Mandalas: Shining Your Inner Light – Webinar by Angela Kirby
This webinar by transpersonal art therapist Angela Kirby explores the history and healing power of mandalas, guides participants through a meditation and hands-on mandala drawing exercise, and concludes with sharing, an oracle reading, and practical advice for integrating mandala work into daily life.
1. Introduction to Angela Kirby and Her Journey
The webinar is hosted by the Australasian Light Association (a chapter of the International Light Association), and the presenter is Angela Kirby — an Adelaide-based transpersonal art therapist, counselor, energy worker, and author. Andrew, the host, introduces Angela by noting the breadth of her influences, from being adopted into a loving family in country South Australia to her lifelong quest around identity that led her into creative pursuits, art therapy, Reiki, bush flower essences, psychotherapy, and writing.
Angela opens with a warm, personal touch, explaining that her website is called frizzkirby.com because "Frizz" is the nickname she's carried since childhood:
"At the age of 60 I'm still called Frizz by many people."
She's been running her own private practice for nearly 18–20 years, seeing clients both in her Adelaide clinic and online. Interestingly, she initially wondered how art therapy could translate to an online format but was pushed into trying it when asked to help play therapy practitioners with their counseling hours. It turned out to work surprisingly well:
"It was quite easy to transfer working in art therapy being here in the clinic into working online with clients."
2. A Brief Glimpse into the World of Mandalas
Angela shares her first encounter with mandalas — it was simply seeing a circle with a simple design tattooed on a friend's left arm. Even though she wasn't into tattoos, something about the circle felt deeply significant and intriguing to her. She had an idea it was a mandala, which is a Sanskrit word (from an ancient Indian language) that loosely means "circle."
The Carl Jung Connection 🧠
Skipping forward about a decade, Angela was studying transpersonal art therapy in Adelaide, and that's where her love of the circle truly deepened. She learned about Carl Jung, whose career in psychology and psychoanalysis brought the mandala into Western practice. Jung used mandalas both with his clients and in his own personal journey, drawing one daily for about a year to track his psychological world.
Jung believed that whatever a person felt compelled to draw or paint within a circle was their inner world attempting to soothe and heal their emotional self:
"Whatever was placed within the circle... our inner world was attempting to assuage and heal our inner emotional self."
Angela emphasizes that mandala creation isn't limited to drawing or painting — it can involve mixed media, including sand, natural objects, and various tools. The key is that it flows from meditation and heart-centered expression rather than intellectual planning:
"Meditation and flowing in color layers as your heart, not your head, suggests."
She notes that we spend too much time in our heads, caught up in ego, and the mandala process is about allowing ourselves to sink into deeper feelings and simply let them be there.
3. The Workshop Outline and Preparation
Angela lays out the structure of the evening: a brief introduction (which she's doing), followed by a short guided meditation, and then a hands-on drawing exercise where participants use pastels and paper to create their own "circle of healing." She's upfront that this is her first webinar of this kind and that the session is just a glimpse — a starting point:
"This is only a small amount of information here, but it is a start for you to either continue on to or leave behind the world of mandalas."
She also mentions that she still considers herself "only at the surface" in understanding the deeper meanings and symbols behind mandalas — it's a lifelong journey.
The Circle of Healing and Oracle Mandalas 🔮
Angela explains that her personal road with mandalas has been twofold:
- Personal use: using the circle to express what can't be voiced, which in turn helps sort out concerns and issues
- Professional healing work: a series of mandalas she began in 2007, which also serve as an oracle — where someone poses a considered question and the mandala chosen provides guidance
She cautions against asking simple yes-or-no questions and instead recommends more thoughtful, open-ended inquiries. She uses a technique called bibliomancy — randomly opening her book to a page with the intention of finding what's relevant for the group.
"Each mandala that I draw, I'm guided intuitively rather than planned."
Unlike her earlier artwork, which involved thumbnail sketches and knowing the subject before beginning, with these mandalas she waits to be invited. She's drawn hundreds over the years and is currently working on number 64 in this particular series.
4. Mandalas in Nature and Human Creation 🌿
Angela takes the audience through a visual tour of circles occurring both naturally and through human design.
