Saturn has just changed signs and is now in Scorpio. I have just experienced 7 years of Sade Sati and now that's over! My life seems to be filled with Saturn energy, I am running Saturn Maha Dasha and just started my 2nd Saturn Return. I am looking forward to the next 2.5 years as I reflect back on my life and think about what happened during the 1st one 29 years ago. That was a very happy time in my life, my first child was born, I embarked on my journey as a mother. Saturn is the great teacher and gives you many lessons, so lets see what he has to teach me this time. In preparation for this event, I made a Saturn Yantra Mandala and will probably make a few more. I love the colors in the Saturn Yantra, it's quite beautiful, considering it can be such a harsh planet.

This past Saturday, I taught a Chakra Mandala Workshop in Brooklyn at a very beautiful space called The Ark. The workshop was part of a series hosted by AJ Block and The Sacred Research Foundation in Greenpoint. Students got to pick a chakra that they wanted to work on. Sometimes hard to pick, but a good choice is an area that might be giving you some trouble or you feel blocked. I was happy to see 3 of the 9 people work on the 1st Chakra. The 1st Chakra has to do with issues of security and stability, it's the beginning and without a solid foundation, it can be challenging to progress in life. Students created mandalas that included the petals and the symbolism for the element. For example in the 1st Chakra there are 4 bright red petals and the earth element is represented by a yellow square. Mandalas were created by using the Vedic Square, an ancient number grid. According to the Chakra Book by my teacher, Harish Johari, chakras have ruling planets. The first chakra is ruled by the planet Mars, which is connected to the #9. Here's a brief overview: 2nd chakra= Mercury, #5, 3rd chakra=Sun, #1, 4th chakra=Venus, #6, 5th chakra=Jupiter, #3, 6th chakra=Saturn, #8 and 7th chakra=Ketu, #7. 

I love to see all the work emerging and I find it so interesting to see the same chakra come out in so many different ways. The patterns never come out the same way twice.
Here are some examples from the workshop:

I just came back from an amazing workshop in S. Florida, Highland Beach. This was the first time many of my students made a yantra, and they chose to create a mandala around it. The mandala is made from an ancient number grid called the Vedic Square. There is not that much known about it, only that it has been used to created intricate designs and patterns and when you look at it, it's some kind of multiplication table.

Students picked their yantra based on their personal numerology, ascendent lord of their vedic astrology chart or dasha lord. Some people combined a few of these elements. Here are some examples of their work: