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Western Tradition and Mandalas, by Jean-Louis de Biasi

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Spiritual traditions are part of the human DNA. Despite all the good arguments coming from atheism, the presence of an invisible world has been a belief shared by human beings from the time they began walking on their two legs to discover the world.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, eastern spiritualties have won a clear popularity among people eager to lift the veil on religious mysteries. For the Theosophical movement, for example, Tibet, the Himalayas, and India were places where Spiritual Masters were supposed to live. The mystical center of the world and the mysterious subterranean city called Agartha were in the Himalayas. Buddhists and Hindus perpetuated advanced techniques of meditation and the development of inner powers. Meanwhile in the Western World, monotheistic religions continued to control the minds of Westerners by imposing religious dogmas, shaping a strong hierarchy of powers descending from God, to the Pope and Cardinals (Priests), then to Kings, and then the people. Monks kept a kind of independence vis-à-vis the religious establishment. Occult groups perpetuating Hermeticism, Theurgy, Kabbalah, and the Rose Cross tried for hundreds of years to keep the ancient Western Traditions alive. Some of these occult groups are still alive, and I have the privilege to be the head of two of them, the Aurum Solis and the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose Cross. Learning Western Philosophy and esoteric traditions helped me develop the ability to recognize hidden messages left by ancient initiates.

Speaking about messages, we are often thinking about ancient books, parchments, secret codes, etc. In fact, art and architecture have been a wonderful way to pass down such an ancient heritage coming from a time before the rise of monotheistic religions. Most of this heritage is often hidden in plain sight, and it is wonderful to still be able to decipher it. The main difference between Eastern and Western traditions has been this concealment of esoteric teachings. This is also one of the reasons why Buddhism and Hinduism have become so popular. One of the most obvious subjects that links spiritual practice and art has been mandalas, the most famous of which are authentic Tibetan mandalas. As you may know, they are symbolic representations of the universe. The belief is that this beautiful artwork is not a simple drawing or sand painting, but the representation of a spiritual vision that can be seen also as the reflection of our inner world. The process of creating it in a specific way, using prayers, mantras, and visualization while mixing pigments and painting it, creates a performative artwork. This results in a real invisible power that can act as a catalyst of energies capable of modifying your state of consciousness. What I mean is that you can just look at an authentic mandala made according to the occult rules, and you will experience a complete spiritual experience. An authentic mandala is multi-dimensional. It exists in this world as a beautiful piece of art, but it should be seen also as a gate to the spiritual world, symbolically illustrated. A meditation will allow you to go from this world to another on a real shamanic journey. Of course, knowing the pronunciation of the mantras, the names of the divinities, and the secret words of power may help. However, I can assure you that just being in the presence of such a mandala is capable of modifying the energy of a place and consequently affecting your state of consciousness. It could be surprising to know that such symbolic representations of the universe are not limited to these Eastern traditions. I can give you two examples among many. The first one can be found in the tradition of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States. The Hopi and Zuni tribes have developed a specific kind of painting that has exactly the same purpose and process as the Tibetan Mandalas. In the Western world, various kinds of symbolic representations of the Universe can be found in religious buildings: ceilings, stained glass, and pavements. In The Hidden Mandala Coloring Book, that has been just published, I chose to focus on the latter. While traveling all around the Mediterranean world, I have been surprised to see a real continuity in the patterns used by the masters. From the early Roman world to the Renaissance and beyond, we can easily recognize similar interlacing. Even if the purpose was not the same, we can see such designs in the Celtic and Gallic arts.

