12 ESOTERIC MANDALAS

Twelve Mandala Drawings I picked up in a card shop in London around 1979, corresponding
(apparently) to the astrological signs of the zodiac.
Posted November 26, 2008. (Published by Dragon's World, Ltd., Limpsfield, Surrey, UK. Copyright
1975, A. T. Mann-Petschek Arts. Distributed by Phin Publishing, Ltd., Churchill Road, Cheltenham,
Glos., UK. Printed in England.)

Aries: (21 March - 20 April). Stone circles built approximately 2400 BC.
Attributed to Atlanteans, Phoenicians, Druids, Romans, Giants, Queen Boadicea,
and Merlin. Its geometry suggests its use as an astronomical obseratory and
spiritual centre.

Taurus: (21 April - 20 May): The Great Pyramid at Giza. Astronomic temple and
stone monument built approximately 2170 BC. Served as burial chamber for the
Pharoach Cheops, and also functioned as an initiation temple, astronomical
observatory, calendar determinant, and as a standard for ancient Egyptian

surveying, wights and measures. The square and circle determine its form, location,
and the position of its passageways and internal chambers.

Gemini (21 May - 20 June): A memory theatre, Vitruvius, Palladio, Dee, Fludd. The
classical Greek Ampitheatre described by Vitruvius was an image of the world. The
four equilateral triangles inscribed within a circle also reflect the zodiac. Palladio's

1567 reconstruction is here adapted to the magical meory ideas of Dr. John Dee and
Robert Fludd (noted late-Renaissance alchemists and esoteric philosophers). The
memory art produced a specific correlation between the audience, actors, and sets
which was probably used in th Globe Theatre of Shakespeare.

Cancer (21 June - 21 July). Jambudvipa World Diagram, Jaina Cosmos. Western
India Jaina diagram from the Seventeenth Century. This schematic representation of
the universe shows the regions through wich the individual passes in approaching
his liberation at the center, Mount Meru. The positions upon the diagram are the
layers of space, time and matter which determine our fates, and indicate the proper
actions necessary for release.

Leo (22 July - 22 August). Figura Intellectus, Magicosmic Mnemormandala. Based

upon a diagram by Giordano Bruno in 1588, this meditation figure synchronzes the
operations and structure of the mind with the divine astrological order of the
cosmos. It provides a matrix for information which indicates their magical
correspondences and permutations.

Virgo: (23 August - 21 September). Sri Yantra, Hindu Tantric Yantra. Hindu
mandala of the Seventeenth Century. The divine powers and their interrelationships

are shown as linked trinangles surrounding the mysterious matrix point in the
center. The lack of images allow the initiate to distill and concentrate his being in
preparation for unification with the Godhead.

Libra (22 September - 21 October): I Ching, squared and encircled. Ancient

Chinese oracle from the Second Millenium BCE, the I Ching Book of Changes is a
divinatory system based upon the permutations of positive and negative energies in
nature and man. The sixty-four hexagrams are transitional states which are shown
around a circle and within a square.

Scorpio: (22 October - 20 November): Tibetan Buddhist Mandala, Mahakala

Gonpo-Magpo Chakra. Tibetan Buddhist tantric mandala of the Seventeenth
Century: Mahakala, the Great God of Time, dances with his female consort within
the sacred precint of the four elements. This eternal lovemaking dance symbolizes

the recurrent creation and destruction of the Universe by the powers of Time.

Saggitarius: (21 November - 20 December): Aztec Calendar Wheel, Precious Fire

Serpents. Stone carving thirteen feet in diameter from Fifteenth Century Mexico.
The Sun disk is both a calendar and a historical-mythological record of the Aztec
Indians. The Sun is the center and is surrounded by four seasons and eras, twenty
day names, penetrating rays, and two great fire snakes recalling the cosmic
energies.

Capricorn (21 December - 19 January): Kabbalah-Sephiroth, Tree of Life. Medieval

Jewish mystical diagram, Kabbalah is the mystical system of the Jews and the Tree
of Life is a graphic system of classification used in conjunction with it. The ten
spheres are the pure numbers and the twenty-two paths connecting them correspond
to the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the whole being capable of leading the initiate

from the ignorance of Malkuth at the bottom to the Crown of Kether at the top.

Aquarius (20 January - 18 February): Astrology, Cosmic Geometry. The most

ancient science and mantic art, based upon the correspondence of the Cosmos and
man. Originally it included astronomy, medicine, mathematics, geometry and
psychology, and underlies most religious systems in history. The structure of

astrology is the relationship between the circular movements of planetary bodies

and the squares and triangles which subdivide them.

Pisces (19 February - 20 March): North Rose window, Chartres Cathedral. Leaded
stained-glass window in Chartres Cathedral, built in 1145 CE. This rose window
displays the principles of Christianity through images of the Virgin held by her
Mother, surrounded by the Doves of the Spirit, the Kings of Israel, and the Twelve
Prophets. The mysteries of the Church are transmitted by the images, colors and

geometrical relationships to both the simple and the wise.