Craft: I Painted Pebbles - It was Easier Than Expected

Ages ago I picked up a craft kit called Paint Your Own Mandala Stones, but the designs on the front looked so complicated I put off using it. This week, with Easter coming up, I realised the techniques might not be much different from painting seasonal eggs. As I didn't have any wooden eggs to paint, and didn't want to waste real eggs for environmental reasons, I thought I'd give rock art a go. You can see my attempts in the picture at the top.  

The kit contained four pebbles, tiny pots of paint, brushes, thin dowels or sticks and the booklet. The instructions gave a clear explanation of how to get those dot patterns. You use a stick to dob tiny spots of paint onto the surface. You also need a set of compasses to draw circles and arcs, and a ruler for straight lines. 

My attempts weren't as neat as those in the book, but it was pretty easy to do and I quickly got better with practice. Apart from teaching the techniques and instructions for various patterns, I'd say you don't need the kit if you already have paint and paintbrushes. You can use flat pebbles you find in your own garden, if you have one, or buy them cheaply from craft shops. The wooden end of a paintbrush can be used to apply the blobs of colour if you don't have dowels, or you can paint things freehand of course.

The kit calls them mandala stones because they're loosely inspired by Hindu and Buddhist spiritual symbols used for meditation and to contemplate harmony in the world. I actually found the process of creating them was relaxing - the perfect antidote to a stressful week. They will go on my altar.

Previous related posts

https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/04/craft-slow-stitch-scraps-and-scents-egg.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/01/magical-craft-my-2026-wheel-of-year.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/09/craft-autumnal-wheel-of-origami-leaves.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/04/april-mandala-blossom-and-shadows.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/03/upcycling-crafts-paper-flowers-from.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2008/08/mandalas-spiritual-circles.html

Autumn Mandala: Leaves in Green, Gold, Brown and Red

Here's a mandala I created from autumn leaves. Right at the start of the year I decided to return a project I did in 2017. I made a mandala each month using flowers and other found objects, inspired by the book I edited, Every Day Magic - A Pagan Book of Days. This year I decided to do a mandala for each season from leaves, flowers, berries and other natural things.

Creating a mandala from things found in nature is a meditation on what is happening in the Wheel of the Year as the seasons change, but it's also a reflection on our own feelings as we are making them. To me, this shows the beauty I see in the world around me even though plants are dying back at this time of year. I might live in an urban area, in London, but cities are places that nature can thrive and be enjoyed.

Here are the links to the mandalas I created for winter, spring and summer:
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2021/01/a-mandala-of-leaves-flowers-berries-for.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2021/04/spring-mandala-jill-in-green-from.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2021/06/summer-mandala-sun-wheel-of-leaves.html

Please note I earn commission from some links

Summer Mandala: Sun Wheel of Leaves & Fallen Flowers

Midsummer's Eve is a traditional time for picking herbs. While there's some disagreement on whether that's June 20th or 23rd - just before the Solstice or a few days later - I decided to go into my garden yesterday to collect flowers and leaves for a summer mandala. The heavy rains of the past few days had battered my roses and foxgloves and the ground was covered in fallen petals. I was drawn to collect some and create a sun wheel using them as well as leaves. Some of the things I picked were from wild plants in my lawn. I have deliberately let my grass grow long for the sake of insects and bees. 

Earlier this year I decided to continue a project I did back in 2017,when I made a mandala each month using flowers and other found objects, inspired by the book I edited, Every Day Magic - A Pagan Book of Days. This year, I have been doing one for each season. Back in January, I created a winter mandala and then I did one for spring in April. 

Creating my summer mandala  and meditating on it afterwards reminded me of the cycle of life that the Wheel of the Year represents. The fallen petals, which would soon wither and fade, show that even at the height of summer there is both life and death. The rains that caused the blooms to drop earlier than they might have done are also necessary for other plants to grow.

Spring Mandala: Jill in the Green from Garden Flowers

The sun was shining and my garden is full of greenery and blossom, so I went out and collected leaves and flowers to make a spring mandala. The picture shows what I created - a Jill in the Green. I supposed technically speaking this is a floral artwork rather than a traditional mandala, but it was what I felt inspired to do.

Earlier this year I decided to repeat a project I did back in 2017,when I made a mandala each month using flowers and other found objects, inspired by the book I edited, Every Day Magic - A Pagan Book of Days. 