Of course, we can find mosaic floors with human and animal representations. However, labyrinths and other interlacing constitutes a very rich symbolic language. Mathematics and geometry have been used for these creations. In the introduction of this coloring book, I talked about the symbolism of numbers and shapes. While traveling in Italy with my wife, who is a talented mosaicist, I took hundreds of photos of these ancient pavements, some of them partially destroyed. Then I recreated the original patterns, completing the missing parts. Doing that has been very rewarding. I realized even more deeply the purpose of the numbers and the interlacing. There is a real connection between our minds, our souls, and these symbolic patterns. Every time we use them, whether by drawing or coloring, our heart begins to slow down, our blood pressure decreases, and our mind reaches a state of balance and peace. Hundreds of coloring books have been published in recent years. I can assure you that coloring stars, flowers, angels, or unicorns has no effect whatsoever on your state of consciousness. Of course, someone doing that will be more relaxed only by the fact that he is focusing on an artistic activity and avoiding the usual daily stress. Using symbolic patterns that have been inherited for ancient masters is totally different. Anyone can feel the difference after a few minutes of coloring.

As I explain this process, I am looking at a few designs that are in this coloring book and I want to give you right now the opportunity to begin your inner experience. I just chose for you a representation of one of the mosaics that comes from Ravenna in Italy. The numbers are important in this pattern. To access, simply join the public Hidden Mandalas Facebook Group; once you've joined the group, you will be able to download this mandala in a PDF format. This sample is slightly different from the one you will find in the book itself, but the symbols and numbers are similar.

After downloading the mandala and printing it on heavy paper, you can prepare your coloring time and proceed. As a suggestion, I would like to give you a short ritual process you can use for this one.

Choose eight beeswax candles and natural incense. You can choose the latter in relation to the Egyptian God Thot (Djehuti), who is also called Lord of Khemenu. Place your chair facing east, along with the table you will use for coloring the mandala. Your colored pencils and pencil eraser should be ready on the table.

Stand up and declaim:

"Thot, noble Ibis, I call upon you!
Manifest your presence!
O God who loves Knoum;
O writer of the Ennead;
Great God who resides in the sacred city of Hermopolis, manifest yourself at this instant!
Hear my call!
Let your manifestation be powerful and let it make me great!
O Thot may we speak of your valiant actions and tell you with the multitude: 'Great are you
Thot and great are your acts!'"

Light the eight candles from the right (south) to the left (north).

Sit and color the mandala. I recommend coloring this specific one from the center to the exterior circle. If you do not achieve the mandala in one period, you should use the opening again, to declaim the hymn.

When your coloring process is achieved, you can proceed with the closing.

Stand up and declaim the following prayer of closing.

"O Eternal, we have known thy light supreme, which can be seen only by the spirit. We have understood thee, O Life of Life, O Thou who bring all into being. We have known in thee the eternal permanence of all nature. O God, let this hymn, this whole-hearted adoration, be an expression of our love.
We ask of thee only one favor, O Eternal One: that Thou wilt keep us constant in our Love of knowing thee, and that we will never be far from this kind of life."

Then extinguish the candles.

I would like to finish this article by an inviting you to send in your colored mandala to the Hidden Mandala Facebook group, either by scanning it or taking a photo of it. On February 1, 2017, I will open an online vote for your artistic interpretations of this Italian mandala. I will personally send a copy of my signed Hidden Mandala Coloring Book to the person who colored the mandala selected by your votes.

Once the book has been released, I invite you to continue to post your colored mandalas in the same Facebook group. We will also have the opportunity to post information about mandalas, to have discussions, to share Western Mandalas, and more.

I wish you a very good spiritual and artistic journey in this amazing world of Western Mandalas.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2016. All rights reserved.

My name is Christine. My husband (a Virgo) and I (a Libra) work together, and I have been feeling like he and one of our coworkers are getting closer than they should. When I ask him about it, he says he loves me and I am the only one. Do you think I could be imagining this? I also think that this coworker has a very negative energy or influence on me, based on her statements and the overall feeling that I get from her. Right before I began noticing this closeness between them, I had a dream about them. In the dream, he admitted to their closeness, but he didn't stay with her. He left her behind and followed me. Do you think that I am subconsciously looking for things since I had this dream, or do you think this dream was a warning to get my relationship back on track?

