'Teacher Plant Mandala' is an original hand-done piece I completed in 2017.
Oil pastel on board, 1.2m diameter, approx. 60hrs.
I see this work as a co-creation as it was commissioned by my friend Jilli Manning for her shop 'Happy High Herbs' in Lake St., Cairns. Jilli requested a mandala of all the psychedelic plants depicted, in rainbow spectrum if possible, radiating out from base chakra red (amonita), based around the American Indian Prayer Wheel.
The composition and research involved in rendering all of these elements to make it ‘work’, is what I do.
I added crystals to give it charge, and the feathers to give it more dynamic movement. The day I was finally ready to begin it, both the black and the white cockatoos were sharing in the gum nuts above my art shed, dropping them on the roof, ping ping!…so their feathers alighted in my work!
Obviously, for any who know their plants, this is a full power piece...for those who are interested to know more, I urge you to read on as i wish to share my take on it. It's a fairly long-winded spiel, which becomes a poem!
I see it as another 'prayer' of sorts…that although things may erupt further before healing occurs, may they ultimately find peace and balance, amidst the ever-flow of life! Such is the way of things that nature has crafted for millennia on this planet! I wish that all who come in contact with this piece also find balance and peace, in our bodies, minds, spirit...“Divine aliiiignment” ! ;)
I find that by 'sitting with' or gazing at any natural element, its essence can have a subtle effect. Inherent sacred geometry, colour, line, form etc. This was the original intention of mandalas in various spiritual traditions, to focus attention, a spiritual guidance tool.
So it was quite a journey working on this! It took a couple of months due to my energy being spread between so many other things.
But when i did focus in…sometimes found myself chanting quietly, ancient sounding things I know not from where, sometimes guttural, sometimes sounding like the icaros sung over me in Peru. One day sitting in the shed working on it, an Eastern Brown came within a metre of me, stared me out for a moment that felt like an eternity, one bite from it and I could be gone, but I didn't move and on its way it went...One week I got a bug going around, purged like I hadn’t in a long time. Another week the celebration of a dear old mates 40th and all the acknowledgements of connection and life achievements therein…peace and forgiveness finally affirmed after years in a rare meeting with my ex-husband who always remains in my heart tho’ we live distant lives now…another evening a deep and bodily release of old past grief I’d not even known still dwelled at some cellular level...and ultimately utter gratitude for this life. At the time I was deeply in love with one I thought would be my life partner. That too changed. The wheel of life deals us many blows, but we are more resilient beings then we know, even if it takes a long process to re-find our flow, as long as we are alive, we must strive to grow!
The ultimate word that comes with this piece is RESPECT!
For all their beauty I do not advocate that people go out and ingest these powerful plants without first gaining a full and grounded understanding of them. And even then different plant medicines work differently for different people.
Most of the plants depicted here are psychedelic, and are just some of the better known ones from around the globe. These plants are powerful tools of perception which I believe when used correctly and respectfully can heal or open mentally blocked pathways that may otherwise create dis-ease. They may show us harmonious ways of looking at all of life with humility, gratitude and respect for our place within it.
In the centre is the red Amonita Muscaria mushroom...the one of fairytales ;-)
The Ayahuasca vine, her leaves depicted too, is a powerful MAO inhibitor, working with the Chakruna leaves (the DMT component), encircling the sacred earthy colours of the American Indian Prayer Wheel... White= North, Winter, Spiritual, Elders, night... Yellow= East, Spring, spirit, baby, sun, morning... Red= South, Summer, youth, emotion/love, afternoon... Black= West, Autumn,physical, adult, evening... Next are the Gold Top mushrooms.
Then the yellow Damiana flowers, simply a gentle balancer in all these strong plants, a tonic for kidneys, nervous system and the sexual organs…so perhaps to help it all move through, to cleanse, gently, and a hint of procreation needed for the ever-flow!
Then we have the tall San Pedro cacti (Wachuma), the Peyote button cacti, the long thin wattle leaves and their yellow fluffy flowers, the seedlings of some species have these small circular leaves which also look like Mimosa species plus reminiscent of the Coca plant, to be chewed when adjusting to high altitudes in their native environment in Sth America. The marijuana leaves.
Then we have the Blue meanies, and the Hawaiian Baby Woodrose, whose seeds are psychedelic. The blue lotus flower is also an MAOI. And finally the Brugmansia.
With some plants, like the Brugmansia (Datura) it is enough to simply smell the flowers! At my home of once-upon-a-time it grew not far from my bed, a frame of beautiful trumpets dropping angelically at the edge of my verandah…my dreams were enhanced and vivid! They are not to be ingested! A horticulturist once explained to me the proper technique for actually using them safely and medicinally…yet still he said- "be aware, she can be a seductress!”
And perhaps this is why I subconsciously placed the marijuana leaves along with her…another potential seductress!
To my understanding cannabis is not really psychedelic, though some may argue this. Lots of her cannabinoids can be credited with many healing properties, but most certainly her THC content is both psychoactive and powerful. I know many who believe this plant to be quite benign. If used moderately it can be a beautiful tool to relax and enhance, but to my experience it's not harmless when used excessively, nothing is.
I firmly believe that EVERYTHING has a use, a place, a purpose…but in excess it will go to its flip-side. Balance and moderation are key to things being tools, used not abused. RESPECT!