Back in January, I created a winter mandala. Although I managed to find evergreens and colourful rosehips and berries, in April springtime I was spoiled for choice! Meditating on my artwork later, I felt this lady of flowers was a real sign of life returning to the land, of hope for the future, and of sunny days and meeting friends out in parks and gardens once more!

Creating a mandala each month, or each season, from things found in nature is a meditation on what is happening in the Wheel of the Year, but also a reflection on our own feelings and how they change. Each year has a pattern of similarities, but is never quite the same. In 2017, two of my mandalas were also faces. In January 2017 I created a wintery self-portrait, with sparse twigs, while I made a Green Man for the Autumn Equinox in September 2017. My mandala for April 2017 was a bouquet that seemed to represent how nature changes so fast in spring and how time rushes on. Make the most of each moment!

Jack in the Greens and Jill in the Greens are often created as part of May Day festivities, and I'll be talking about Magic for the Month of May in a free Facebook Live event on Friday 7th May at 4pm. You can watch it after that too, as the video will remain available. Here's the link and details: https://www.facebook.com/events/744767222850385/  

A Mandala of Leaves, Flowers & Berries for January 2021

The photo shows a mandala I created yesterday from natural things I found in my garden. I've decided to repeat a project I did back in 2017. I made a mandala each month using flowers and other found objects, inspired by the book I edited,  Every Day Magic - A Pagan Book of Days.

I was surprised at just how much more colour there was in my mandala for January 2021, than in the one I created in January 2017. Both were made from things I picked when I went into my garden looking for inspiration among nature to reflect my feelings for the month. Four years ago, I mainly saw dry twigs, spent seed-heads and one dying rose. This year, although there certainly were a lot of dry stalks and bare branches, I was drawn to spot the evergreen ivy, flowering heather, orange and red rosehips and even a little honeysuckle in bloom. My garden seemed to have just a little more life.

It showed me that, while we are really living in difficult times worldwide, I was in a worse place personally in January 2017. Back then, I had a very painful abscess in my mouth and was due to have two teeth removed at the dentist. This year, although I'm worried about friends who are ill, I'm also hopeful things will start to get better in general this year. I think all the seedpods and berries in my mandala reflect that. 

Creating a mandala each month from things found in nature is a meditation on what is happening in the Wheel of the Year as the seasons change, but also a reflection on our own feelings and how they change. Each year has a pattern of similarities, but is never quite the same. 

I'll be talking about Magic for the Month of January in a free Facebook Live event on Friday 15th January at 4pm. You can watch it after that too, as the video will remain available. Here's the link and details: https://www.facebook.com/events/885033422249566/

What Are You Planning To Do Over Easter?

So the Easter holidays are here at last - four days of doing what I want. What I usually like at this time are country walks or going to the seaside and perhaps beachcombing for things washed up or revealed by the spring tides.

However, the weather forecast looks as though it won't exactly be conducive to that. I'm more likely to be indoors out of the rain.

So, I've turned to a book I edited - Every Day Magic - A Pagan Book of Days - to get some inspiration for indoor activities.

One of the suggestions for early April is an entry I wrote myself on creating a mandala:

Create a Mandala: Traditional mandalas were originally works of art containing symbols from Hindu and Buddhist spirituality, used for meditation. They were often circular. Create a modern, personal mandala. Get out paper, pencils, paints and pens. Draw a circle and fill it with symbols, shapes and patterns that are meaningful to you and colour it in, then meditate on it.

I actually created mandalas each month last year as observations of the cycle of the seasons. You can see one in the photo to the right. I really enjoyed it too. Mine did involve a little going outdoors, as I included flowers from my own garden in each of the patterns but, as the entry above says, you can just use pens, pencils and paint.

Another idea appropriate for the festival of Easter is to do a meditation on the symbolism of eggs:

Egg Lore: Eggs are symbols of birth, resurrection and creation in cultures worldwide. In India, China, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, Gods, Goddesses – even life itself – were said to have hatched from eggs. In alchemy, the egg represents the four elements vital for life. The shell represents earth, the membrane represents air, the white represents water and the yolk represents fire. The crucible in which alchemists attempt to make the philosopher’s stone is called the philosopher’s egg. Meditate and visualise new life hatching. Consider what it means to you.

March 31 is also when the moon is full - and it is a blue moon as it is the second in the month. The Every Day Magic entry for March 31, by Mélusine Draco, says this:

Lunae in Aventino: Festival of Luna, Goddess of the Moon, who later became identified with Diana. Go outside tonight, observe the Moon and pour a libation in honour of the Goddess Luna.

