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by Clay Boykin | Jun 11, 2021 | Inspiration, Meditation, Mythology, Wisdom
Mandalas take on countless sizes, shapes and forms and are a tool for gaining perspective, expanding thought and relaxing the mind. This excerpt from The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell provides an excellent description of how a mandala works.
Excerpt from the Power of Myth:
CAMPBELL: “Mandala” is the Sanskrit word for “circle,” but a circle that is coordinated or symbolically designed so that it has the meaning of a cosmic order. When composing mandalas, you are trying to coordinate your personal circle with the universal circle. In a very elaborate Buddhist mandala, for example, you have the deity in the center as the power source, the illumination source. The peripheral images would be manifestations or aspects of the deity’s radiance.
In working out a mandala for yourself, you draw a circle and then think of the different impulse systems and value systems in your life. Then you compose them and try to find out where your center is. Making a mandala is a discipline for pulling all those scattered aspects of your life together, for finding a center and ordering yourself to it. You try to coordinate your circle with the universal circle.
MOYERS: To be at the center?
CAMPBELL: At the center, yes….
https://youtu.be/19C0noWn3T8
My personal mandala has been evolving over the past few years. It is the place I can go at any time to pause and reflect, to pray, to meditate, or just sit in quiet contemplation in an empty space between the lines for a while. – Clay Boykin
Mandala – Clay Boykin 2015
Available on Etsy: 11×17 cardstock, suitable for framing
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by Clay Boykin | Oct 14, 2017 | Fear, Men's Issues, Mythology, Wisdom
What are our modern day rites of passage? Have we lost this part of our culture? What are the consequences if we have?
Wikipedia – A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person’s transition from one status to another. Rites of passage explore and describe various notable milestones in an individual’s life, for any marked transitional stage, when one’s social status is altered.
The concept of rites of passage as a general theory of socialization was first formally articulated by Arnold van Gennep in his book The Rites of Passage to denote rituals marking the transitional phase between childhood and full inclusion into a tribe or social group.[1] Van Gennep’s work exercised a deep impact on anthropological thought.[2] Milestones include transitions from puberty, junior, middle and high school, coming of age, marriage, family and death. Initiation ceremonies such as baptism, akika, upanayana, confirmation and Bar or Bat Mitzvah are considered important rites of passage for people of their respective religions. Rites of passage show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures.
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by Clay Boykin | Jun 28, 2017 | Ancient History, Inspiration, Mythology, Wisdom
“A great symbol is not immediately exhaustible. In fact, it might not be even remotely exhaustible. It is something that continues to mean more as we become capable of understanding more.” – Manly P. Hall
Cryptic seventeenth-century alchemical engraving of the “Azoth of the Philosophers” used by the Golden Dawn in the Portal Ritual where it is called “The Great Hermetic Arcanum.” This diagram shows the massive amount of arcane symbolism that the alchemists packed into such illustrations.
Manly P. Hall:
Mandala: Clay Boykin
Symbols of Wisdom
The concept of rites of passage as a general theory of 
important rites of passage for people of their respective religions. Rites of passage show 
