Chapter 3 of Visual Arts and Healing - Mandalas and Healing

Fig. 43 Maze on Chartres Cathedral floor.

Having previously examined the influence of alchemy on art and thus art’s ability to heal, as well as the role of masks in healing, we turn now to the realm of mandalas, and their connection to art and healing. What is a mandala? “As a rule a mandala is a strongly symmetrical diagram, concentrated about a centre and generally divided into four quadrants of equal size; it is built up of concentric circles and squares possessing the same centre” (Braun 11). This is according to the Buddhist Tibetan standards of a mandala (which is where the term mandala came from). “The Sanskrit word mandala means “circle” in the ordinary sense of the word. In the sphere of religious practices and in psychology it denotes circular images, which are drawn, painted, modeled or danced” (Jung 3).

Mandalas can be seen in both ancient art and in contemporary works of art. They are not always symmetrical or circular, although that is the archetypal form of mandalas. They manifest themselves in different media, in different countries and cultures, as conscious designs and subconscious exteriorizations.

There are many instances of mandalas in art and in ordinary life. Mazes are a
form of mandala, often incorporated into the floors of European cathedrals (an excellent circular maze is found on the floor of the nave in Chartres cathedral, Figs. 43, 69).

“The labyrinth at Chartres can therefore be seen as a sort of mandala or aid to meditation and to achieving an altered state” (Booth 257).

Fig. 44 Rose window in Chartres cathedral.

Shields and coats of arms often have a mandala structure. The fabulous stained glass rose windows of Gothic cathedrals are mandalas. “The rose window, which in its outer circle displays the signs of the zodiac, represents the chakra ablaze as it should be when we reach the centre of life’s labyrinth…” (Booth 257). Even designs printed on CDs and DVDs can be con- sidered mandalas. Diatoms in photo-micrographs show mandala- like structure.

The great circular slab of the Aztec calendar is an elaborate mandala in the form of a cosmic calendar. Stonehenge in England is an astronomical ritualistic mandala on a huge scale.


Fig. 45. Tibetan Mandala

In religion, mandalas find their finest, most c complex flowering in Tibetan Buddhism. These intricate, usually symmetrical designs are painted, sculpted, and sand painted for rituals and contemplation. They are often used in meditation as a “centering” mechanism. In Tibet, each area of the mandala has its symbolic meaning.
“The outermost circle is the mountain of fire…it represents…the burning of ignorance...Immediately inside this circle is another, called the girdle of diamond. It symbolizes illumination. …Inside this circle is…the eight graveyards…they symbolize the eight aspects of the individual that have been lost. Each is shown with its own mountain, its own stupa, river, tree and ascetic and serves to remind the believer of the terrestrial world to be overcome. After the graveyards comes a circle of lotus leaves. They are opened outwards and signify spiritual rebirth. Inside…is the mandala proper. The heart of the mandala is occupied by the most important deity…shown often in his wrathful form, surrounded by guardians. All lines converge and also radiate from this point, orienting the entire diagram to this deity” (Fisher 11).

Fig. 46 Navajo Sand Painting, used to cure illness


In Navajo sand art, circular mandala paintings are also constructed in special ceremonies for the healing of sick individuals. These ceremonies are called a “sing”. They usually take place within a hogan, sometimes a tent. The medicine man “paints” the design on the earth, using colored sands, crushed min- erals (ocher, gypsum), charcoal, pollens,etc.. Often, there are depictions of the so-
called yeibicheii, or Holy People.

“While creating the painting, the medicine man will chant, asking the yeibicheii to come into the painting and help heal the patient” (Wikipedia). When the painting is finished, the patient sits in the center of it. “The sand painting acts like a portal for spirits to come and go, and also attracts them. Sitting on the sand painting helps the patient absorb some of their power, while in turn the Holy People will absorb the illness and take it away.” (Ibid). After this, the painting is considered to be toxic, and is destroyed before dawn, lest any malefic influences return to sicken the patient again. (There were several occasions at the Navajo Methodist Mission School where I taught that our resident medicine man and Jr. High dorm parent held sings for students who were especially ill.)



Fig. 47 Mandala-like engraving of cosmic spheres. Jose Arguelles, Mandala. Boulder and London: Shambhala, 1972.