If it is really wet, you could observe the moon through a window, do an indoor ritual to honour Luna, then pop on your wellies and raincoat just to go out and pour the libation. It doesn't have to be a large libation - you can always enjoy the rest of the bottle yourself in the warm and dry.

Easter Monday is on April 2, which is also International Children’s Book Day and Hans Christian Andersen’s Birthday. The entry for the day in Every Day Magic offers this idea:

Try fairytale bibliomancy – pick a book of fairy tales, open it at random and read that story. What divinatory message does it have for you?

Staying indoors and curling up reading a good book is always something I enjoy when the weather is grim. I suspect I'll be doing quite a bit of it over the Easter holidays - nothing wrong with that.

But what are you planning to do over Easter?  Whatever it is, I hope you have a lovely holiday.

You can order Every Day Magic - A Pagan Book of Days via Amazon.

Happy Winter Solstice with Alan Leo's Sun Mandala

Today is the Winter Solstice and I thought I'd share a little bit of magical history, which is also my own family history.

This sun mandala was drawn by the father of modern astrology, Alan Leo, and given as a Yuletide gift to my grandmother, who was his secretary, many years ago.

The card you can see photographed has a little loop at the top to hang it by. A mark at the back suggests it once had a small calendar stuck to it, which would have hung at the bottom. It is a shame the calendar is no longer there as that would have shown what year it was given.

Also on the back, in Alan's handwriting, are the words: "Look at this every day."

The mandala is sunny and cheerful and I wanted to share its message of love so others can look at it on the shortest day of the year.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I have been creating a mandala each month myself this year - although not with pencils or paint. I have been making them from natural items, mostly flowers and leaves from my garden. The intention was to show the changing seasons in the wheel of the year. You can see my December mandala here: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/12/craft-december-mandala-for-winter.html

I wish all of my readers a very happy solstice and winter festivities that are full of cheer!

Craft: December Mandala for the Winter Solstice

This time last year I was busy taking photographs for the cover of a book I had just finished editing, Every Day Magic - A Pagan Book of Days. What I was photographing was a mandala I had created using flowers and leaves from my own garden as well other found items, jewellery and trinkets that held a personal meaning for me.

I enjoyed doing the mandala and so, as one of my new year resolutions, I decided to create a mandala each month during 2017. These would represent the changing seasons as they happened. The photo above shows my last mandala in that cycle - for December and the Winter Solstice.

Most of the natural items in the mandala picture above are things I collected on a winter walk on a nature reserve last weekend. They include pine cones, leaves, ash tree keys, red berries and a little holly. The circle of ivy that surrounds it comes from my own garden. To it I added snippets of pine from my Yule tree, a few baubles borrowed from the tree, some gold-painted pine cones and nuts, and a golden butterfly to top it off.

Yes, I know butterflies are hardly seasonal, but this sparkly, glittery golden one reminds me that the sun is soon to be reborn and that everything in the garden will in time return to life. Spring and summer will come again as the wheel of the year turns.

You can find out more about Every Day Magic at publisher Moon Books' website: http://www.moon-books.net/books/pagan-portals-pagan-book-days

Links to my year of mandalas:
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/january-mandala-lips-as-red-as-blood.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/02/february-mandala-hearts-flowers-seeds.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/03/mandala-for-march-goddess-of-life-death.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/04/april-mandala-blossom-and-shadows.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/05/may-mandala-stone-circles-and-wild.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/06/june-mandala-summer-solstice-sun-in.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/07/july-mandala-lavender-mint-meadowsweet.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/08/mandala-august-harvest-of-apples-and.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/09/september-mandala-green-man-of-autumn.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/10/craft-halloween-mandala-for-october.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/11/november-mandala-leaves-roses-and-rowan.html

November Mandala: Leaves, Roses and a Rowan Cross

Here is my mandala for the month of November, showing fallen leaves from my garden along with roses - the only flowers still blooming there - and a rowan cross that was given to me by a friend earlier this year.

One of my new year resolutions for 2017 was to create a mandala each month including things from my own garden to show the changing seasons. I was inspired to do that after I made a mandala for the front cover of a book I edited last year - Every Day Magic: A Pagan Book of Days. That mandala used natural and found items, jewellery and trinkets that held a personal meaning for me.

