Susan Evergreen Hericks, Ph.D., and River Sauvageau will be inviting Journey Week participants to take part in creating a community mandala at the Ladera campus on September 27 from 2pm-5pm. Journey Week will take place September 27th – 29th, 2024. For more information and to register for Journey Week, visit us here. I’m excited to hear what River and Evergreen have planned.
Angela Borda: As a child, I learned about mandalas in the context of Tibetan monks spending months making elaborate designs with colored sand, as a form of prayer or memorial, and then at the end, undoing the mandala, as an acknowledgement of the impermanence of all things. So let’s start with the basic question of what is a mandala?
River Sauvageau: Impermanence is foundational to mandala making and is one of the mandala’s core principles. In traditional Tibetan mandalas, one of the borders has 8 death gates. In living life we generally ignore death’s proximity, although it’s right here with us. Another aspect of the mandala is that it’s a symbolic representation of elemental wholeness, it has a center point, and it defines a symmetrical space from that central point. This speaks to alignment from the center. It also defines space as being “this” and “that.” What’s inside the circle is “this” and what’s outside is “that.” In a way, in making community mandalas, we’re symbolizing community. One of the principles of Tibetan mandalas is that they represent the transformation of universal suffering into joy. When we create mandalas, the beauty of the work leaves people feeling happy and connected, with a strong sense of elation. When we complete a mandala, though we are tired, we’re definitely on a high.
Susan Evergreen Hericks: I’m picturing Jung’s work with his patients’ mandalas, created in a sequence, showing shifts within the psyche. The image of the mandala is like a dream, or the dreaming body—in this case, the circle with the design elements represents a snapshot of the psyche in the moment. That sense of impermanence we spoke of at the beginning is there too; it’s not a static moment. Another approach is to reflect on the way mandalas are all around us, not something we necessarily need to create or make. If you look at nature, it’s full of symmetrical flowers, pinecones, seashells. If you look at the cross section of a cell or an eyeball, the mandala is everywhere. In a moment you take a cross section of what’s alive. You ask, “How would I capture this moment in an image, seeing the whole of it?” We have the microcosm, the very tiny, and then the macrocosm, the galaxy. This is the idea of the I-Ching or any approach to divination. When you take a little piece, you may know the whole.
Angela: You are co-designers of the Ojai’s annual Community Mandala. What is that event like and how did the two of you come to collaborate on it?
River: This started as a guerilla art project in 1993, when Ojai Day was revived after being dormant for 20 years. A group of fellow artists decided we wanted to honor the Chumash, who are the original inhabitants of our valley, so we used the then-out-of-print Campbell Grant book on Chumash cave paintings. We inhabited our mandala with those symbols and mysterious figures, and it was powerful working with them. I ended up painting the center of the mandala, and I had a powerful experience of feeling connected to deep inside the earth, out into the valley, and up into the universe. It was a full-being electrical charge.
Evergreen first came and painted in the mandala in 2008, her first contribution being a baby in the direction of the east. That activated her interest in a big way. The baby was painted in the direction of the east, the place of new beginnings. The following year, she joined the design team and with her involvement, our designs started to evolve and become more complex and meaningful. We have been creative partners now for about 15 years, and we continue to be in a powerful growth process as we create together.
When someone comes to our mandala painting event, they will be welcomed in and oriented. All materials are provided, paints, brushes and a pattern sketched on the ground. They can paint in one of three ways: fill-in a specific color, paint a pattern, or paint a pictorial piece of their own design.
Evergreen: Part of the annual project’s success is that the community knows about it and has been participating in its creation for over thirty years. We show up, draw the design, and there are already a hundred people eagerly waiting to jump in. We have two or three generations painting together. People who painted as children have grown up and are coming now with their children. We don’t have to promote it.
River and I were already collaborating on large installation art projects in Ojai before 2008. River and I, with Mary Kennedy, became the core design team around that time. Since then, River and I have been working months in advance and have created some really advanced designs, such as those involving sacred geometry. In 2018, I’d been inspired by a really simple design made out of sticks by land artist James Brunt, and I said, “Let’s make a three-dimensional honeycomb!” That was the hardest design we’ve done. The planning and execution were extensive—and the result was stunning.
River: In 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar was much in our awareness, having studied with Mayan elders. We chose that as our foundational theme. We decided to divide the mandala into twelve parts, with the center circle being divided into 13 parts, the “trecena” being the core of the Mayan calendar. We did twelve five-foot-long skulls that people decorated in the style of Dia de Los Muertos with a Mayan styled border representing the year.
Evergreen: Large areas of the mandala are left intentionally un-designed, so artists will bring their own contributions. We never know quite what’s going to be in those spaces. We encourage people to think about what the PLACE means to them. Images are very place-based. We talk about the meaning of the four directions, the four seasons or four elements and have cross-traditional symbolism such as the eight Celtic festivals or the Buddhist eight-fold path. People draw on what they love about our community. We do not include words. Work is never signed individually as the spirit of the completed work is “We did it!”
Angela: River, your bio says that your work focuses on the Mandala Medicine Movement. Can you tell us what that is and how you are involved?
River: A dream I’ve been carrying in my heart for many years now is to bring community mandala-making as a way of connection, beauty-making, and peace to cities all over the world. Our mandalas on the ground are large, between forty to sixty feet in diameter. As people paint a part, they’ll get up and walk around and somatically experience the greater work around them. They correlate their small piece as part of the great whole. Others working in the space are having this experience together.
