Mandala, April 24, 1998
As you can see, this is another mandala from April of 1998. This one is built on the first one though at the time I never knew this. The first one had a fleur-de-lys at the centre, a symbol of my French Canadian roots. The half fletched arrows speak to more roots, aboriginal roots. The two together are called Métis.
This mandala honours the four directions, four forces – air, earth, fire and water, the sense of wholeness embodied with the inclusion of the unconscious. At the centre, yin and yang.
The weather is quite cool, hanging around the freezing mark under dark skies. A light snowfall during the night has now melted leaving everything damp and slippery. It feels colder than it really is – a good day to do some work on the computer, a good day to write, my way of getting to know myself better.
Most people confuse self-knowledge of their conscious ego-personalities. Those with any ego-consciousness at all take it for granted that they know themselves. But the real psychic facts are for the most part hidden. The ego knows only its own contents, which are largely dependent on social factors. Without some knowledge of the unconscious and its contents one cannot claim to know oneself. (Sharp, Jungian Psychology Unplugged, 1998, p. 133)