I enjoyed creating that mandala and it helped me explore the cycle of the seasons in a personal way, both from learning more about my own garden in a search for suitable things for the craft project and thinking about what the Wheel of the Year actually means to me.

My mandala for November feels very much about the Wheel of the Year as autumn ends and winter starts. The leaves are mostly brown now, but the roses include a bud, a full bloom, dying petals and rose hips.

The rowan cross is a symbol of protection and traditionally the sticks would be gathered in springtime, but the berries gathered and dried in the autumn. A cross within a circle is more than just a Christian symbol - it also represents the cycle of life and all the elements in balance.

You can view the book Every Day Magic: A Pagan Book of Days on Amazon and it was published just a few days ago, on November 24.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/the-bad-witchs-10-new-years-resolutions.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/03/mandala-for-march-goddess-of-life-death.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/06/june-mandala-summer-solstice-sun-in.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/10/craft-halloween-mandala-for-october.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/10/pagan-eye-gift-of-rowan-cross.html

Craft: A Halloween Mandala for October

Here is my mandala for October and Halloween - or Samhain, as pagans like to call the festival on October 31 that marks the end of summer and honours those who have died.

One of my new year resolutions for 2017 was to create a mandala each month to show the changing seasons and including things from my own garden. I was inspired to do that after I created a mandala for the front cover of the book Every Day Magic: A Pagan Book of Days - which I edited last year and is being launched in November this year.

The mandala for my book cover used natural and found items, jewellery and trinkets that held a personal meaning for me. I enjoyed making it and it helped me explore the cycle of the seasons in a personal way, both from exploring my own garden in a search for suitable things for the craft project and thinking about what the Wheel of the Year actually means to me.

Unlike my earlier mandalas, I set this one out on a background of black paper to represent the dark night of Halloween. The natural objects from my garden were a mixture of plants and flowers that had died back and gone to seed as well as some lavender, which is still just flowering. I had to include Japanese lanterns as they always remind me of this time of year and I think both the seed cases look wonderful when they are bright orange and when they are a skeletal filigree. I also used items from my jewellery box - some of which I haven't worn for a long, long while.

Finally, I sprinkled a little silver glitter over it - but not any old glitter. This was from a tube of glitter leftover from my childhood days, long ago. I found it after my parents died, among their things, and have been keeping it for something special, like this mandala.

Oh and if you are wondering why there is a small key in the picture, it's because I spotted it and remembered this: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/03/witchs-niece-and-magical-key-tree.html

You can view Every Day Magic - A Pagan Book of Days on Amazon.

Here are links to some of my earlier mandalas:
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/03/mandala-for-march-goddess-of-life-death.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/06/june-mandala-summer-solstice-sun-in.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/08/mandala-august-harvest-of-apples-and.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/09/september-mandala-green-man-of-autumn.html

September Mandala: Green Man of the Autumn Equinox

Today, for the Autumn Equinox, here is a Green Man created from leaves, seeds nuts and berries from my garden and trees near where I live.

Every month this year I have been making a seasonal mandala, mostly from natural items found in my garden. This spring equinox I created one showing the Goddess of Life and Death, so I thought I would balance that with a male image at this time of year, when the days and night are again of equal length.

The leaves on the trees are just starting to turn golden and the season of growth is turning towards the season when the greenery is dying. Samhain, the festival when we honour the dead is the next in the cycle of the Wheel of the Year, and we look towards it as well as looking back at the long, hot days of summer past.

This time of year has a personal reminder of death to me, as it was two years ago almost to this day that my cat Jerry passed to the Summerlands. I built a cairn for him over his grave in my garden and on the anniversary of his death I spent some time by it, remembering him. As I did that, my new kittens - Tommy and Tuppence - came out into the garden to join me. They played around the cairn and Tommy even climbed it and sat on top. It reminded me that there is a time for everything and life goes on. It is important to remember our loved ones who are no longer with us, but it is also important to take joy in the moment and appreciate those who are here.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/07/hunting-green-men-of-salisbury-cathedral.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/03/mandala-for-march-goddess-of-life-death.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/09/jerry-cat-safe-journey-to-summerlands.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/06/witches-cats-here-are-my-two-new-kittens.html

Mandala: August Harvest of Apples and Berries

I've been creating a mandala each month with things from my own garden - and this month is an edible mandala as August is so much the time for picking all sorts of fruit including blackberries, apples and elderberries. My aunt always used to make a lovely rosehip jelly at this time of year too, but sadly I never got her recipe.

