Healing Mandala Crowns
January 6th, 2015
I wanted to start the New Year with an inspiring story of how art heals. I wasn’t aware until recently that people were celebrating the beauty of their bald heads with “Crowns”. These are painted or drawn on designs that often start out with mandalas as the center or as part of the design.
I didn’t know about the healing crowns that are being drawn and painted onto the bald heads of those who have lost hair because of chemotherapy treatments or alopecia, until a mandala maker friend Gail Haverdill sent me photos of her “Mandala Crown” which was created by her 12 year old granddaughter Katie. Gail taught Katie about mandalas several years ago. She created this beautiful crown for her Grandmother’s Christmas gift a few weeks ago.
Most often these “crowns” are created with henna, which leaves a deep reddish brown stain on the skin. The photos with thick black lines are the henna after it was applied and is waiting to dry.
The crown below shows the henna after it dried and was removed.
My friend Gail’s “Mandala Crown” was created with a sharpie marker, so the color is a black.
I love all the patterns on Gail’s head.
Here’s a photo of Gail and her granddaughter Katie. They are both amazing artists. I featured the mandala art of Gail in two blog posts a few years ago. Here’s the first one, and the second.
Also Gail is an amazing inspiration. She lives in Cleveland and in 2009 came to a weekend course called “Entering the Sacred through Images and Words” that I taught with my dear friend Kelly Larson. Gail said she wasn’t exactly sure why she came to St. Louis for the course, but she knew she had to be here. A few years later she was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Here’s what she says about her journey: ” I am tolerating and responding well to over 16 months of chemo with few side effects and I give a lot of credit to acupuncture, reiki, reflexology, humor, art and music, a lot of prayer, and an unbelievable support system from family and friends.”
I’ve been following the journal entries that she shares on Caring Bridge. She is an inspiration. And I thank her, and Katie, for letting me know about this beautiful way that art heals and sharing their creativity.
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100 DAYS FOR MANDALAS – starting the week of January 26th. I’m getting it all together and am excited about the themes. I would have started a little earlier, but am behind by a week with the flu slowing me down.
ENJOY & CREATE & HAPPY NEW YEAR
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WEBSITES WITH MORE INFO AND PHOTOS ABOUT “HEALING CROWNS”
http://carefullycrafted.ca/henna-services/henna-crowns/
http://hennalounge.com/henna-crowns
