Apple Expedition

Today I made a beautiful 8km hike into Fedilisan. Thanks to 1Mandala donations by Sarah and Andrew I was equipped with a bushel of apples and some family portrait printed from my last visit.




The only way to get to Fedelisan is a winding, precarious mountain foot path that takes a good 20 minutes down and 30 minutes up. It is a humble village of small tin houses perched on the side of a dazzling verdent valley of rice terraces.




From my last visit I had learned that many of the kids had never tried apples before! It seems they grow everything here in the Philippines-- except apples. They are eight times the cost of the local bananas and you can only get them in the larger towns and cities. I picked up some in my pass through Sagada and brought them with me.

They also don't have cameras or printers in Fedelisan! The family I had met on my last visit had no photos of their kids. I had snapped some of her family and her really shy son on my last visit. You should have seen the mother's smile when she opened up the envelope with the pics!

I was invited into the community hall for coffee. There I met Dawanee and Douane. Douane is 15 days old! Dawnee asked if I could take some photos of her newborn. Her first baby photos! Can you imagine not having photos of your newborn? I'll be sure she gets some prints too.

Mandalas, Hoopla, and Magic

So what's all the hoopla about mandalas anyway? A lot. Let us tell you why we've chosen, with deep intention, this profound medium.

Mandalas are ancient spiritual art-forms found throughout the world's religious traditions and nature. Natural mandalas can be found wherever we choose look-- from tropical flowers, to spider webs to the whirl of galaxies. They have inspired humans across time and continents to harness circular geometry and create the likes of cathedral rose windows, Tibetan sand paintings, indigenous peoples’ dream catchers, Islamic mosaics, and more. The mandala is a powerful and deeply human art form that unites us across cultures.

In all these traditions mandalas re-connect us with sacred wisdom and ourselves, and, in so doing, energize our consciousness.

Russell and Sarah, the artists in the 1Mandala core team have seen it happen around the world. When you make a mandala with pastels, leaves, or flower petals something magical happens. The creator takes all that is really them-- their favorite colors, shapes, and symbols, their joys, hurts and dreams, and weaves them all together in a circular tapestry of meaning. Geometry and symmetry blossom to hold it all together. And everything re-connects. There is great power in connecting and uniting. It ignites passions, inspiration and healing.

And so, we use this ancient art and the latest social media technology, to invite the world and you to cocreate to a mandala the likes of which has never been seen before! A mandala that will reflect, energize and celebrate the emerging Oneness Consciousness on Earth.

Stay tuned. We share more of our new 1Mandala Invitation next week.

See the magic in action. View a magical movie of Russell’s mandala making in Canada and Sarah's mandala work in the Philipines.







Russ: http://www.youtube.com/russs95#p/u/37/q32hlcuEJQk


Sarah: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarah.queblatin/ArtIsLife#

Because we are all one,

Russell & The New Core Team of the 1Mandala Project:

Russell Maier - Sagada, Earth

Dan Millstein - California, USA

Yorlene Vega - Jaco, Costa Rica

Catalina Sursilov - Bucharest,Romania

Vero Ciz - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jarrett Krentzel - NYC, Victoria, America

Sarah Queblatin - Manila, Philippines



1Mandala - A Planetary Co-Creative Art Project

A video intro to Sagada and 1Mandala Strategy

"Russell in Sagada leads the 1Mandala team through a circular flow chart that integrates each social element of the 1Mandala project into a contagious cocreative circle that can inspire and sustain viral growth."