Fig. 48 Mandala drawing by patient. Carl Jung, Mandala Symbolism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972

Tibetan mandalas made from colored sand particles are also destroyed at the completion of the painting; the sand is then ceremoniously dumped in a sacred river,
which spreads concentric waves from the impact of the splash, forming another natural mandala.

Besides their decorative uses in meditation as a centering guide, mandalas are used in the process of healing, as noted above. Jung states that the circle is an archetype of wholeness (Jung 4). “The fact that images of this kind have… a considerable therapeutic effect on their authors is empirically proved and also readily understandable, in that they often represent very bold attempts to see and put together apparently irreconcilable opposites and bridge over apparently hopeless splits” (Jung 5). Jung’s patients often drew mandalas; mental progression or regression could be charted through the series of spontaneous mandalas they drew and painted. The pictorial content of the work, its organization, the color schema used, the archetypal symbology employed, were all taken into consideration when the mandalas were examined. Images bursting forth from mandalas (Fig. 48) were viewed as “breakthroughs” in a patient’s consciousness, or their defense mechanisms, or as a liberating force, etc.

Jung also related mandalas to alchemy. The mandala is a type of “egg”. “It is not just a cosmogonic symbol – it is also a “philosophical” one. As the former it is the Orphic egg, the world’s beginning; as the latter, the philosophical egg of the medieval natural philosophers, the vessel from which, at the end of the opus alchymicum, the homunculus emerges, that is, the Anthropos, the spiritual, inner and complete man, who in Chinese alchemy is called the chen-yen (literally, “perfect man”)” (Jung 9).

In Buddhism, the outer mandala is a diagram of the cosmos. There is an infinity of world systems, “each of which consists of a gigantic cylindrical plinth and, on the plinth’s surface, structured of water and mountains, there rests a heavenly realm…they stand on a vast cylindrical base of air…”(Brauen 18). Mount Meru is the central element of these models, surrounded by oceans and continents. The center of these models is divine, the abode of gods and saints. Tantric visualizations, and above all the complicated mandala ritual, are invariably about reaching (returning to) this divine center” (Brauen 21).

Fig. 49 Stupa at Ruwanvali Seya, Sri Lanka.


Fig. 51 Aerial shot of Borobudur

The stupa (a reliquary that holds the mortal remains of saints) is architectural reproduction of the universe. The stupa center is both a cosmic mounttain and a cosmic tree, the axis mundi, so prominent in Old Norse mythology and in shamanic visualizations. The curvature of the dome of the stupa can be viewed as the dome of the sky, or cosmos. The stupa is a three dimensional mandala that shows the basic structure of the universe, and serves as a physical meditation (in that pilgrims circumambulate the stupa, and even spiral upwards through several levels). The huge stupa at Borobodur in Java (Fig. 51) is an example of this.

Fig. 52 The New Jerusalem.

The heavenly Jerusalem described by John in Revelations in the New Testament is also a three dimensional mandala, similar in structure to the stupa and Buddhist temples. In Revelations 21, he describes the holy city descending from heaven. It has a high wall and twelve gates, three on each side of the square plan. The city’s wall has twelve foundations. “The city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length, the breadth and the height of it are equal. (i.e., a cube). And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty four cubit.” (Fig. 52). Pyramids and ziggurats can also be considered three dimensional mandalas incorporating views of the cosmos and esoteric meaning.

Fig.53 Borg ship from Star Trek.

Fig. 54 The Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

As an interesting aside, compare the New Jerusalem (Fig. 52) to a Borg ship from Star Trek, (Fig. 53) and in turn, compare it to the Kaaba in Mecca (Fig. 54).

The ritual use of the mandala consists of eight main components: Purification, Centering, Orientation, and Construction, Absorption, Destruction, Reintegration, and Actualization. Purification, for example, can consist of several days of fasting, or of ceremonial ablutions.

Centering consists of concentration on one main point, with the elimination ofall other distractions. It is also achieved through such activities as centering clay on a potter’s wheel.

Fig. 55 Tibetan monks making a mandala sand painting.

Orientation is achieved by carefully aligning oneself with the four directions, plus up and down, through observation, drawing, and even through dance. Then follows the actual construction of the mandala, whether it is permanent, such as a painting or sculpture or architectural object or it is transient, as beheld in a sand painting. Absorption involves concentration on the identification with its various parts. After absorption is destruction, whether of the actual mandala itself, as sand paintings are destroyed in both Navajo and Tibetan mandalas, or detachment from the mandala object, which then becomes a remembrance or object of meditation. Reintegration should follow next, the making whole of the person and his connection with the ultimate source. It is this step where the real healing begins. Actualization, the final step, involves leaving “the world of fragmentation and alienation, and pass(ing) into another dimension of being, knowing, and doing” (Arguelles 99).

