I am thinking a lot on mandalas, revisiting my journey with them over them past year and a half. My complete series, Soul Blossoms: A Celebration of Individuality, is ready for the wall. The time for reflection has arrived.

The creative process evolved as usual: inspired, over-inspired, into psychosis, out, through healing, processing, creation, preparation, promotion, and now – synthesis.

Presentation demands explanation, exposition. What exactly *are* these Soul Blooms and Soul Blossoms Flower of Life mandalas that have come pouring through me?

They started with inspired play on scrap cardboard 18 months ago, while looking for a compelling meditation focus. I’d always been interested in mandalas, but had been stuck working with spirals for quite some time. Symmetry eluded me, and I was stuck in thinking that I must be some enlightened Tibetan monk to even begin to explore my identity and understanding of the Universe this way. This moment was a minor psychological breakthrough. I was free to play with the sacred forms!

I have a fun habit of getting super-manic-excited about new ideas, meditating on them for hours, and losing reality. Oops. This only happens every few years. This was one of those times. Then I have a psychotic episode about the idea, plus whatever psychological baggage I am carrying. It’s a terrible process in the old sense of the word; it is cleansing and beautiful in its awesome power. These are the highest of educational experiences to me and I hate to say that they are worth it in the end, because they are pure suffering for everyone – but on some level they kindof are.

With usual reliable synchonicity, when I arrived at the hospital, there were mandalas printed out for us to colour.

I did one everyday. It took me a full day around classes and meals and visits each day. I built dedication, focus, concentration, enthusiasm, pride, commitment; a lot can be involved in a dot that expands into a circle.

Eventually, I had to learn to draw these ‘properly’ myself. I watched YouTube videos and read Sacred Geometry books. I bought better and better tools and supplies. I started with something like this:

But then suddenly, it clicked! Mandalas came pouring through me. No longer were they tied to deep psychological knots and spiritual dilemmas. I found the *flow* again; the mandalas brought me to centre and peace and calm.

These ones were different; they *felt* different. They were made without attachment or fear, with focus and concentration. They were powerful and they multiplied. They aren’t mine, these ones. They each have their own energy, their own voice, but all about being healed and healthy and joyful. They are about balance and they are somehow free of my identity.

I am hopeful that these pieces will find resonance with the unique individuals who match them. Like human beings, each mandala is from a single base pattern, a core concept, fundamentally the same, and yet each individual is unique.

It is part of my mandate to keep art accessible and affordable for anyone who identifies with a piece. I was able, in the practical framing stage, to keep costs very low while providing a good degree of preservation. The focus and concentration that I have learned in my drawing meditations has served me well in regaining some left-brainy planning and budgeting skills. Therefore, all pieces in this series are priced under $200, and start at just $45.

The series will be revealed and released for sale March 18th, at 7pm, at Ben Navaee Gallery, 1107 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON. Please join us if you are able; I am pleased to be able to offer wine and refreshments and live music by talented flutist Michael Lewis.

The series remains up at Ben Navaee Gallery until March 24th.

Please contact me for more information.

Yours,

Christine Shaheen

http://www.ChristineShaheen.me

ChristineShaheen@me.com

http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/ChristineShaheenArt

@kristineshaheen