Flower Mandala: Connecting to Our Abundant nature

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Nature has a way of balancing the forces within us and reminding us of who we are.

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Today is August 1 and the height of summer. It is the season of plenty and my trees are laden with figs and plums and the bushes populating my urban yard have provided such a huge quantity of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries this year that even a fruit lover like me can’t keep up with the picking.

Nature is extravagant and rich and because we are nature and nature is us, this is our essence too. Anytime we like, we have access to this vast, abundance within us. We are far more powerful, have more energy, courage (heart), and brain-power than most of us realize, myself included.

By keeping an open connection to our natural world, we are connected to our own core. Nature has a way of balancing the forces within us and reminding us of who we are. Maintaining a strong and continuous link to this nourishment is one of the keys to wellness for all of us. There are so many ways to do this, everything from a walk in the woods, to connecting heart to heart with another person, to deep focus doing something we love, to simply enjoying the trees or listening to the call of the birds.

I’ve made this Flower Mandala as another tool to help tune us in to the pipeline of wellness, abundance and love around us and within us. As with all of my mandalas, it is made and imbued with specific intention to bring the highest good for all who experience it.

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Nature is extravagant and we can always access this vast, abundance within us.

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This piece began as an image in my mind that marinated for months. I love the natural geometry of flowers and their petals and this is my first of many mandalas that are simple natural flower based formations.

First I made it in wet clay and figured out how to do this as I went along.

For this piece it took a few iterations to figure out the glaze and I could only see one step at a time. First a base coat with a celadon crackle glaze:

I knew it needed contrast and a rich depth of translucent color - the glazes needed to be not just color but have layered effects.

I knew it needed contrast and a rich depth of translucent color - the glazes needed to be not just color but have layered effects. It took 4 firings to bring it to completion.

For some scale and context, I put it on my studio altar to see how it looked:

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