ABSTRACT
In 1918, Jung was commanding the English section of the hospitalised war wounded at the Chateau-d'Œx in French Switzerland. During this period he systematically drew a range of circular figures he called mandalas, a Sanskrit word meaning 'magic circles'. The psychology of the mandala went on to become one of the main theories of analytical psychology. The mandala in its circular and symmetrical form seems to have a calming effect on emotional anxiety. Its spherical shape is an aesthetic representation of the idea of completeness, integrated totality, and the idea of the existence of a centre, which although not clearly marked is at least inferred. The image of the mandala also had a strong presence in subsequent dreams, and it was very different to the mandalas of Tibetan Buddhism or the Navajo Indians. The centralisation of the conscious on the circular padmas of the chakras is very interesting from a psychological point of view.