I did, however, cook and eat the fruit in the picture - except the unripe berries - with some yoghurt for my tea. It was very nice too.

As you can see, for the mandala I cut the apple in half to reveal the star in the middle.

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/07/july-mandala-lavender-mint-meadowsweet.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/06/june-mandala-summer-solstice-sun-in.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/05/may-mandala-stone-circles-and-wild.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/03/mandala-for-march-goddess-of-life-death.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/04/april-mandala-blossom-and-shadows.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/02/february-mandala-hearts-flowers-seeds.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/january-mandala-lips-as-red-as-blood.html

July Mandala: Lavender, Mint, Meadowsweet & Mallow

Every month this year I have been making a picture from flowers. It is both a record of the passing seasons and serves as a mandala to meditate upon.

This month - July - I created one pretty much at random  - scattering tiny petals from buddleia, lavender, mint, meadowsweet, enchanter's nightshade and mallow picked either from my own garden or the verges beside the roads near where I live.

More than encouraging meditation, this month's mandala felt it was calling me to divine from the patterns, like tea leaf reading. After a while, I could see a heart-shaped face in the middle of the image. I'm not sure what it means, but it seems a good omen - perhaps the counterpoint to the sad face I created in my mandala for January.

But, more than the picture itself, it was the smell of the flowers that was most inspiring for me. The cooling, soothing scent of lavender, mint and meadowsweet - among the other less-scented blooms - was perfect for a hot summer's afternoon. I spent more time lying on the sofa in the afternoon heat enjoying the perfume and wishing there was a way I could share that on my blog as well as a photo, than I did studying the mandala. I do recommend picking that combination yourself and letting the fragrance fill the room as you quietly meditate.

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/06/june-mandala-summer-solstice-sun-in.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/january-mandala-lips-as-red-as-blood.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/09/buddleia-for-bees-butterflies-and.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2008/07/lavender.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/07/flower-magic-and-folklore-enchanters.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/04/review-herbs-of-sun-moon-and-planets.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/01/tea-leaf-reading-my-first-attempts.html
https://wildplants.wordpress.com/tag/edible/

June Mandala: Summer Solstice Sun in Flowers

Here is my mandala for the month of June, celebrating the Summer Solstice with a sun wheel made from wild grasses and flowers from my garden. In the photo at the top I boosted the colour saturation with Photoshop to bring out the vibrant yellows and greens and make it look more sun-like. The picture at the bottom shows the natural colours.

I wanted to make the sun mainly from grasses partly because June is when the grass pollen gives me trouble with hayfever. I've struggled through many summer solstice rituals out in the countryside while suffering with sneezing, watering eyes and itching skin. But grasses are also a vital part of the natural world, and I wanted to celebrate their beauty and variety too.

In the centre of the mandala are honeysuckle and tutsun. According to folklore, if honeysuckle grows near your home it will attract money, love and good luck. Its sweet scent is also supposed to help clear the mind and promote psychic powers. Tutsun is a shrub that is a type of St John's wort - associated with midsummer and the feast of St John on 24 June. The yellow flowers quickly turn to berries, which you can see in the very centre of the mandala.

One of my new year resolutions for 2017 was to create a mandala each month to show the changing seasons and including things from my own garden - and I've now kept that resolution for half of the year. You can see links to my earlier mandalas at the bottom of this post.

I was inspired for my resolution after I created a mandala for the front cover of a Moon Books community book I edited - Every Day Magic: A Pagan Book of Days - which is due to be released this autumn. It offers ideas for things to do every day of the year to celebrate the changing seasons. You can view the book on Amazon.

Please note I earn commission from some links

Links and previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/january-mandala-lips-as-red-as-blood.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/02/february-mandala-hearts-flowers-seeds.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/03/mandala-for-march-goddess-of-life-death.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/04/april-mandala-blossom-and-shadows.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/05/may-mandala-stone-circles-and-wild.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/the-bad-witchs-10-new-years-resolutions.html

May Mandala: Stone Circles and Wild Flowers

Here is my mandala for the month of May.

One of my resolutions this year was to create a mandala each month to show the changing seasons, including things growing in my garden. This month my garden is a bit of a jungle of wildflowers - partly because I have been away on holiday and for two long weekend breaks and have had little time to weed and prune, but partly because I don't mind flowers growing a bit wild. The bees and butterflies seem to love my overgrown garden too.

