Seeking and finding mandala…

Finding the source…

Well, the colour version is full of joy! I had an idea of the palette I wanted but even so, somehow the evolution from black and white to colour is a surprise and a delight. Hope you enjoy it too!

Here is the accompanying poem by Tom 🙂

The tallest trees are rooted deep within
rich fertile Earth where saffron flowers grow:
unbending yang encompassed by soft yin,
entwining roots encircle all we know:
this gentle Earth, this paradise of sky
this forest old that reaches for the light
this rooted tree that dreams that it might fly
this branching green explosion burning bright
as butterflies slip between the seconds
easing past the trunks and up the Path
softly higher toward the solar Presence
bright airy space where swallows dance and laugh.
Rising inward, reaching, thrusting tall
Spreading outward, strong, the source of all.

image (c) 2016 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 216 Tom Radcliffe

Seeking the Source mandala…

Seeking the Source

This mandala is a kind of inversion of the previous one – even to the extent of “breaking the rules” and creating it from the edge inwards instead of from the centre outwards. There is still a Celtic knot as a foundation but the trees are reaching for the centre instead of stretching out. For this one, I tried for the first time to divide the circle into a number other than eight. The twelve divisions give a very different feel – there are connotations such as clocks or rose windows… I expect this mandala to be quite transformed by the addition of colour and will post again once the painting layer is done.

Tom had a preview of this one and has already produced this potent poem to accompany it – Thank you! 🙂

Reaching upward toward the changeless Sky
filled with swallows turning as they fly

Deeply rooted in the fertile Earth
entangled moments giving joyous birth

To connection: linked embodied minds
souls well met, butterflies in kind

Thrusting inward to the source of all
bending outward, answering the call

Of root and branch and leaf to grow and thrive
a flower blossom opening, alive!

image (c) 2016 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2016 Tom Radcliffe

a mystical moment…

time swirls while standing still…

Tom (Radcliffe) and I are getting very close to the end of our year with Songs of Albion. I will write more about that when I complete the last image – 5 to go! The text is getting harder and harder to imagine into image form – thanks for the challenge Tom!! This moment is one of those when the normal linear experience of time seems to be suspended… anyway, if not clear, I hope at least it’s pretty! lol

UPDATE: New poem from Tom! Thank you 🙂

time’s soft turning inward form
finds two figures lost, forlorn
swept in silence folding in
stretching space in quantum din
expanding possibilities
branching futures forming trees
whose leaves are scattered in the storm
time’s soft turning inward form

Copyright (C) 2012 TJ Radcliffe

image (cc) 2012 Hilary Farmer