A mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, romanized: maṇḍala, lit. ‘circle’, [ˈmɐɳɖɐlɐ]) is a geometric configuration of symbols. 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 the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shintoism it is used as a map representing deities, or specially in the case of Shintoism, paradises, kami or actual shrines.[1][2]
Mandala as an art form first appeared in Buddhist art that were produced in India during the first century B.C.E.[3] In New Age, the mandala is a diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a time-microcosm of the universe, but it originally meant to represent wholeness and a model for the organizational structure of life itself, a cosmic diagram that shows the relation to the infinite and the world that extends beyond and within various minds & bodies.
Forms which are evocative of mandalas are prevalent in Christianity: the Celtic cross; the rosary; the halo; the aureole; oculi; the Crown of Thorns; rose windows; the Rosy Cross; and the dromenon on the floor of Chartres Cathedral. The dromenon represents a journey from the outer world to the inner sacred centre where the Divine is found.[34]
The Cosmati pavements, including that at Westminster Abbey, are geometric mandala-like mosaic designs from thirteenth century Italy. The Great Pavement at Westminster Abbey is believed to embody divine and cosmic geometries as the seat of enthronement of the monarchs of England.[35]
Similarly, many of the Illuminations of Hildegard von Bingen can be used as mandalas, as well as many of the images of esoteric Christianity, as in Christian Hermeticism, Christian Alchemy, and Rosicrucianism.
Alchemist, mathematician and astrologer John Dee developed a geometric symbol which he called the Sigillum Dei ‘Seal of God’ manifesting a universal geometric order which incorporated the names of the archangels, derived from earlier forms of the clavicula salomonis or key of Solomon.The Seal of God; a mystic heptagram symbol composed by Dee
The Layer Monument, an early 17th-century marble mural funerary monument at the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Maddermarket, Norwich, is a rare example of Christian iconography absorbing alchemical symbolism to create a mandala in Western funerary art.
