Please read the information below before signing up, and reach out if you have any questions or concerns. 

The Truth Mandala is a (roughly) 2-hour ritual that creates a brave space to experience, witness and (if desired) express your feelings about the world, as well as feelings relating to your personal life (they are intrinsically related to the conditions of our world).

In the lineage of Joanna Macy’s The Work That Reconnects, and the recognition that emotions - when not experienced or expressed - can create blockages in our bodies, minds and spirits, I am offering this experience towards collective and personal healing and transformation. Many report feeling wells of compassion, relief and regenerative flow after experiencing it. The Truth Mandala can be transformative and healing whether you opt to speak or not.

Everything shared in the Truth Mandala is to be held in confidentiality, which is especially important if you are doing this ritual with people you know personally. This is NOT a recorded event. Please also note that you can participate in whatever capacity feels true for you. In other words, no one is required to share out loud. The invitation is there for you to share, if you wish to. 

Ritual

People sit in a circle (when this ritual is held over Zoom this circle will be imaginary) to create a containment vessel for holding the truth. The ‘circle’ we make has four quadrants and each quadrant represents a symbolic object: a stone, dead leaves, a thick stick, and an empty bowl. 

The stone is for fear.  It’s how our heart feels when we’re afraid: tight, contracted, hard.  With this stone, we can let our fear speak.  

The dry leaves represent our sorrow.  There is great sadness within us for what we see happening to our world. Here the sadness can speak.

The stick is for our anger, for our outrage.  Anger needs to be spoken for clarity of mind and purpose.  As you let it speak, grasp this stick hard with both hands.  It’s not for pounding or waving around.

The empty bowl stands for our sense of deprivation and need, our hunger for what’s missing—our emptiness.

Maybe there’s something you’ll want to say that doesn’t fit one of these quadrants. You are welcome to give voice to it – be it a song or prayer or lines of verse.

You may wonder where is hope?  The very ground of this mandala is hope.  If we didn’t have hope, we wouldn’t be here.  

Together we will hold sacred space for what wants to be shared: the space is made sacred by our truth telling.

Once the ritual starts, one person at a time, randomly and spontaneously, raises their hand to show they want to share. I will say their name, which is the signal that they can unmute themselves, take an object into their hands, and speak. When they have finished sharing, they will say “I am complete”, after which everyone listening will unmute themselves and say “We see you, we hear you”. A follow this with a moment of silence in honour of what has been spoken, and to be-with our immediate experience following what has been shared. Then the next person may speak.

• A person can speak from just one quadrant, or move from one quadrant to another. It’s ok to just hold an object and not speak. People may come in more than once or not at all; there is no pressure on anyone to share.  

• Confidentiality is essential; what’s said here stays here.  A person’s words in the Mandala are not to be referred to afterwards, including to the one who said them.

• No personal references to those present will be made, and no “cross-talk” or responses to what others have said.

• Concerns about our personal lives are as welcome as concerns about the world: it’s all one.

• Feel free to speak in your mother tongue.

• Feel free to speak as another being, and let it be clear to us when you are doing that.  

• Refrain from comforting. When people are expressing heavy emotion, gestures of comfort may be taken as a signal to shut down.

Please arrive on time and stay for the whole ritual, to honour the safe container we are creating together. In addition, to honour the sacred space we are holding together, please also give your full attention to the ritual; please refrain from multitasking and eating, and make sure phones are not a distraction (preferably have your phone on silent or turned off). Drinking water/hot drinks is fine.  

Please bring with you an object or two symbolizing the 4 quadrants in the Truth Mandala: 1) Grief and sorrow 2) Fear 3) Anger and outrage 4) Our hunger for what is missing. A note that Hope is also represented by the very process of the ritual itself.

Please note: This ritual is suitable for both newcomers and those who have experienced a Truth Mandala previously. 

I’d like to acknowledge Joanna Macy, Molly Brown, the Work That Reconnects Network, Deborah Eden Tull and Nina Simons, for their support and guidance, and the way this has allowed me to step into offering this beautiful ritual.