In the mandala, flower heads that I picked are scattered pretty much randomly between two circles of stones I collected from the beach by Merlin's Cave, at Tintagel, which I visited while I was in Cornwall. OK, one "stone" is actually a bit of green sea glass, but I couldn't resist using it because of its brilliant green colour.

In the centre is a wild rose. Much larger than the other flowers I chose for this mandala, it is a symbol of love, the Goddess and beauty in nature.

The carefully ordered stones and the disorder of the scattered flowers seemed to me to represent the constantly opposing forces of man's attempt to create ordered structures and nature's way of getting between the cracks and breaking up man-made things. As a pagan, I honour nature, but as a human I am reliant on the buildings we create. Without homes and even cities, we would not be what we are. As a Wiccan, I also recognise the magical energy of all polarities, which can be used to create change in the world - for better or for worse.

In this mandala I celebrate the beauty and power of the wildflowers growing in the cracks between the stones along my garden path and climbing my outside walls - I think they make it a more magical place than it would be if it was neat and ordered.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/january-mandala-lips-as-red-as-blood.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/02/february-mandala-hearts-flowers-seeds.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/03/mandala-for-march-goddess-of-life-death.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/04/april-mandala-blossom-and-shadows.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/the-bad-witchs-10-new-years-resolutions.html

April Mandala: Blossom and Shadows

Here is my mandala for the month of April - a bouquet of blossom and wildflowers foraged from overhanging trees and bushes in the streets around where I live in south London, plus a few from my own garden. One of my new year resolutions for 2017 was to create a mandala each month to show the changing seasons, including things growing in my garden, but this is the first month there has been so much flowering there.

After the cold, dark winter months of January and February when little was growing, let alone in flower, my March mandala showed yellow
blossom of early spring flowers along with symbols for the equinox – eggs, the goddess of rebirth and the hare. But April is when everything in nature is coming to life in the south of England.

Blossom abounds, with a rapid transition from the beautiful pink blossom of the cherry trees at the start of the month to hawthorn and apple at the end. There is also colour everywhere, from the new green leaves on the trees, to the red flowers of the camellia I planted as a gift to my mother many years ago, to the yellow of dandelions, a profusion of bluebells (unlucky to bring into the house) and so many other spring blooms. I tried to show that explosion of colour in my mandala with blooms, leaves and blossom packed so tightly that you cannot see what lies beneath.

The exploded dandelion clocks are there to show how this time seems to pass so quickly, also symbolised by the blossom that last little more than a week on the trees and bushes. I photographed my mandala late last Sunday afternoon, with the sun casting long shadows across my table. That formed part of my mandala too – a beautiful, fleeting, moment captured on camera. The photographs last, but the flowers soon wilted.

I took several photos, from different angles, and asked my friends which pictures they liked best. The three on this post are the ones they picked – which do you prefer?

Links and previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/january-mandala-lips-as-red-as-blood.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/02/february-mandala-hearts-flowers-seeds.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/03/mandala-for-march-goddess-of-life-death.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/the-bad-witchs-10-new-years-resolutions.html

Mandala for March: Goddess of Life, Death & Rebirth

Here is my mandala for the month of March, showing flowers from my garden, a goddess figurine and eggs that I made from air-drying clay, and a hare painted on paper.

One of my new year resolutions for 2017 was to create a mandala each month to show the changing seasons and including things from my own garden. I was inspired to do that after I created a mandala for the front cover of a book I edited last year - Every Day Magic: A Pagan Book of Days. That mandala used natural and found items, jewellery and trinkets that held a personal meaning for me.

I enjoyed making that mandala and it helped me explore the cycle of the seasons in a personal way, both from exploring my own garden in a search for suitable things for the craft project and thinking about what the Wheel of the Year actually means to me.

The flowers in my March mandala are forsythia from the bush in my front garden, the first dandelion I spotted and a lesser celandine flower. These are all beautiful yellow spring blossoms and for me seem to typify the plants coming to life at this time of year. I also have lots of daffodils in bloom at the moment. I was tempted to include one, but I had already used an early dwarf daffodil in February.

Eggs and hares are also very much associated with March, both for pagans and Christians. Two of the little eggs in my mandala are made from clay, but one is actually an acorn from last autumn. These symbolise the potential seeds of new life.

