"One of the ancient principles of Mandala making from India and Tibet is that their creation signifies the transformation of a universe of suffering into one of joy."
​
– River Sauvageau
EVENTS
Ventura 2024 Mandala, Ventura Mission
Painted Thur. & Fri, September 19 and 20, 2024​​​​​
Washed off October 21.
The first ever Ventura Community Mandala was painted in downtown Ventura, in front of the mission, to accolades and appreciation. As the first official Mandala of the Mandala Medicine Movement it created a sense of wonderment and awe to many who viewed it.
Designed by River Sauvageau and Susan Evergreen Hericks it was painted by the Ojai Mandala crew, Holy Cross students, Ventura artists, residents, business owners and visitors.
Brought to life in association with ArtWalk Ventura 2024 and partially sponsored by the Buenaventura Art Association it created a sense of community identity and brought people to downtown Ventura to enjoy it.
​
We plan to make this an annual event. Join us!
2024 Ojai Day Mandala, Libbey Park
Painted Sat. and Sun.
October 5 and 6​
This year painted our 32nd Ojai Day Mandala around the fountain in Libbey Park in downtown Ojai during the first weekend in October.
​
This year has engendered the Mandala Medicine Movement and helped us to bring this Mandala making method to Ventura and Carpinteria. We painted the Ojai Mandala two weeks early so it would exist concurrently with the Ventura Community Mandala for two weeks. This was done to connect our communities, allowing people to view both mandalas while visiting the downtown of both cities.
The theme that we used for both mandalas was the Compass Rose. The Compass Rose is the nautical compass, a theme inspired by Ventura being a coastal city. As we developed our designs we came to understand that this theme was about reaching out in all directions. In Ventura it was in the center of the design, inside a rose. In Ojai the large compass rays were painted with large red and white stripes around the fountain and it created a fascinating 3-D effect.
We painted around the fountain for the 5th year and have continued to have Water be a major theme in our designs.
The border, painted blue, represented water. In the border were 4 circles with ripples undulating around them. In two of the circles were roses, a theme we have been working with for two years now. For us it has many representations, the foremost being agape love, unconditional love, which is love for our community rippling out in all directions. Water is important for us here in Ojai as we are still in a larger drought cycle. Since we have been painting around the fountain for 5 years we had water in the center and water all around the border. This symbolizes our intention for rain. Two of the circles have a symbol that could be read as "24." This was to represents the year and is the symbol for the planet Jupiter. Jupiter is the planet of expansion.
Our intention is for the expansion of the Mandala Medicine Movement into other communities. Please reach out to us if you would like to bring this mandala making method to your town.
Make A Donation To Support The Mandala Medicine Movement