The creation of spontaneous mandalas causes it to become a reflection of the self. Different elements of the mandala can thus be used to “diagnose” different feelings and emotions of the mandala maker. There are many elements involved in this process. They include colors and numbers and forms. For example, black is often considered the color of darkness, evil, death, and mystery. In alchemy, it represents the nigredo, the blackening of the prima materia. It can signify something threatening to overpower and submerge the ego – but it can also represent a new dark matrix for the renewal of life. White suggests purity, virginity, enlightenment, nothingness, and in alchemy, is the whitening stage after the nigredo, called the albedo. It is the sum of all the other colors, contained into one; it is the receptacle and the unifier. It is a symbol of the sacred and numinous – as evidenced by the reverence given to the birth of a white buffalo by many Amerindian tribes. It is also the color of milk and semen, the givers of life. Yellow signi- fies warmth, the sun, radiance, gold. In alchemy, it is the next step after albedo – the citrinitas. Red is the color of blood, or of sacrifice, and of fire. It is the last stage of alchemical transformation, the rubedo. Blue reminds one of the sky, of water, it signifies calmness and serenity. Green is nature’s color, the color of growth, vitality, summer. “Green is often seen in the mandalas of those in the helping professions” (Fincher, 58). Orange is the color of fire, of harvest, autumn leaves, etc. It can suggest energetic striving and assertiveness. Purple is the color of royalty, pink is a color of flesh and is associated with the human body, and so forth. Complementary colors (like red and green, blue and orange, etc.) placed next to each other may suggest a clash of elements. Conversely, colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel (like green and blue-green) suggest harmony and unification.

Numbers refers to the number of basic divisions in a mandala, four being the most common. Mandalas with one symbol or element may signify unity or non-duality. Two
is a fall from unity. Three represents stability (like a tripod), the Trinity, (Father, Son and Holy Ghost), and suggests vitality and motion.

Fig. 56 Mystic Collonade, pen & ink, John Halliday 18” dia.




Fig. 57 Garden Dancers, pen & ink, John Halliday 18” dia.




. Four is balance and wholeness, five is the number of the natural man (the Da Vinci figure of a man circumscribed in a circle, with his arms and legs outspread). Six was the last day of creation in Genesis, and signifies the completion of something. Seven is a sacred, mystical number; it may suggest a connection with a sacred system. Eight is a multiple of 4, nine is a multiple of three and its connotations, and ten is what our digital system is based upon. It is the number of perfection and morality (the Ten Commandments).

Other symbols include animals, “a visualization of the unconscious self” (Jung 145). Bulls and bears are lunar symbols; the bear symbolizes the alchemical phase of nigredo.

Elephants show wisdom and strength. The ass is an unfortunate symbol (see Apuleius, The Golden Ass). Lambs are a symbol of Christ’s innocence, or unjustified sacrifice. The fish is also a Christ symbol. Horses show instincts that are properly channeled, and dogs exhibit loyalty, and so forth.





Fig. 58 Wolf Attack, pen & ink by John Halliday, 18” dia.






Fig. 59 Wolf & Boy, pen & ink, John Halliday , 18” diameter




Birds are symbols for the human soul. Birds signify the spiritual rather than the material. Eagles show courage and strength; the owl is knowledge, death, and mysticism (see Bless Me Ultima, fiction by Rodolfo Anaya). Doves are a symbol of peace, of the Holy Spirit (which descended from heaven when Christ was baptized by John in the River Jordan), and restoration (the story of Noah in the Old Testament). Single birds may be divine messengers, but flocks of birds have negative connotations, as “multiplicity is a step away from unity, which is considered divine” (Fincher 116). And butterflies, of course, are natural symbols of transformation (i.e. its life cycle).






















Fig. 60 Demon Window pen & ink, John Halliday, 18” diameter






Fig. 61 Hands & Stairs, pen & ink, John Halliday, 18”X18”


Circles are mandalas; they are also symbols of wholeness – and protection. The cross is, of course, a religious symbol, but it also means a conjunction of opposites, or a crossroads. Other symbols having significance in a mandala include water, trees, eyes, flowers, hands, hearts, stars rainbows, lightning, webs, spirals, squares, triangles, and so forth.