I believe that with addiction to any powerful substance, be you aware of it or not, some other area of life will begin to lack, be it connection with emotions thereby affecting intimate relationships, mental state, energy levels, health or finances...and we may not even notice while all attention is on the primary relationship with the substance.
When mental pathways have become hard-wired and we find ourselves ’stuck’, it is possible via some of the beautiful psychedelic plant tools in this mandala, that along with our own will and the necessary work, we may free ourselves from patterns that no longer serve.
In drawing it I prayed for balance and harmony in all aspects of ourselves that it may reflect for the good of our planet!
Some of us most sensitive beings fear our feelings, torrents of emotion, but to shut it down is not the answer, as I believe this is what gives us not just empathy but the emotional charge that helps manifest our thoughts!
Our awareness and sensitivity at this time on the planet are crucial, to open up our mind-sets and see the all with clarity, lighten our energetic bodies by recognition of the fact we live in a physically dependant body intrinsically and symbiotivcally entwined with our planet...layered and embedded with many realms we may only be privileged to perceive via some of these Teacher plants!
If I still have your attention I wish to share a poem that came spontaneously to verbally compliment this Mandala. T’was in reaction to a poem my mate Pete sent me one eve... I share his powerful poem first as parts of my own answer it...
'One Mob'
Momentary confusion
Western illusion of
Grandeur - not of soul, nor mind
Hindsight bears no means to rewind
Torrents of thought stir winds of contemplation
Ground approaches saturation, as
Rivers of remorse begin to run
Asking the question - 'What have we done?'
The need to understand
All belong in these lands
Borders and boundaries?
Assimilation absorbing the
Custodians of country for thousands of years
Dreamtime sidelined - repression and fear
Great southern lands of racism and hatred
Royals irrelevant yet commonwealth instated
Red, white & blue? Nah - black, yellow & red
To handle our own, a republic instead
Feet pound the earth red dust fills the air
One mob together - Advance Australia - fair
By Pete Blay 2017
'Teacher Plant Mandala Poem' by Imogen O'Neil...
Like auto-flash of mind, my eyes skirt around,
those words about red, white n blue don't resound, no joy abounds,
but truths in your rhyme in these pertinent times,
coz we're still chewing and choking on old paradigms!...that served those most fortunate...deliberate ignorance is no comfort!
Well I thought of the piece I've been honing... colour n form intoning...
...With pastel on board,Mandala absorbed, of psychedelic plants...oh the mental tangents that downloaded some fragments…
In its midst a prayer wheel, All Native, 4 colours to heal,
By one red blood in the centre, spirit or placenta, amonita and gills, heart chakra bled…Tools of perception, in balance please heal, our hearts and our heads, a chicken or egg...
Are we leaders or led, by all cycles unfurled, ever-expanding world…Rainbow spectrum Indigo edged... I make a pledge, to protect and respect…
Privileged as we are.
All these thoughts in a blink and there your next line, the way to realign- "Red black n yellow!
All on the same page of signs, our kin and fellow, intertwine.
There my thoughts did a'light, coz here also is the white! Aye here is also the white. And the plight...of the planet?
Foresight is needed, no way forward for the greedy, creating more needy individuals!
Your I-phone, I-pad, your I this I that! Clickity clack, chew the fat?
Think it's time to reassess coz fuck that! We are WE!
Individual beings in community, intrinsically linked, remember to see!
So with respect, may this visual prayer take flight,
for all who do sight, this mandala bright!
Ingestion by eye alone may suffice, to put a spin on your mission,
Tongue pointed past your chin, like a tribal mask, a vision,
Proud stance yet submission, to lore divine, simply says
"Be gone all that is not mine!"
Purging and restoring fresh channels re-align,
and peace be found, in your own sweet time,
with genuine concern send it all a'round!,
Healing n balance on this sacred ground!
Shining out through each spectrum, in true life reflection,
then full appreciation!…
Inner to outa on an ancient swastika, well-being wheel of life,
Cockatoo feathers for insight and flight, in balance, in flow, in Earths teacher plants know.
Whatever has been, whatever we've seen,
Cellular memory may it be cleaned!
Divine alignment in our choices prevail, may common sense and kindness, fill our sails!
Living n loving, an honour and a responsibility is this our human tale...
Just a glimpse, no way to rehearse!
Oh the lifetime of a Universe...just a blink to coerce...
the journeys of our hearts n hearths, in both health and stealth,
Respect for all elders, all nature, true-way creatures, evolved,
Problems can only be solved, with feet on the Earth, take heed of your berth!... Eyes open up wide!
Let all truth reside inside and rise, make the strife subside!...
It starts within, with attitude, some gratitude, for what it's worth, joy exude!
Yet so much fear, The 'Apothecine' a prediction, new epoch named is here...obscene!
Humanity literally dulling with screens, for what we may perceive...
So here 'tis a prayer, on a wish and a wing and all the good things, true may it ring....
For all of nature and each other, care, nurture self too,
Nestle in this our vessel...
Oh yes right there...take a deep breath……steady and fair,
Now, here…
Let it all out…be clear.
Ahh… I,
Can only speak for myself, yet it's a common ground that be coming around.
I feel telepathic lines opening wide,
This rapidity in our stride, may it abide,
In harmony...
Peace within you, and peace within me...
Aho 💜👣🦋
Imogen O'Neil 2017
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