Natural Mandalas
- The center of a shell — spiraling circular patterns
- Rings around the sun or moon — portending rain or snow
- A drop of water creating natural circular ripples
- The center of an apple when sliced
- Sound healing vibrations — sand placed on a surface that, when vibrated, naturally forms circular, mandala-like shapes (cymatics)
- Snowflakes — perfect natural symmetry
- The center of a rose 🌹 (Angela shows off some beautiful roses she received)
- Sunflowers 🌻
Human-Made Mandalas
- Medicine wheels used by Native Americans
- Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas — Angela has had the privilege of watching monks create these intricate works using crushed, dyed Himalayan stone funneled onto designs over many days, only to then sweep them away as a practice of detachment
"After all the work they've done, they actually then... the lesson is allowing the detachment to happen. They spend days doing them and then they move them on."
She kept some of the sand for a long time before realizing she needed to let go of it too — practicing the same detachment the monks embodied.
- Cathedral rose windows — circles within churches designed to bring in more light
- Labyrinths — walking meditation paths
5. Examples of Angela's Own Mandala Work 🎨
Angela shares several of her own works to illustrate different aspects of mandala creation:
- A personal processing mandala — created when she needed to work through something happening in her mind, to "shape shift something or move along"
- A mandala created after a guided meditation in Brazil as part of a healing project
- A drawing that began as an abstract but organically transformed into a figurative image — an angel started to appear without her planning it:
"I didn't set out to draw it, it just started to go into that shape. It's quite interesting what happens... hours and hours and years of drawing, you start to go into different states, altered states, and allow the mystical experiences to usher in."
Three Oracle Mandalas from the Series
Number 51 — "Winter" ❄️
"A hibernation as the undercurrents within make necessary changes through allowing rather than forcing. Opportunities through self-trusting unfolds."
Number 53 — "Facing Our Fears" 😶
"As we raise our levels of consciousness, it may be easy to ignore and continue acting out on that which doesn't serve, but through stillness and calm, acknowledgment reveals next steps to take."
This dynamic piece features faces all around the outer part of the circle — it started as a side view self-portrait and evolved into various stages of being.
Number 63 — "Ascension" ✨
"Renewed and fresh within new horizons, it would appear simple in transition. Living authentically however takes courage. Being you is the way."
6. Preparing for the Meditation and Drawing Exercise
Before diving into the meditation, Angela gives practical and emotional preparation advice. Participants need:
- A piece of paper with a circle drawn on it (using a plate lid, any round object, or just freehand — it doesn't need to be perfect)
- Chalk pastels (messy but easy to clean up)
- A pencil and paper for jotting down notes
- An open heart and willingness to let go
She reassures everyone about the emotional territory this work can open up:
"This isn't an art class on how to draw. Move the colors chosen around, build up the layers, rub your fingers in it if you like. Trust the process."
"We're moving from the ego state to deeper states of consciousness in the letting go. And the letting go can feel disconcerting, frustrating, and intimidating. I would see this as a great thing rather than the opposite."
She acknowledges that the inner child can feel quite frightened at times when facing a big blank piece of paper, and encourages participants to simply breathe and allow whatever comes up:
"While most of our lives are about the external, we are traveling inward. And that at first can be thrilling and frightening at the same time. So just roll with it. Breathe."
She also asks participants to write down one word that reflects their current state of being before beginning, and to notice which colors they feel drawn to — even if they're colors the ego might usually reject.
7. The Guided Meditation — "What Within Me Shines Brightly?" 🧘
Angela leads the group through a gentle, step-by-step guided visualization meditation:
- Grounding: Take a deep breath, feel your feet firmly on the ground, uncross your legs
- Protection: Visualize being surrounded in a beautiful golden light of protection — all around, above, below, and through you
- The Doorway: Count up three steps to a doorway. Notice the handle — is it plain or ornate?
- The Question: Place your hand on the handle and ask:
"What within me shines brightly?"
- The Garden: Open the door to find a beautiful garden. Step in, noticing the grass, flowers, birds, trees, and fresh air. Walk to a chair — your chair — and sit down.
- Sitting in Silence: Pose the question again and sit in silence for a minute or two with eyes closed. Angela gently asks:
"Who are you?"
- Returning: Stand up, walk back through the beautiful green grass, the exquisite flowers, the singing birds, and the majestic trees with a slight breeze. Take one last look at this divine garden, feel gratitude for the space that held your question, and close the door behind you.
