volume 10, number 1, 2015

About the cover artwork

Mark Geard, Puriri Mandala, 2013, Puriri flower pistils and stamens, Kauri leaves and cones, Pin Oak leaves, seed pods and bark chips, 500mm x 500mm.

I have always had an interest in mandalas and use them from time to time during the Alamandria meditation retreats I run with co-founder Emily Fletcher. We were in the Wellington Botanic Garden one day a few years ago and spontaneously made a simple mandala out of sticks and leaves we found on the ground. We both enjoyed this experience in a way I would describe as ritualistic satisfaction. When Autumn came we continued this practice using beautiful red, gold, and brown leaves, sticks, hardened seed pods, acorns, pine cones – all cast-offs littering the ground. Over the next few years we created many mandalas throughout the botanic garden. For us, these mandalas are totems of thanks and gratitude to life-giving ‘Mother nature’.