Without knowing its intent in advance, I started this mandala just as the June 15, 2011 Lunar Eclipse ended. When I finished it, I knew that it related to the Lunar Eclipse.
Mandala Reading: Lunar Eclipse (click image for larger view)
We exist in the time of enlightenment, the Age of Aquarius, and this lunar eclipse mandala offers up a possible how-to visual.
Think of the 3 plateaus as different levels of our selves:
- RED: The physical self
- ORANGE: The creative self
- YELLOW: The intuitive self
Three trees exist on each of those plateaus. They remind us “as above so below”, that growth happens above and below the surface, just as trees grow above the surface, their roots also grow beneath the surface. These trees represent the phases we go through at each plateau:
- awareness
- resistance/rejection
- love/acceptance
RED/Physical Self
So at the RED/physical self plateau we become aware that we, as spirit energy or beings, exist in a physical body, living in a physical world with everything from the dramatic to mundane happening at the physical level. You would think it would be an easy phase; however most of us go about our days/months/years lacking any real awareness that we are spiritual beings in a physical body existing on a living planet.When was the last time you stopped what you were doing to pay attention to the fact that what we are living on is really a large, living orb rotating and orbiting in space?
Once we become aware of our physical bodies and our physical presence, we can often go into a resistance or rejection phase. We may be dissatisfied with the bodies we have or our current living/working situation. Some of us may even reject it and go to extremes to express this rejection. Most of us do things to our bodies that defy its very purpose and function. My poison of choice is just about any food item that is salty/crunchy. For others it may be cigarettes, drugs, a life of crime, etc. It boggles my mind how I despise that my body carries around 30 excess pounds and yet I still eat inappropriately. Which takes us to the next phase: loving/accepting our physical self.
To love and accept our physical self requires that we start with an honest look at ourselves WITHOUT judgement and self-deprecation. It is what it is. Yes, my body has 30 excess pounds of fat on it. Yes, I do very limited exercise. Yes, I often succumb to salty/crunchy food. Now despite all that, I have to find a way to love and accept myself. One way to do this is using an energy tapping technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). You do this while stating something like..”even though I am 30 pounds overweight, I love and accept myself just as I am.” Essentially you are reprogramming yourself.
A myriad of other ways can be found just by google-ing ways to love and accept yourself. Find what works for you. Once we accept/love ourselves it becomes much easier to love and accept others.
ORANGE/Creative Self
The same approach we used on the physical self, we can use for the creative self. Here we start with becoming aware that we are creative beings. And for a lot of people, the first reaction to this idea is that “I can’t draw a straight line” (which is the resistance/rejection phase). Who says that drawing a straight line makes you creative? We can express ourselves creatively in so many ways. For me, drawing/painting mandalas is my thing. For others it may be tinkering with cars, others it could be programming computers, or maintaining a garden. We become whole and complete when we tap into and express our creative self, when we love and accept our creative side. Need some help with this? Here’s a google search result list for “ways to be creative.”
YELLOW/Intuitive Self
The final self, the intuitive self, connects us with the “all that is” within and beyond ourselves. Our culture usually puts down and rejects this self more than any other. We think that only certain people can do intuitive stuff. The first step here is to be aware that all of us have an intuitive self. We experience glimpses of it when the phone rings and we know who it is before we even pick up the phone. Or when we decide on a ‘whim’ to take a different route to work and find out later something happened on the usual route that would have caused delays. It’s that part of ourselves that we doubt the most. How do we know that what we’re hearing is true or right? It takes practice…just like it did when we learned how to walk. For me, my body usually reacts with goose bumps or a buzzy feeling in my back or arms when I sense something to be true or correct; and I feel a dull/shrinking feeling in my gut when I sense something to be false. Play with this idea. Be in tune with your body and practice recognizing how your body reacts when you say or hear something…does it feel true or false?
The intuitive self is where we have access to all the answers. We can think and think and think a problem through and from every which angle and yet still fail to come up with a solution. It’s when we stop thinking so much and allow ourselves to just be in the problem, to quiet the mind and tap into a higher part of ourselves that solutions can come to light. Many an invention or scientific discovery has occurred via dreams.
The Infinite
From all three plateaus/level we have access to the infinite, the “all that is”…it’s always there for us, we just have to take the time to see it, to be aware of it. The night sky/space in this mandala represents that infinite space. The passing clouds show us how we can be present and yet detached, floating along, freely and at peace, moving with the flow.
And Finally…
Fitting in nicely with this mandala reading is this paragraph from Lynn Hayes’ Astrological Musing’s blog post about this lunar eclipse:
This eclipse is an opportunity for us to examine our belief systems (Sagittarius) and keep an open mind to new ideas (Gemini) that will help us to create new structures (Saturn) for the change and transformation that is to come (Uranus/Pluto). Yet the heart must remain open, because the work of the soul (Chiron/Neptune) is not yet complete.
One last thing I want to share. Here’s an example of art imitating life. I created this mandala on June 15. Yesterday, June 19, I saw this photo on National Geographic’s Photo of the Day page.
June 19, 2011 National Geogrpahic Photo of the Day
joyfully, Maureen, The Mandala Lady
