‘Stage 9 is a time when creative energy is coming to fruition.’
Susanne F Fincher
This stage represents the afternoon, the ‘just less than full’ gibbous moon, a rose in full bloom and/or the stage of mid-life where we begin to understand our true Self.
‘…we realise our place in the world as an individual being in constant relationship to the greater whole.’
Julie Gibbons
It is a time of completion and fulfillment, bringing to reality the visions that began as possibilities in the earlier stages of the Great Round of Mandala. It is the convergence of the masculine and feminine energies in stage 7 & 8 that are now bearing fruit. There can be a sense of satisfaction, reward or achievement as we bring a project to completion. It can also be a time of intellectual, spiritual or emotional resolution where there is heightened spiritual awareness and insights into your Self and your life.
We ‘reap the rewards’ in this stage, celebrate success and often take delight in our roles, and connections with the community as we easily see the bigger picture and experience a ‘wholeness of self.’ The masculine and feminine energies within are in harmony and balance meaning this stage can represent a dynamic inner balance between giving and receiving. It can be where the right brain understands complex concepts intuitively that our left brain finds too difficult to rationalise. This stage is just before we begin the descent back into the void (for a new seed to be planted!) and we are reminded again to not get attached to one stage as all are important and relevant in our lives.
The creative energy can also slow and we can ‘ease off our efforts’ sometimes finding it difficult to have the last remaining energy to bring a project to completion. Or we can race to the finishing line and keep going without pausing to absorb the rewards and the sense of completion.
Reflection: Can you think of ‘crystallization’ moments in your own life when it was a joy to finish a project energetically? Or when it was difficult to finish as the creative energy had slowed? Do you have any projects that need completion? How can you clear any areas of resistance? How can you best pause and celebrate when it is completed?
‘Enjoy your success without confusing who you are with what you do.’
Susanne Fincher
The mandalas in this stage are lovely, complex and the balanced equilibrium within them represents the balance within your life with a blend of the intellectual (with measurement & planning) and the emotional (intuitive expression of feelings). The tools used to create these mandalas are 1000’s of years old and ancient sacred geometry across countries has been long considered a sacred (and magical) practice.
Creating one of these mandalas can become a relaxing meditation and give you a sense of achievement and completion in itself. Observe whether you enjoy the measurement/planning side more or the intuitive drawing of feelings side? Can you challenge yourself to do more of the one you are least comfortable with? Are you able to see this mandala through to completion? Can you engage both your left and right brain? Can you receive and give within this mandala?
‘At it’s heart, the journey of each life is a pilgrimage through unforeseen sacred places that enlarge and enrich the soul.’
John O’Donohue, Divine Beauty
Stage 9 mandalas can celebrate and reveal the Sacred. They can be used to surrender concerns to a Higher Power and to ask for spiritual guidance. If you get a chance, meditate and ask: ‘What is your guidance for me in this moment?’ then draw the essence of what you received into a crystallisation mandala.
Reflection: What are those times in your life when you have received sacred guidance with ‘crystalline clarity’?
On a personal note:
I can recognise many times in my life when I have found it hard to bring a project to completion…or have only much later in hindsight celebrated an achievement and given it the due credit that it’s worth. I can also reflect on times that were so satisfying (painting my kitchen being one of them!) when it was so hard to finish and yet so rewarding! I like relating this stage to midlife…and that sense of wholeness and true self in relationship to the world and bringing in more of the spiritual and the sacred! When I started this stage I found it initially hard to relate to but just creating a crystallization mandala created for me a sacred space in which I could feel whole and feel at one with the Divine. I can relate to moments of crystalline clarity, described so beautifully by Julie Gibbons below, where in nature I have felt boundless and in harmony with all that is!
Hope you enjoy this stage as I much as I do xx Sara 🙂
‘Have you ever experienced a moment when you feel entirely in harmony with all that is?’
When your body may even feel boundless?
When everything seems right with the world?’
When you are living in the moment as your whole Self?
Julie Gibbons
Information for this blog came from Susanne F. Fincher’s The Mandala Workbook and Julia Gibbon’s Mandala Magic Program in 2017
All mandalas created by Sara Phillips 2019
Deep Heart Wisdom 