The Gifts of Our Souls 100 Days for Mandalas -Session Five – Week 3
February 11th, 2015
What does it mean that the earth is so beautiful
and what shall I do about it
This is the third week of 100 Days for Mandalas, a time to be inspired to delve into the deep creativity that reveals the mystery of who we are and guides us on our life journey. It is a time to create mandala images and words. It is an online retreat that fits into your 100 Days. Here is the invitation from the first session that explains it all.
These words (in dark green ink) from Mary Oliver ask us about our wonderful beautiful world and what are our gifts?
What is the gift I should bring to the world
What is the life I should live
(Mary Oliver from Long Life)
My mandala was inspired by the words of Mary Oliver. Sometimes there is an ache in the heart for the beauty of this earth. It is almost too much. Not the violence, heartache, horror. But the beauty that is too much to take in. Sometimes it feels like my heart isn’t big enough to give the love it deserves.
Mary Oliver’s magic, her gift, is to see beauty, cut to the core of it and ask the questions of our soul.
THEME FOR SESSION FIVE
– This is the third week of “MAGIC” as the theme. The first week I shared a poem titled magic (poem is in blue on that week’s blog). The second week, wise words from Marianne Williamson about our fear of owning our light. And this week a poem – although not written as a poem – by Mary Oliver
MAGIC – of knowing the gifts of our Soul
POEMS & QUOTES – Please read these words by Mary Oliver in green bold type and let it be an inspiration.
MEDITATION – The guided meditation centers and quiets. Enter into the sacred space of the mandala circle to let the colors, shapes and whatever you put into the mandala guide you. The marks you make are perfect, whatever they are.
Here is the meditation for Magic –MANDALA MEDITATION- MAGIC
MANDALA PROMPT – What beauty do you seen in the world? The kind that is so deep it hurts your heart. What does your soul guide you to do?
WRITING PROMPT – An easy poem to create in an acrostic poem. Take a word, any word or words from the poem, and write the letters one on top of each other, down a page. This week I used the words “The Earth” and wrote a poem/prayer on vellum paper over the mandala:
T ell me how I can
H eal the
E arth
E nergize my heart
A align my eyes
R eveal the glory
T hat is beneath my feet and
H igh in the sky
SHARING MANDALAS FROM AROUND THE WORLD – these mandalas were created by one of my local fellow mandala makers and by Sofia in Portugal. I love the creativity and light they share.
FROM MISSOURI -USA
Christine Torlina made these two mandalas as a pair. The acorn and tree with the words “love” and “hope”. Last week I shared the tree mandala, but these two reflect the power and circle of life they share.
FROM PORTUGAL
I received a wonderful surprise last week when Sofia contacted me from Portugal. Here are some of her words:
“The first time I had a look at your site I thought to myself… THANK YOU! I subscribed immediately and challenged myself to paint mandalas. I tried for 8 days, but then I could not stop and now I have finished my first month – 31 days.
So, from the other side of the ocean, from Portugal, I THANK YOU for your sharing of wonderful things.”
Here is the first set of Sofia’s mandalas.
Sofia also sent 31 mandalas from a Month of Mandalas. Some have words which she translated for me. I am sharing the beauty of the mandala images and words in this blog post. Here are the first ones, with more to come in the next few weeks.
Ao luar… à noite… também é … tempo … para mandalas –
In the moonlight… at night… there is also … time … for mandalas
Thank you Sofia for sharing. I can’t wait to share more of your creativity in the next few weeks.
PLEASE JOIN THIS 100 DAY JOURNEY
. Let these mandalas, prompts and meditation inspire your creativity.
PLEASE SHARE YOUR MANDALA CREATIVITY –
Please share the mandalas and art journaling you create by sending an email with attachments of your art. Please use a high resolution – which can be a smart phone camera – with enough surroundings in the photo. I can easily crop the image. Please send to linda (at) creativityforthesoul.com. Please use the @ sign and no spaces.
ENJOY & CREATE