The appearance of various symmetries, divisions of the mandala into 3, 4, 5, 7, sections, and various iconographies, can offer clues to the artist’s present state of health and mental health. It is this aspect of mandalas which traditional art therapy embraces.

Fig. 62 Pulp paper mandala by John Halliday, 18” X 18”


In 1995, the African American artist Richard Yarde began working on a piece called Mojo Hand, which arose out of his illness of kidney failure. Imagery of this piece arose from an experience of “laying on of hands”, which caused him to initiate research into various healing traditions, including African and Caribbean practices, including voodoo. He received a kidney transplant in 2000, by which time his art had been forever altered. In Ring Shout, we see a mandala composed of an inner ring of hand prints, with open mouths positioned at the four cardinal directions, encircled by other rings of shoes. Ring Shout refers to “an African American folk ritual…the ring shout is characterized by a counterclockwise circumlocution that visually expresses integrated beliefs of cosmic lifecycles” (Morgan 69). It was through his work with this kind of imagery that Yarde was able to recover from his medical trials.





Fig. 63 Mojo Hand, painting by Richard Yarde. Jessica Morgan, Pulse: Art, Healing and Transformation. Boston: Steidl/The Institute of Contemporary Art, 2003. 63.

Fig. 64 Ring Shout, painting by Richard Yarde. Ibid. 68.


I have had the good fortune of meeting an East Indian mandala artist, Raina Imig, who resides in Portland, Oregon. Although her purpose for doing mandalas arises
from traditional iconography from her native India rather than a concern for healing, as the Tibetan and Navajo sand paintings do, they show a similarity in technique and use of materials. While she employs traditional Western methods of painting mandalas (like using watercolors), she also uses colored sand, salt, ground up pigments, rice, and so on (see Fig. 65, 66).





Fig. 65-68 East Indian artist Raina Imig drawing mandala on bare ground. Photos courtesy of the artist. 2008







As stated at the beginning, labyrinths are also a form of mandala. They are also used in healing. As in mandalas, labyrinths function as a centering mechanism, which helps to calm and objectify a person’s viewpoint, which itself can be a major factor in healing. “Walking” a labyrinth can involve actually walking in a large maze, whether it is painted on the bare ground, outlined with rocks, or made with shrubbery of boxwood, yew, or some other dense shrubbery, or if it is “fingertraced” on a labyrinth printed or drawn on paper. “There are few treatments that work on all levels – body, mind, emotions, and spirit – like the labyrinth does. I have met people who walk the labrinth for a specific medical reason, from preparation for surgery to recovery to treatment of a chronic illness” (Curry 129)








Fig. 67 Island in Space, pen & ink, John Halliday, 18” X 18”

Although a maze or labyrinth is only marginally “artistic’, unlike the many creative mandala images that have emerged over the recent past, it still factors in as a type of circular centering mechanism, or “mandala,’ and is therefore relevant to our examination of healing properties of art, not that some labyrinths can be very creative.



Fig. 68 paper pulp mandala, John Halliday, 20” X 20”


How does a labyrinth work? “There are many who are studying the healing effects of labyrinth walking on such diseases as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and others. One theory relates to the labyrinth’s twists and turns – the evenly symmetrical number of clockwise and counterclockwise 180-degree turns. Do these twists and turns have a balancing effect on the brain?” (Curry 211). Another good theory is that
the “regenerative and curative power of the mandala activates the latent power of the mind. Healing may thus occur because the process of mandala making has a calming and relaxing effect on the mind. Universal symbols often appear in mandalas that may give you insights to your soul’s wisdom” (Hamilton).

Other explanations for how mandalas work involve the use and recognition of energy fields in the body, discovering that we are fields of energy, pulsating, growing and shrinking, composed of chakras, meridians, auras, and so forth. One’s thoughts, which are energy, can impinge on another’s energy fields and affect them in various ways; so can colors, music, and visual art.


Fig. 69 View of Maze on Chartres cathedral floor

I have completed a series of mandala-influenced pen & ink drawings which I find to be curiously satisfying, and while no discernable healing has taken place as of yet, there is something about a circular or a symmetrical drawing that centers one’s attention and assists the creative process. Perhaps all artists should try making some, regardless of one’s state of health.