Decoding the mysteries of ancient symbolism with cymatics

What if I told you that there is a world beyond what we can see Interwoven into the fabric of our universe. Rather the blueprint of all that exists. A world that speaks in a language of geometry, number and vibration.

Religions all across the world seem to see through to this same truth. How we resonate to external stimuli is everything and the deep archetypal symbolism and the intelligence of how they use sound and vibration is something that will inevitably connect with us in deep ways and I believe the intelligence of these traditions will continue to become clearer with time.

How we resonate to our external environment is not only experienced by us in the moment but it tints our psychology. It ruminates in memory and eventually sifts down into our subconscious mind.

A lot of the symbols used in ritual in various cultures have geometric and mandala-like properties such as yantras used in Tibetan Buhddist monasteries. 

Yantra is a tool or diagram illustrating sacred geometrical arrangement which is used to connect to a higher cosmic energy or a specific intention in a meditative state. 

The more that I learn about the properties of mandala like shapes, the links between subtle psychology and vibration and even the psychology of mandala like patterns in themselves, the more that I look back at these traditions in awe of the deep knowledge of self that these meditation practitioners must have had to have such a deep experience of their minds.

The psychology of mandala

Carl Jung believed that the psyche had a mandala like nature or that at least the mandala had high significance when it comes to understanding ourselves deeply.

For a period of his life he would draw mandalas every morning as a way to observe the process of his psychic transformations. 

In his book memories dreams reflections he wrote:

“Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is: formation, transformation, Eternal mind recreation. And that is the self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well is harmonious, but which cannot tolerate self deceptions. My mandalas were cryptograms concerning the state of self which were presented to me anew each day. In them I saw the self-  that is, my whole being- actively at work”

We all have layers. We have our face and persona and then the layers below that can be stripped right back to our core, to the very spark of our existence. 

So yes, from a metaphysical perspective. Our psyche is a mandala in this sense.

We connect to external stimuli to different levels of depth, we are like complex puzzle pieces to our environments in that sense. When another person or experience can connect or resonate with us to the depths of your subconscious mind it creates an extremely powerful connection. 

Mandala in religion:

In several religions mandala is used to connect to something deeper for example:

• Hinduism

• Buddhism

• Jainism

• Christianity

• Taoism

• Native American Traditions

What I find curious is the traditional act of connecting to these mandalas in meditation practices when a lot of the time the goal of these meditation practices is to become centered or to come closer to consciousness particularly in Hinduism and Buddhism.

Surely if you were to suspend your awareness at your center with the mandala-like nature of our psyche and connect to a mandala made with a specific intention by rather serious meditation practitioners with well charted experience of the subconscious mind, it would create a rather powerful emotional connection. 

It becomes more interesting when we take a look at the mandala-like properties of vibration, the conscious knowledge that the Buddhists had on vibration and the psychology of vibration.

The vibrational knowledge of the Tibetan Buddhists 

I watched this video where Gregg Braden spoke about his trip into a Tibetan Buhddist monastery. He was remarking at the mandalas on the walls and one of the monks told him that in them contained a secret.

Hindu example of yantras

All those thousands of years ago they did not have the technology to record their sacred sounds, their prayers, mantras and chants that carried the sounds of their ancestors. Instead, they would put them on the walls as mandalas.

For them to know about the geometric properties of sound vibration is already phenomenal but could their knowledge really go as far as to compete with the sciences? 

As it turns out the “OM” mantra sound used to connect to the essence of the universe and the ultimate reality. When put through a tonoscope (which is a device used to visualize sound vibrations) it shows up with the exact same design as the traditional OM mantra symbol. 

Vibration and mandala

With the exploration of cymatics we have been able to look at the world of vibration with a whole new lens. We are able to see through to the geometric properties of vibration through vibrating plates at different frequencies and using devices such as the tonoscope as previously mentioned and more famously Chladni plates.

Chladni plates are metal plates that are used to demonstrate the patterns created by vibrations. When a bow or a mallet is drawn across the edge of the plate, it begins to vibrate, causing sand or fine powder to move and settle in specific patterns. These patterns, known as Chladni figures, are determined by the frequency and mode of vibration of the plate and all mandala designs.

The psychology of vibration

Vibration has been known to impact our psychology in highly significant ways. It seems to penetrate and influence us from a subconscious level . Sound vibrations can influence us so deeply that they manifest physically. They can impact our sleeping patterns, mood, energy levels, stress levels and cognitive ability. Some even suspect that the universal pitch was changed by the Nazis so that they were able to better manipulate their enemies. 

With the visualization of the psyche as a mandala knowing the impact that vibration has on our psychology to such a degree with the mandala like patterns that vibration creates combined with the ancient mystery of yantra being used to connect to different states of mind, I can't help but think that there is something truly special in these ancient symbols.

It also makes me think about how sacred geometry is found archetypally, how people in altered states of consciousness experience this geometry collectively and how it is found in various religions and ancient introspective spiritual traditions in the architecture of places of worship.