Flowers, mandalas and the smell of spring

First there was pancake Sunday, we love the Bowerbird dad and his arty pancake ways.

Now we have a new tradition, Mandala Monday. As Spring marches its way towards us there is an increasing choice of flowers to play with. Our Monday ritual started mid winter with some inspiration from some beautiful Instagram pictures on the other side of the world, (checkout #Mondaymandala), Kirsten Rickert has some particularly beautiful flower mandalas here.

Making a mandala is so peaceful. The gathering of flowers, basket in hand, watching the changes in our garden, seeing closed petals unfurl, tight green wattle buds popping out sunny yellow stamens. Looking up close, exploring nature, even when the wind is blasting and a chill creeps through our bones. It is surprising how many flowers can be found in our winter garden. We enjoy the quiet meditation of creating patterns, the beauty of the circle and all it represents. Finally the lesson of impermanence, the joy of letting go, a mandala is not another thing to find a place for. We scatter spent flowers through the fairy garden, and by our front door. The little Bowerbird loves making them and has said making one was the highlight of her day. "Is it mandala Monday?", she pipes. The littlest has collaborated with her mum, sister, and dad, and made some of her own.

Flowers are all the rage at kindergarten too

 Lawn daisies are emerging, asking to be threaded and adorned

The daffodils are almost out, a true sign that Spring has arrived.

The “circle with a center” pattern is the basic structure of creation that is reflected from the micro to the macro in the world as we know it. It is a pattern found in nature and is seen in biology, geology, chemistry, physics and astronomy.

On our planet, living things are made of cells and each cell has a nucleus — all display circles with centers. The crystals that form ice, rocks, and mountains are made of atoms. Each atom is a mandala. Within the Milky Way galaxy is our solar system and within our solar system, is Earth. Each is a mandala that is part of a larger mandala. Flowers, the rings found in tree trunks and the spiraling outward and inward of a snail’s shell all reflect the primal mandala pattern. Wherever a center is found radiating outward and inward, there is wholeness–a mandala.

Source: http://www.mandalaproject.org/Index.html

Read more: http://www.arttherapyblog.com/art-therapy-ideas/healing-with-mandala-art-a-multi-cultural-idea-worth-exploring/#ixzz2bo10tJpD