- Coming Back: Count back down the three steps, take a big deep breath, feel yourself in your chair, feel the golden light of protection dissipate, wiggle your fingers and toes, and slowly open your eyes.
Angela reassures participants that they may or may not have clarity about the question, and both outcomes are perfectly okay:
"You may be clear about that question or not. And let that be okay."
8. The Drawing Process — Letting the Heart Express 🖍️
After the meditation, Angela invites participants to jot down a sentence or two about their experience (without getting too caught up in writing) and then begin choosing colors and drawing within their circle.
She offers gentle encouragement throughout the approximately 10-minute drawing period:
"Let go of an outcome. Just allow yourself to spread the color around the paper."
"What shines brightly in me? Who are you?"
She reminds participants that if they feel stuck or think they're finished, they should sit back and ponder for a moment, then dive back in:
"Art pieces are never really complete or finished. As Picasso would say, they stop at an interesting place."
"This is more expressing what's happening within you. What does that little girl or that little boy within you feel?"
She acknowledges that in her regular workshops, drawing processes typically run for one to two hours each, with four processes over a full day — so this abbreviated session is just a taste. She also suggests writing down another word at the end that comes to the heart, and reassures everyone that they can continue their drawing later.
9. The Oracle Reading for the Group — "Bliss" 🌟
Angela performs bibliomancy on behalf of the group, randomly opening her book with the intention of finding what the collective needs to hear. She lands on Number 42 — "Bliss":
"Bliss surrounds you while your world is changing rapidly from one stage to the next. This time is sacred and must be travelled solo. Only you can set your feet directly upon this world, unraveling and releasing what once was and can no longer be."
"Almost staccato-like movement, rapid and upbeat — in time you bring forward what is to be healed."
"You may initially seek answers from others only to find you walk away frustrated and confused from their efforts in giving you suggestions and fix-me-up solutions."
"The wounded child within you may be seeking from a sense of unhealed codependence. It is a time to calm that neediness and settle it down. Your inner child requires reassurance and some fun so he or she feels safe."
"This time is for you as the fully functioning adult, with your inner child intact. Not rocking the boat with this realization, you seek guidance from within — which is what we've been doing tonight. Through meditation, insights arrive randomly, unfolding the synchronicities of your life."
"For in a moment you forgot that you are connected to a higher source, where answers arrive when they are meant and not necessarily when you want."
She concludes the reading with a warm invitation:
"So give yourself a big hug."
10. Participant Sharing and Feedback 💬
Several participants share their experiences, creating a heartfelt exchange:
Rosemary 👵
Rosemary used a plate to draw her circle and found herself writing her grandchildren's names around it with little music notes. She felt that she shines from her heart and is here to guide her grandchildren:
"I feel like all my life experiences up to now have given me all the right tools to be there for them."
Her word was "balance", and she reported feeling very peaceful. Her daughter participated alongside her (off-screen), which Angela found wonderful. Rosemary also noted the pleasant surprise that the evening was an interactive workshop rather than just a lecture:
"It was different — I was going to be sitting and listening to a talk tonight. It was cool being a workshop."
Lynn ✨
Lynn discovered that she's content — very content with her life. Her drawing depicted all the things in her life that connect one to the other and have brought her to where she is now. She even wrote her words in four different languages. She was perfectly comfortable with her "funny squiggles" and reported feeling:
"Absolutely blissful — which is what we're supposed to... well, 'supposed to be,' that's interesting."
Andrew 📝
Andrew only had a pencil available but participated fully. His initial word was "panic" — reflecting a lot going on in his life recently — but through the meditation and drawing process, it shifted:
"Initially the first word that came to me was panic, actually, which was interesting... but then it was moving to peace and centering and grounding and joy."
Angela responded to this beautifully, explaining how the back-and-forth, round-and-round movement of drawing starts to soothe and calm inner turmoil:
"Once we start doing a meditation and we allow ourselves to drop into the feelings, and not push them away, we can move through them."
She suggested that everyone have a dedicated drawing space at home, ready to go, so they can sit down and draw for even just a couple of minutes instead of carrying internal chaos out the door with them.
