Mandala: Luminous Symbols for Healing

Mandala is perhaps the most beautiful and awe-inspiring instructional art book I have ever used. I was introduced to Judith Cornell's work in 1993 and worked with her in week long groups at various art centers over the next seven years. She was a powerful teacher with great spiritual insight and wisdom. As a fine artist, she brought her art training to an area that had been long neglected as a serious art form in the West. Her teaching methods were stepped out in an articulate, elegant progression which made it possible for almost anyone to experience success in creating personally meaningful and beautiful mandalas. Each group art-making session was begun with a period of meditation in which the image to be created would (hopefully) arise. Days spent with Judith were days of rich, creative silence in which inner images were brought into being in a soft, spiritual setting. All of this is captured in her exceptionally beautiful book, Mandala. A reader of this book could easily acquire the few materials needed to begin a study of mandala creation following Judith's directions. The best way to use this book would be with two or three friends in asmall group. As to the complaints by other reviewers about the black paper on which the mandalas are drawn, this was Judith's shortcut for beginning artists who knew nothing about "values" in art making. By having her students make an under painting in white pencil on black paper and then adding the color in a delicate second layer, she taught them values as well as providing an experiential process of bringing forth light out of darkness. Without any formal art training I was able to reverse the process later on with white paper, watercolor, ink, and colored pencil on white paper. The black paper is simply a beginning step. Judith's genius was to link this art-making process to inner healing and later, to take it into hospitals and teach it to cancer patients and others with serious health problems. This is an extraordinary book--not in the least "dated" although it was first published about fifteen years ago. Most of the art in it, which some reviewers have called "intimidating" was not created by fine artists but by beginners with very little previous art experience. That was Judith's special gift--to show even a beginner how to bring forth "the Light within."

Love this book. This process shows how to illuminate unconscious material by drawing mandalas with white pencils on black paper, then adding color. Been drawing this way for years. Somehow lost the book and reordered it. The afterward section on Jung is really well put together. I have taught similar classes using this technique. Great book. Highly recommended.

Love this art instruction book. One of the few excellent mandala book on the market, giving an thorough history on use of mandalas. Easy follow instructs for making mandalas on black backgrounds.

This is a wonderful book that could measure up to the coffee table books - luscious photographs, descriptive information of numbers and their significance in mandala and the healing properties of going inward to make outward art. Great to give as a gift for someone who studies astrology, stars, mandalas and the power of making art.

This is a great book. I bought as a gift for my boyfriend and he is very pleased with it. I am very glad that I purchased it.

Arrived in a timely manner. Product as described.

happy with everything

I loved the peaceful and beautiful colorful pictures which help me focus when it is time to meditate. I highly recommend it to those who would like some visual assistance in calming their life and focusing peacefully.

This is one of the most comprehensive and beautiful mandala books I have come across. This mandala book is one of the best on the market. Anyone can enjoy and gain from this book. Judith Cornell has made the mandala a thing of beauty.

Ho letto molti libri su i Mandala, ne ho colorato anche molti, ma questo è davvero non solo il più bello, ma anche quello scritto meglio. È praticamente una terapia coi Mandala dove vieni guidato in modo eccezionale. Lo consiglio a tutti coloro che vogliono seguire o seguono già, un percorso spirituale.

Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

The book came without the CD.