“The Mandala is the Center”: Jung's Interest in Mandalas

Susan Olson, MA, LCSW, Jungian analyst

C. G. Jung painted his first mandala in 1916, during a period of psychic turmoil. Gradually he came to understand the mandala as a symbol of the self, “the wholeness of the personality.” Jung stopped drawing mandalas in 1928, but he encouraged his patients to paint their own. Each of the 40 mandalas in The Sacred Round exhibit, created by Jung's patients, is a unique example of this ancient form.  In this lecture, Olson will trace the history of Jung's fascination with mandalas, the evolution of his understanding of them, and the features that contribute to their profound healing effect.

Susan Olson, a 1992 graduate of the C. G. Jung Institute (Zurich), practices analysis in Atlanta. She is the author of By Grief Transformed: Dreams and the Mourning Process (2010).