Many / One

A database of 11,000+ illuminated guiding quotations in 40 categories from 600+ inspired books by our most brilliant and influential authors.
Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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1		"The One is the midpoint of the circle." Collected Works (Carl Jung)

2		"According to Jung, the mandala is an image of unity and totality existing a priori and in potentia within the human mind. It represents the inner orderedness of the cosmic source, the foundation of beauty and harmony in a sacred cosmos, divinity unfolding in cosmos, nature, and mind." The Strong Eye of Shamanism, A Journey Into the Caves of Consciousness (Robert E. Ryan, Ph.D.)

3		"The point signifies unity, the Origin and the Centre. It also represents the principles of manifestation and emanation, and hence in some mandalas the centre is not actually shown but must be imagined….There are two kinds of point to be considered: that which has no magnitude and is symbolic of creative virtue, and that which – as suggested by Raymond Lull in his 'Nova Geometria' – has the smallest conceivable or practicable magnitude and is a symbol of the principle of manifestation." A Dictionary of Symbols (J. E. Cirlot)

4		"Represent Unity by a circle; at the Present Moment, outside Time, a scission occurs and forms two streams: one goes to the left, away from the other, which goes to the right; each runs on a half of the circle, the Chinese Yin and Yang. On the opposite side, the antagonists rediscover each other and unite. The circle, or cycle, has never ceased to be, the scission has broken nothing…..This absurdity is the Truth." R. A. Schwaller deLubicz, 'Nature Word', Lindisfarne Nature Word (R. A. Schwaller deLubicz)

5		"The mandala form is universal and deeply fixed in our psyche." Jeanne Miles, American artist Parabola, the Magazine of Myth and Tradition (various)

6		"I live my life in growing orbits, which move out over the things of the world…I am circling around God, around the ancient tower, and I have been circling for a thousand years." Rainer Maria Rilke, 'Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke' The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience (Ralph Metzner)

7		"In the cyclic system of the ancients, birth and death merged in a circular continuum." The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (Barbara G. Walker)

8		"The mandala focuses attention on the center. The circle allows a center to emerge and the center then organizes the chaos about it. Patterns of meaning develop in relationship to the center." Spiritual Pilgrims, Carl Jung & Teresa of Avila (John Welch, O. Carm.)

9		"When White Buffalo Calf Woman came among us bringing the Sacred Pipe which represents wholeness and holiness – the respectful honoring of our unity with all things – she reminded us of its importance for the continuance of Life itself. Ken Carey in 'Return of the Bird Tribes' brings us her words: 'Creation does not take place where there is a scattering and dissipation of energies,' she explained, 'Creation requires a gathering together and focusing of your power within a circle of commitment – like a seed, an egg, a womb or a marriage. If you would create and not destroy, you must remember always the Sacred Hoop. Consider wisely the ways in which you would use your power and then around those ways draw the sacred circle of commitment. In the warm atmosphere of that circle, the power of love builds and builds like a storm above the wet summer prairie until the circle can hold no more and explodes in the conception of the new." Brooke Medicine Eagle, Native American healer, 'Creating a Path of Beauty' The Fabric of the Future (M. J. Ryan, editor)

10		"The word 'mandala' means circle in Sanskrit. The mandala, a design form which radiates out from a center, is ancient and universal, appearing in art, architecture, and dance of cultures everywhere. It is the 'magic circle' and often has a ritual, religious symbolism as in the rose window of medieval churches….In times of confusion or stress it is a way to collect your thoughts." Marilyn Ferguson's Book of PragMagic (Marilyn Ferguson)

11		"The great wheels turn in cyclic motion, bearing all things toward one consummation." Regents of the Seven Spheres (H. K. Challoner)

12		"In its most elevated form, the sacred circle mirrors an illumined state of consciousness through a symbolic pattern – making the invisible visible. It is meant to draw both creator and viewer into an encounter with animating sources of numinous energy." Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing (Judith Cornell, Ph.D.)