Christine

Dreamchaser:

Christine, you all work together. He can't pull a fast one with you in the same place. I agree that her energy towards you is negative in many ways, but I think that she is reacting to how you treat her. She did not come in treating you that way. You need to check YOUR actions and energies toward her. The more paranoid you get about her and your husband, the more negative your energy towards her becomes. If you come from a place of love and light, she will as well.

Not every dream we have at night is prophetic. I think the majority of our dreams are ways for us to work through our fears, doubts, issues, etc. You are afraid (and always have been) that you are going to lose your husband. You never did believe that this life you are leading is the life that you are really supposed to be living. You feel in many ways like you are an imposter to the throne, so to speak. That is because of your own issues, not only from your childhood in this lifetime, but from prior lifetimes as well.

As a result, you have in some ways started to manifest a way to make what you think really SHOULD be come to pass. This dream was simply trying to help you work through those fears.

Your husband and this woman ARE friends. They get along with each other very well. There is nothing wrong with your husband having friends, Christine. The reason you are not included in that group is because of the "bad energy" between you and this woman.

You also know that your marriage is not on the best ground right now. You two have some marital issues that need to be looked at and dealt with. Your husband is NOT happy. It doesn't take one of us to tell you that. He doesn't want to separate from you. He doesn't want to leave you. You are the only one for him. Nevertheless, he is not happy, and if a new life came along that looked better, he may just take a chance on it.

I strongly advise you to get marital counseling from someone reputable as soon as possible. I think you can work through your individual issues and then you can work on the relationship. All hope has not been lost - this marriage can absolutely be saved.

Your husband and this woman are not the problem. They really are just friends. She is what it took to shake you into action. Please address the issues in your marriage. You yourself said, "Do you think this dream was a warning to get my relationship back on track?" Christine, a relationship should never be OFF track. Of course I think it is a sign for you to work on things. So get to it, woman!

I wish you a happy love life!

*****

Astrea:

You are NOT imagining things. That coworker is as negative toward you as she can be. She doesn't like you, and she wants to break up your marriage. Without her birthday, I can't be sure if she is doing it because she really WANTS your husband or not. My psychic feeling is that she is the type of person who gets a kick out of tearing up other people's lives. There ARE some people whose sole purpose is to randomly attack the happiness of others.

Earth Signs, while easily flattered by people who flirt and pay attention to them, rarely cheat on their spouses. I believe that your husband is innocent, and probably doesn't realize how much he's playing into her aims by paying attention to her and harmlessly flirting BACK. I do NOT see him doing anything with that other girl! It would be SO BENEATH a Virgo to cheat on a spouse. It rarely happens, even in the easiest of situations.

Fortunately, you are right there at work with them to keep your eye on both of them. As long as you stay on top of this and point out to him that she would just be using him, he will see this woman for what she is, and steer clear! He doesn't want to mess up your marriage over some little fling. He's serious when he says that you can trust him. He means it.

Virgos DETEST being accused of things they aren't doing. Be careful not to back your husband into a corner where he feels he has to do something to prove you right or wrong. In all the years I've been reading, I've spoken to SO MANY PEOPLE who strayed in their marriages because they were already being accused of doing it, so they figured they might as well do it. Don't let this happen to YOU. Your best defense is to try to ignore this woman. Unless you two play along with her, she'll eventually get bored and quit.

Of course, since that dream upset you so much, you are now consciously looking for things to substantiate your suspicions about your husband and that other woman. I have no doubt that she is "after" your husband, but from his birth date and what he's said to you about this, I know he would NEVER be unfaithful to you. She would go for it, however. She doesn't like you, she feels threatened by you at work (she's probably not very good at her job), and she loves to make trouble for others.

Fortunately, people like her move on when they don't get what they want. She'll find another victim soon and begin to leave your husband alone. In the mean time, don't let your very active and creative Libra imagination get the best of you. This won't last too much longer, so ride it out!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.