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Last week I learned a one of a kind art form in a hidden valley of Chile - mandala weaving. I was traveling in Valle de Elqui, which is the most energetically charged area in the world. Many astrologists, gurus, and spiritual wanderers foresaw the flip of the magnetic core from 30 degrees north (Tibet) to 30 degrees south (Valle de Elqui). In 1982 scientists tested with satellites the earth’s magnetic forces and confirmed that this region of Chile was the Earth’s greatest point of energy. During my week in the mystical valley, I stumbled upon a yoga studio and saw the most amazing mandalas hanging in the windows. I was so mesmerized by the mandalas and was staring so intently that I didn’t even realize that four women inside of the studio were staring right back at me until one of them opened the door and told me to come in. I asked who created the pieces, and Josephina introduced herself. She had created the art form herself some 20 years ago when playing around with strings and metal rings. She realized that she was making a mandala and began studying the history of mandalas. I asked her if she could teach me this art form, and I found myself in her studio the next day for six hours creating a mandala, drinking tea, and listening to creation stories. I want to share with you the stories she gave to me:
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>**Josephina**: “An Indian creation myth is that before the universe there was chaos. Chaos was everything together- lightness, darkness, water, earth, everything was mixed together in a formless chaos. Creation began when a dragon in this chaos realized the existence of its own tail and began to eat it. This began a cycle, because the dragon connected itself together. From this cycle, everything else began to form cycles, and out of this came order and the universe as we know it.” Josephina pointed to the string and the beads sprawled out on the table, and said “that is chaos”. She then pointed to the mandala that she was making and said “this is order”. She continued, “It is now your job to turn chaos into order just like the dragon did by created circles. The beginning of every row on the mandala is your dragon’s tail, and you must always connect it with your dragon’s head or else your order will cease to exist”.
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> **Josephina**: “The point of art is to create something that has a greater meaning than the materials that the art is created from”
> **Me**: “You mean like how this mandala has a greater meaning than just the strings or beads that it is created from? Or how our world has a greater meaning than just the water, air, and elements it is created from? Doesn’t that mean that the whole universe is art…if it is created out of chaos and has a greater meaning that what the chaos was?”
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> **Josephina** “Everything in life is a mandala. Your eyes are mandalas, flowers are mandalas, your relationship cycles are mandalas, agricultural cycles are mandalas. Everything is circular. In the western world you are taught that time is linear. Time is a mandala as well. Look at the Mayan calendar. It is 100% cyclical.”
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> A bead fell and I bent to pick it up. Josephina said, “Oh no don’t worry about it, if it fell it wasn’t supposed to be on the table. Everything falls exactly where it needs to be.”
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> **Me**: Making a mandala is an active meditation – do not rush it, just go knot by knot. Focus on your hands, they have all of the answers. There is no where to be but the knot you are working on in this moment. Just like there is only the present, there is only that one knot. The knots you already made were made in the present, the knots you will make will be made in the present. You will never be at the knot you just made or the knot you are about to make. You will always just be at the knot that you are making *right now*.
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