13		"There are times when doubts over me steal, but I know Thou are there and awake. Thou art – and art – and I feel no surging of aeons can shake Thee – Life is a ring, I have found – I am child, boy, man, more – I learn the circle is rich, the full round complete in its perfect return." Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), German poet The Choice Is Always Ours (Dorothy B. Phillips, Chief Editor)

14		"In Jung's view, mandalas and all concomitant images….are derived from dreams and visions corresponding to the most basic of religious symbols known to mankind – symbols which are known to have existed as far back as the Paleolithic Age, as is proved, for example, by the Rhodesian rock engravings." A Dictionary of Symbols (J. E. Cirlot)

15		"The circle is a symbol of God, and the movement of God is in all directions." John Redtail Freesoul, 'The Native American Prayer Pipe: Ceremonial Object and Tool of Self-Realization' Shamanism: An Expanded View of Reality (Shirley Nicholson, Compiler)

16		"The center of the circle is the point of transformation. It corresponds to pure essence, to timelessness, to transparent light." The Spiral Dance, A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (Starhawk (Miriam Simos))

17		"The soul has movement – First it moves in a circle, that is, it turns within itself and away from what is outside and there is an inner concentration of its intellectual powers. A sort of fixed revolution causes it to return from the multiplicity of externals, to gather in upon itself and then, in this undispersed condition, to join those who are themselves in a powerful union. From there the revolution brings the soul to the Beautiful and the Good, which is beyond all things, is one and the same, and has neither beginning nor end." Pseudo-Dionysius, The Complete Works (John Farina, Editor-in-Chief)

18		"Re-vision your home as a container for a sacred circle of love." Who Do You Think You Are? The Healing Power of Your Sacred Self (Carlos Warter, M.D., Ph.D.)

19		"In a twelfth-century hermetic text known as 'The Book of the Twenty-Four Philosophers' there is a statement that has been quoted, through the centuries, by a number of Christian thinkers – among others, Alan of Lille (1128-1202), Nicholas Cusanus (1401-1464), Rabelais (1490?-1553), Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), and Pascal (1632-1662), as well as Voltaire (1694-1778); to wit: 'God is an intelligible sphere, whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.'" Joseph Campbell Tarot Revelations (Joseph Campbell & Richard Roberts)

20		"If man has alienated himself from the source, the center within, then it is the purpose of a Mandala ritual for our time to be used as a primal tool for investigating and opening that center, once again granting the individual an identification with the cosmic forces and their source." Mandala (Jose and Miriam Arguelles)

21		"The sun makes of our planet an alchemical retort in which the ocean waters are lifted to heaven and then, their impurities distilled away, are returned to the earth in drops of rain. This continuous circular process epitomizes the natural interrelationship between heaven and earth – between the archetypal figures of the collective unconscious and man's ego reality." Sallie Nichols, Jungian author Angels and Mortals, Their Co-Creative Power (Maria Parisen, compiler)

22		“The circle is a symbol of the psyche (even Plato described the psyche as a sphere).” Aniela Jaffe, ‘Symbolism in the Visual Arts’ Man and His Symbols (Carl Jung)

23		"The circle has been variously interpreted as a state of oneness, unity, heaven, the sun, Yang, the Self, ultimate wholeness, enlightenment." Seeing With the Mind's Eye (Mike Samuels, M.D. and Nancy Samuels)

24		“All the radii of a circle are brought together in the unity of the center which contains all the straight lines brought together within itself. These are linked one to another because of this single point of origin and they are completely unified at this center.” Pseudo-Dionysius, The Complete Works (John Farina, Editor-in-Chief)

25		"The mandala embraces both directions, which is why it is the consummate archetype of East and West alike. As the 'alpha and omega', the center is a union of opposites – a reflection of the true higher Self." ." Michael Flanagin, Ph.D., 'The Mandala in Jungian Psychotherapy' Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing (Judith Cornell, Ph.D.)