Pandemic Picture Project: Vitalah Simon
Vitalah has shared with us some of the exquisite mandalas she has created during the pandemic. She has given us some background to help us more fully understand and appreciate her practice. “Creating and contemplating mandalas is an ancient spiritual practice in many traditions. In the fall of 2018 when my cat Sparkle was dying, I started downloading mandalas off the internet, to color in, to calm and center myself and prepare for her passing. After she passed, I stopped. A little over a year later, in February 2020, I started drawing mandalas again. Being in major living space transition, I didn’t have access to my desktop or a printer, so I drew freehand. In the process of doing a color and pen mandala collage, I discovered I preferred drawing with a simple black pen on white paper. Initially I drew one maybe once a month, but then in May I started drawing one most every evening. The quarantine was in full swing and this was a lovely way to calm my brain and focus on something simple and present and balancing. The practice continues…..”