I am developing The Mandala Medicine Movement with an Arts marketing coach, Michele Blackwell, and my personal assistant Ze’Lee Sparks. We are creating a two-week residency program to go into communities and guide them through the method from conception to completion and then to pass the method to them as the legacy part. I was inspired by the Anishinabe Grandfather Teachings and realized that we have core principles that guide our process. In 2019, I brought Mandala making to San Juan Bautista and we painted four that year, one for each season. They now have an annual mandala tradition that started in 2021, after the Covid quarantine.
Evergreen: River has been expanding our reach, and this year we’re painting three community mandalas, three weeks in a row. We’ll paint a 40-foot mandala in Ventura in front of the Mission Basilica, downtown, one week before we create the smaller Journey Week mandala at Pacifica. We’ll complete our annual 50-foot mandala in Ojai on the weekend of October 5th-6th.
River: My intention is to make the Ojai mandala simultaneously exist with the Ventura painting for two weeks. People can see one and then the other in the downtown of each city; the intention is to link the two places. The cultures of Ojai and Ventura are very different, so this is a way we can connect. The Pacifica mandala is a gem in the center, and we hope that those attending Journey Week, especially those who live regionally, will be able to see or maybe even participate in creating the other two.
Angela: Evergreen, I wonder if you could say what mandalas mean to you and also how they intersect with depth psychology?
Evergreen: The theme of impermanence is key. Prior to 2020, we painted nighttime mandalas in the wee hours. They were on a small-town Ojai main street that is technically a highway. We’d paint from about 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. and the festival took place the next day. The very next evening it would be power washed off! Not even 24 hours in existence! People say that shouldn’t happen, but like the mandalas made of sand that are washed into the stream, the core idea is that it’s not meant to last. And that’s because nothing lasts.
River: Many people say, “It’s so beautiful, I wish it was permanent.” But if it were, we wouldn’t be able to paint it in the same space again. An aspect of the nature of impermanence is that what is complete falls away to make room for that which is arising.
Evergreen: There’s a profound beauty to accepting that nothing lasts. Depth psychology appreciates this world of psyche and image—a world where arising, impermanence, transition, death-and-life and death-and-life are in a continuous stream. Mandalas are a deep and tangible way to interact with that reality. How can we give back to life? Everything we have, we have received for free; there’s a sense in which we can never return that, but we can create beauty and play. Jung made sand castles and carvings; he understood that the psyche wants to play and in that way the deep images come to fruition and flow. We want to let the images speak. Every time, we have a fresh combination. Every time, there are surprises that come about because of the weather, the people who show up, the materials that don’t work. In the end, you have this alchemical creation.
Angela: I think Journey Week is the best time of the year at Pacifica. You may not know exactly what the community mandala will look like yet, but can you tell us more about how it will be created?
Evergreen: On the arrival day, we’ll paint from 2-5 p.m., most likely right in front of the Barret Center. We’ll be there quite a bit in advance, scribing the design, and we welcome help. Participants will be able to come in to paint for, say, 20 minutes or more. We’ll have patterns drawn to paint easily, and for those who want to do more, we are thrilled to work on making that possible. I’m hoping to involve some of our local students as well. The mandala will hopefully stay until the first rains, so perhaps longer than some of our other ones. We’re making plans including alchemical imagery and colors, with the rose as a central symbol. What a great opportunity to work together with people steeped in the ways of playing with images. We will design it, but we don’t know exactly what it will be like until it’s complete and we see who shows up. That mystery couldn’t be more appropriate to depth psychology.
River: When we make our Ojai mandala, we have an opening ceremony on it the morning after it’s completed. We haven’t planned a ritual of completion for the Pacifica mandala, but Evergreen and I work together very naturally in that field. We are both experienced in leading ritual. It depends on who comes to be with us, but we would like to include that intention and dedication to contain the making of the work.
Angela: Are there any other upcoming projects or publications from you that we should know about?
River: I have been diligently working on the MMM, MandalaMedicineMovement.com. I am looking for contacts in communities that would like to work together on sponsoring (through donations & grants) a two-week residency program to bring our Mandala method to their city.
Evergreen: We welcome everyone to join us at the two other mandala events we’ve talked about, whether or not you paint with us at Pacifica. You can just show up or we also really appreciate any who would like to help us with setup, break down, and paint table help. Reach out to me at ehericks@pacifica.edu.
Angela: Thank you so much for speaking with me today and I look forward to taking part in the mandala!
Journey Week is an immersive week of learning and connecting at Pacifica Graduate Institute, September 26th – 29th, 2024. For more information and to register, visit us here.
River Sauvageau is an artist, ceremonialist and community builder who has been leading the making of community mandalas in Ojai since 1993. She carries an Earth Altar that guides the principles upon which this work is based. She is an artist, writer, teacher, lay minister and tipi maker. The Mandala Medicine Movement is her current focus, working on bringing this tried and true method of co-creating beauty, placemaking and connection to other communities. “I work to inspire creativity, free thinking, human connection, personal sovereignty and leadership.” studiosauvageau.com mandalamedicinemovement.com
Susan Evergreen Hericks, Ph.d., has an artistic and psychological approach to being human. Her day-to-day work involves supporting PGI graduate students in the Depth PhD Integrative Therapy and Healing Practices specialization. An artist and lover of beauty medicine, ceremony, and social justice, she has a varied background in academia (English, Theology/Ethics, Depth Psychology) as well as rites of passage work, wilderness guiding, ceremonial play and art. She has been actively co-designing Ojai’s annual community Mandala since 2009, involving hundreds of painters of all ages.
Angela Borda is a writer for Pacifica Graduate Institute, as well as the editor of the Santa Barbara Literary Journal. Her work has been published in Food & Home, Peregrine, Hurricanes & Swan Songs, Delirium Corridor, Still Arts Quarterly, Danse Macabre, and is forthcoming in The Tertiary Lodger and Running Wild Anthology of Stories, Vol. 5.
