Purple Gold Dream Catcher Mandala

Title

Purple Gold Dream Catcher Mandala

Artist

Michele Avanti

Medium

Digital Art - Digital Art

Description

Purple Gold Dream Catcher Mandala painting by Michele Avanti

A mandala is a space for mediation, a sacred circle where we may place our attention and wander in and out of the lights of the circle while chanting or praying to align the body with the higher or divine self, Creator, or God. These originated in ancient times in India as we currently understand it. Buddhist monks have used them for centuries and make them frequently out of colored sand. Oftentimes one mandala will be made by several monks working and chanting together as it is created. Then when it is finished it will be kept for a very short time, then the sands are taken away and the process begins again. The purpose is the mandala but the act of meditation and creation.

In more recent years (the last two centuries) mandalas have become recognized for their artistic value and artists from every continent may create them. Buyers will purchase them for both their artistic value and to use as they originally have been used, to focus ones consciousness through mediation.

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The dreamcatcher's history is described below, but it is only recently that it has become a painted art form. It has always been a simple willow hoop filled with woven colored threads or dyed sinew to replicate a spider web. For the spider woman in Native cultures is a protector and her web will filter the bad dreams from the good as she protects the sleeping child.

The dreamcatcher

In some Native American cultures, a dreamcatcher (or dream catcher; Lakota: ih�ŋbla gmunka, Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for "spider" or Ojibwe: bawaajige nagwaagan meaning "dream snare" is a handmade object based on a willow hoop, on which is woven a loose net or web. The dreamcatcher is then decorated with sacred items such as feathers and beads.

Dreamcatchers originated with the Ojibwe people and were later adopted by some neighboring nations through intermarriage and trade. It wasn't until the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, that they were adopted by Native Americans of a number of different nations. Some consider the dreamcatcher a symbol of unity among the various Indian Nations, and a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures.

The Ojibwe people have an ancient legend about the origin of the dreamcatcher. Storytellers speak of the Spider Woman, known as Asibikaashi; she took care of the children and the people on the land. Eventually, the Ojibwe Nation spread to the corners of North America and it became difficult for Asibikaashi to reach all the children. So the mothers and grandmothers would weave magical webs for the children, using willow hoops and sinew, or cordage made from plants. The dreamcatchers would filter out all bad dreams and only allow good thoughts to enter our mind. Once the sun rises, all bad dreams just disappear. American ethnographer Frances Densmore writes in her book Chippewa Customs

Mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल Maṇḍala, 'circle') is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the Universe.[1] The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T. Mandalas often exhibit radial balance.

The term is of Sanskrit origin. It appears in the Rig Veda as the name of the sections of the work, but is also used in other religions and philosophies, particularly Buddhism.

In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation and trance induction.
In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe.

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January 16th, 2015

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