrate on this beautiful divine light moving through your body, your lungs, your heart, your other organs. Feel the warmth and healing light moving into your pelvis, down your legs and into your feet and toes. Continue directing this love energy into all the cells of your body. Know that you have the ability to radiate health and happiness, love and peace at any moment into the essence of who you are. Imagine the Divine Light coming through your hands and fingers as vibrant good health. When you feel or have an image of vibrant good health open your eyes.Take your white pencil and draw the vibrant good health image in the center circle. Then draw the Divine Light coming from your fingers. When you have finished your drawing, step back from it. Spend a few minutes just looking, contemplating the possibility that the answers are always within you. There is a life force within each of us that can be accessed and used to transform our lives. Remember you have the ability to heal yourself. The final part of this exercise is to write an affirmation affirming your good health. I am healthy, whole and complete. I listen with love to my body. The answers are within me.
About Author : Rae Luskin, a Chicago artist, teacher, activist and the author of ART FROM MY HEART, is a leader in using creative expression to foster self-worth, resilience, healing and social change. For more information, visit our site : www.raeluskin.net
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by atmara | Sep 19, 2011 | Art, Healing, Mandala Monday, Mandalas
While you may be familiar with Freud who believed the force behind psychological things was sexual, Carl G. Jung shared this generation but had beliefs of his own. Jung (1875-1961), was a psychologist and psychiatrist who found that personalities of both the conscious and unconscious mind were formed by symbolic archetypes living within. It was these archetypes that ultimately gave birth to mankind.
If you are familiar with Jung’s philosophies, you know that he is deemed responsible for extrovert and introvert personality classifications including think, feel, sensation and intuition. Jung suggested the balance between conscious and unconscious minds was essential for the well-being of one’s soul. All humans hold collective or global consciousness which are inherited through the generations from the beginning. In the Jungian world, archetypes are essentially personality templates.
When in your dream state, primordial images are offered through thought may vary depending on your culture. Just as a bird creates a nest, instinctive ways, based on senses, are portrayed in choices made in everyday life. Symbolic images which have been represented in ancient art in every culture reflect universal myths of creation, god-man relationships and endless other legends. These are all considered Jungian archetypes as well.
It is common that those you draw into your life have similar idealist tendencies as you. Regardless of culture, throughout mythology, three constants have been animals, circles and stones as these are elements of the collective consciousness. Animals are spiritual guides and power figures to Native Americans, Romans and even Americans as the eagle is the country’s symbol. Buddhist and Hindu traditions hold circles sacred such as the mandala and stones have symbolized a variety of occurrences. Stonehenge is an example, very symbolic to ancient Baltic people or you can evaluate Jacob’s actions in the Jewish Tradition. When God spoke to Jacob, he laid a circle of stones in his dream. Human instincts are depicted in all of these cases.
Stonehenge
Mandalas were viewed as basic patterns for the fantasy life and dream state to Carl Jung. They represent eternal creation, eternal mind, formation and transformation. Jung discovered that while you walk among the mandala’s outer circle, it is the center that holds you captive to reach a harmonious balance with the universe. The deity lives in the mandala’s center. As you mentally create your own mandala, various images are generated causing a biochemical reactor in your consciousness to end suffering while achieving enlightenment.
The renowned Mandala of Two Realms is created through the combination of Five Buddhas and the Five Kings. Native American mandalas offer good health, joy and prosperity while a Jungian Mandala draws you into your center by following the symbols within its consciousness.
The Jungian Mandala offers lost knowledge of:
1. As your soul grows form one initial form to another from infancy to manhood, hero myths play key roles in your journey.
2. Quaternity (four-part) is essentially one’s symbol of wholeness.
3. You are able to grow to a higher level of understanding as you hear your unconscious from self-realization that has fed individualization.
4. Your persona is your mask that allows you to show the world what you are good at.
Mandala made by a Jung’s unknown patient before 1929
Carl Jung is known for this depth and understanding of mankind’s conscious and unconscious minds. He realized that there is a bond within that can never be broken. Religions, rituals and ceremonies parallel your birth, existence and death. Just as your life creates one big symbol, it is this symbol that you pass onto the next to live again.
Article by Epouna
www.meaningofmandalas.com
Images from Wikimedia Commons
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