I painted the hare from an old photograph of a dead animal that I saw online. I coloured it mostly black. March is a month of death as well as the start of spring. In times gone by it would have been one of the most difficult months for people who lived by the land. The food reserves from the previous year's harvest would have been almost used up and very few new edible things were yet ready to be picked. That dandelion would probably have gratefully ended up in a salad rather than a picture.

Personally for me, March is also the month when my mother died. Although she was old, it was still a shock and even though several years have gone by since then I still miss her - especially at this time of year.

However, I designed the mandala as a circle, centred around a figure representing the Goddess of life, death and rebirth. Death is necessary so that the cycle of life can continue and in my mandala the spirit of the hare descends towards the eggs and seed that contain the essence of life. So the seasons turn.

Note: The photograph is copyright Lucya Starza. If you reuse it, please credit www.badwitch.co.uk. My inspiration for the goddess figurine came from similar clay figures I saw on Pinterest.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/january-mandala-lips-as-red-as-blood.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/02/february-mandala-hearts-flowers-seeds.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/02/first-copies-every-day-magic-pagan-book.html

February Mandala: Hearts, Flowers, Seeds and Leaves

Here is a photograph of a mandala I created yesterday as a collage using items from my house and garden.

One of my resolutions for the year was to create a mandala each month including seasonal items. Although this is only the second mandala I've done this year, I'm already seeing how my mandalas are reflecting my moods. Back in January I was suffering from toothache and due to have a dental operation. My mandala reflected my anxiety - I called it Lips as Red as Blood.

My February mandala shows me in a much happier place. It is heart-shaped and includes various heart motifs within it. Earlier this month, before Valentine's Day, I created the central heart shape out of seeds as an illustration for a guided visualisation I wrote, called The Seeds of Love.

I decided to add to that, using flowers, fresh leaves, a rose-hip and seed-pod from my garden; fresh herbs from my kitchen window; beads and glass baubles from my trinket box and a bracelet that was given to me by my parents as a gift when I was a child. All of these are things I find beautiful or have sentimental attachment to. This is a mandala about love, beauty and hope for the future.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/january-mandala-lips-as-red-as-blood.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/the-bad-witchs-10-new-years-resolutions.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/02/guided-visualisation-seeds-of-love.html

January Mandala: Lips as Red as Blood

One of my resolutions for the year was to create a mandala each month including things from my own garden.

When I went outside to collect material to use the other day, I wasn't hopeful of finding anything except dead leaves and twigs. Then I noticed that my silver birch tree already had the start of catkins. In Celtic mythology, birch is the tree of renewal and new beginnings. In some new year folk traditions, bundles of birch twigs are used to symbolically drive out the old year and usher in the new. Birch is also commonly used to make besom brooms or witches' brooms, which are excellent garden implements for sweeping up dead leaves as well as for clearing sacred space when casting a circle.

The only colourful thing in my garden was a single dying red rose. I picked it. Then I picked some tassel-like spent seed heads from last year's Michaelmas daisies before going inside and laying out white paper to create my mandala.

However, I must have pricked my thumb in the garden as a few red drops immediately stained my white paper. It reminded me instantly of the various fairy tales in which someone pricks their finger in wintertime and the drops of blood on the white snow make them think of lips as red as blood. And that made sense to me too.

I am currently suffering from problems with my teeth and over the next few weeks I am due to have a series of three dental appointments, including having two teeth removed.

My first thought - after cleaning my thumb and putting on a sticking plaster - was to throw away the paper and start again. Then I decided to keep it as it was, incorporating the blood stain into my mandala. The picture above shows what I created. The ruined rose is placed over the largest spots of blood. It seemed to symbolise my fears and feelings about my mouth. The birch twigs I wove into an oval, which looked like a face with slightly wild hair. The Michaelmas daisies became eyes.

On the night of the full moon I meditated on the mandala by candlelight. It helped me come to terms with my worries and my pain. The natural objects represented both death and rebirth. Once I lose my troublesome teeth, things will get better. The catkins on the tree will open and the tree will become green again in the spring; the rose bush will have new red buds and the Michaelmas daisies will certainly flower again in late summer.

I was not intending to keep any of my mandalas - only the photographs I take of them - but this time I am going to fold up the flowers and twigs in the paper and tie it in red wool, which is traditionally a folk remedy for toothache. Only when my tooth problems are over will I bury it in my garden to put the past behind me.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/01/the-bad-witchs-10-new-years-resolutions.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/05/pagan-eye-red-rose.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/09/folklore-michaelmas-daisies-for.html
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/native-trees/silver-birch/