Whenever I feel inspired to draw what I call a “Soul Doodle” I know that some aspect of me wishes to communicate. A Soul Doodle or “mandala” - a Sanskrit word meaning both center and circumference - is a visual reflection of your inner world and your true self. Swiss psychiatrist Gustav Jung drew a daily mandala in his journal for the “soul” purpose of revealing his state of mind, spiritual development and personal growth. Surprisingly, we often do this unknowingly in the form of doodles, which appear on first impression to be nothing but a series of mindless drawings, and yet the symbolism they depict can be both profound and revealing. Unlike the ancient mandalas that were symmetrical and designed to attain higher consciousness through meditation, a soul doodle is drawn without pre-conceived notions of attaining any particular level of awareness. It can be symmetrical or asymmetrical and essentially contains colors, shapes and symbols that intuitively emerge from the soul. The focus is on a symbolic image of one's own energy, expressing the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual worlds of your inner self. It captures thoughts, feelings and sentiments and is in essence representative of an aspect of the soul.
I discovered that by drawing a mandala style of doodles I could connect with many different aspects of myself, all within one picture. As well as a past, present, and future self, I could see a part of me that at times was unavailable, namely my emotional self. This aided my understanding of situations that I was unable to process. Subsequently my doodling has become an invaluable tool of transformation and one of the best ways to communicate with my soul.
Soul Doodles are usually expressed in color over a white background and within the parameters, or thereabouts, of a large circle. A short meditation quiets the mind creating the sacred space for the creative soul to communicate its wisdom and guidance. A time is set usually around 20 minutes, any longer and the mind can step in to edit the drawings. Then with the aid of some colored pens intuitive doodling begins filling the circle with whatever comes to mind, sometimes packing it with masses of energy and occasionally leaving it almost empty.
The following exercise will help you to draw your own soul doodle. You do not have to follow this, just go right ahead and draw whatever feels right to you. The clue to drawing a soul doodle is your feelings. You may choose to draw houses, flowers, and scenery, or symmetrical or asymmetrical shapes and patterns. You might fill the paper up or leave the majority of it untouched, stay within the confines of the circle or draw outside the lines. Allow yourself the luxury of playing with the communication of your soul. The more relaxed you are with this, the easier it will be.
Tools: Blank piece of white paper with a large circle drawn in the center, colored pens, paints, markers, crayons or pencils, a journal or extra paper to write on.
Soul doodling exercise
1. Out some soothing music on, this will help you to tap into your creative genius. Make yourself comfortable, close your eyes, and go through a relaxation process. Allow your body the comfort of relaxing, the more relaxed you are the more in touch you will be with your soul light.
2. Ground, root and energize yourself by visualizing roots growing from the soles of your feet and going into the ground, connecting you to the powerful magnetic earth energy. Bring this energy back up through your roots and into your heart. Next, visualize the sparkling golden light of universal energy all around you, draw this through the top of your head and connect it with the energy of the earth within your heart. Feel the wonderful glow of these two energies rejoicing as they join forces. Visualize your heart expanding with energy until you are surrounded by a warm glow, the glow of your open heart.
3. Sit for a short time in the energy, relaxed and receptive, and then connect with your heart asking it to communicate with you in pictures. Invite your soul to guide you to select your first color and then when you are ready open your eyes and begin to create your soul doodle. Let go of all preconceived ideas about form and patterning, just allow the colors, symbols and patterns to speak to you in whichever way they come - don't think about it or the soul doodle will not be a true representation of your soul. Give yourself 20 minutes to complete your doodle using your intuition to tell you when the picture is complete.
4. When you have finished, close your eyes for a moment and, ask for inspiration to understand the communication of your soul. Imagine your picture is a room that you are walking into, how doe it feel to be in that room? What emotions, thoughts, ideas emerge as you journey through the soul doodle? When you are ready open your eyes, write down any insights that came to you and then study your picture for no less than ten minutes. Write down any words that come to you - and that means any words, even if it is just something you need to go shopping for, it could be relevant, think about it afterwards rather than censoring your impressions.
5. When you feel that you have received as much information as you can from your soul doodle, read through what you have written and arrange the words so that they make sense. Allow your intuition to speak to you and most importantly, be open to receive the information.
6. Finally, date your soul doodle and give it a title, invite your soul to offer you some guidance here.
I have found it useful when looking at a soul doodle to split the picture into portions; the left side of the picture represents the potential coming into your life and the right side the influences moving out. This information comes from my many years of experience seeing auras. The upper portions are mental and conscious, the lower portions are emotional and subconscious and the midline represents the physical. The outer edge of the soul doodle is the edge of your world so whatever you put there is representative of your barriers or lack them. As you study the symbols realize that it may not be the individual shapes that are important but the whole picture.
Your soul doodle is not supposed to be a work of art! It is a symbolic representation and will probably include a range of symbols, from recognizable images such as flowers, rainbows, and trees, to more obscure patterns including squares, triangles, and dots. The best guide you have to understanding the communication of the soul is your intuition. Whatever came to mind on first looking at your soul doodle is probably the most accurate interpretation you will receive.
© 2021 Elizabeth Harper
This exercise by Elizabeth Harper appears in Deb Snyder's book, Ignite CALM, Bliss at Work