The "Non-Artist" Participant 🎭
One participant prefaced their sharing with a self-deprecating remark:
"I'm not an artist's left elbow. I'm a stick person."
Angela immediately reframed this as a positive thing. The participant showed their drawing and said they had no idea where it came from. They mentioned that the "Bliss" oracle reading (number 42) fit their world "almost perfectly" at the moment. Angela affirmed the courage it takes to share and reminded everyone:
"That artist thing — of being an artist and not being an artist — it resides in all of us. Everything's a shape and a color, and this really frees up a lot once you start getting used to just letting your hand and heart express what needs to be expressed."
"It's that inner child you're encouraging — that beautiful little girl or boy that resides in you — allowing that to come through and have fun."
This sparked a lovely tangent about Spirographs — the participant had always wanted one as a child but their family couldn't afford it. Decades later, their husband surprised them with one. Angela related completely, having had the same unfulfilled childhood wish! 😄
Nolan 🌱
Nolan found the meditation "really lovely" and felt at peace in the beautiful garden, but didn't come out with a clear idea of where to go with the drawing. So they simply put colors down and tried to see what would happen. Their starting word was "curious" and their ending reflection was "I don't know."
Angela championed this response:
"I don't know is an asset, not a liability. Seriously. We get so caught up in these so-called results and must-must-must."
She acknowledged that the frustration Nolan felt is completely normal and that even the simple act of getting your hand to pick up the pencil can feel terrifying at first:
"You have to be really gentle with yourself because it's a part of us to get so used to escaping and going off and doing other things, as opposed to really feeling the feelings."
11. Practical Wisdom and Angela's Book 📖
Angela shares some important practical advice for continuing this work:
Protect Your Mandala Work
She strongly recommends putting your drawing up on a wall somewhere — but perhaps not in the living room for everyone to see, unless you have thick skin. Other people's comments, even well-meaning ones, can feel bruising because:
"If you've drawn your prescription — you're in a world instead of going to the doctor for a script — you've drawn your script, and now your inner world is being expressed in front of you."
Some pieces you may want to rip up and discard immediately, while others can stay up for years. Angela has drawings in her home that have been there a long time:
"They're very soothing and calming, and they mean a lot. And this might be just a very basic drawing."
The Morning Pages Practice ✍️
Angela shares that she was inspired by "The Artist's Way" over 20 years ago during a difficult time in her life. She's been doing the morning pages practice (stream-of-consciousness journaling) for two decades now:
"The journaling in the morning or the writing — just the blah blah blah, as opposed to something you would show to a friend... this is just getting any madness or any carry-on that needs to be expressed on paper."
About Her Book: Creating Wisdom and Magic in Life and Love
The book includes:
- Angela's personal story and life experiences
- 12 therapeutic processes using the mandala as a template
- Written meditations (also available for free download on her website)
- 54 oracle mandalas for guidance
- Small black-and-white mandalas at the back for coloring in quiet moments
- Poetry written over the years
- A list of people and resources that have helped her on her healing journey
"The more that we do this work, I feel that we can be more authentically who we are ourselves, and get on and be on the path and feel okay about the path that we're on, trusting where we're going."
12. Closing Questions and Final Thoughts
Andrew asks whether mandalas, as physical objects, carry a certain energy beyond just their visual impact. Angela confirms:
"Of course. They have an energy. They're powerful. Some things can feel really repelling, and other things — you feel moments of great bliss. You can take yourself into a mystical state through what you've been drawing."
Angela mentions her upcoming workshops, including regular sessions at the Cancer Care Centre in Adelaide, with hopes to expand online offerings when time allows.
The evening wraps up with warm thanks all around, and Angela offers an open invitation:
"Any questions, you can ask me at any time."
Wrapping Up
This webinar beautifully demonstrates that mandala creation isn't about artistic skill — it's about connecting with your inner world through the simple, ancient power of the circle. Whether you're a seasoned artist or a self-proclaimed "stick person," the act of choosing colors from the heart, breathing through resistance, and allowing whatever emerges to simply be there can shift you from panic to peace, from your head to your heart. As Angela reminds us, "I don't know" is an asset, not a liability — and the journey inward, while sometimes thrilling and frightening in equal measure, is where authentic healing begins. 🌀✨
Need a summary like this?
Get instant summaries with Harvest