Are you curious about the meaning behind this Aries mandala? What was I thinking when creating this design? Read this post and you’ll find out.
First of all, I should say that I have a degree in industrial design. And during my four years of study, I received one piece of advice from a design professor that has helped me throughout my subsequent years of studying and working in the design field. It was this: “Imagine what you want to create, and the form will come naturally.” That was a lightbulb moment for me. And now I start with an idea. I need to come up with an idea first. But how do you come up with an idea? You need to look for inspiration around you. And I did.
As some of you know, Daria joined my small team last year, and she’s well-versed in astrology. At the end of each year, I personally look for a new annual challenge. But let’s just say the “366 Days of Granny Squares” project was also divided into four parts, each with its own design ideas. I needed a new challenge, and word by word we came up with this idea with the zodiac signs.
Why did I decide to do this? You know, before I started, I knew very little about the zodiac signs. I could name four: Cancer, because I’m a Cancer, Virgo, because my mother is a Virgo, Scorpio, because my late father was a Scorpio, and Leo, because I love cats, and Leo is a big cat. That’s all. But I live in the middle of nowhere, I’m new to gardening, and over the years that I’ve been here, I’ve begun to notice different things in nature, how it affects me, I’ve discovered different plants, different herbs… Over the past four years, I’ve become very sensitive to this natural cycle of the Sun. Since the zodiac begins with the spring equinox, the day when I usually begin my gardening season, and ends throughout the year, I thought it would be great to create a new design for each month, following the solar cycle rather than the calendar. Especially since Daria was able to give me some guidance.
So, with Daria’s help, chatting in the GPT chat, and looking through photos from previous years on my phone, I began creating a mandala for the sign of Aries.
The first rounds symbolize that burst of energy we see at the beginning, spreading underground but not yet sprouting. Therefore, in the next round, white popcorns appear, symbolizing what is about to burst, but still pure white—a pure beginning. But as the Aries period progresses, we see the first leaves, and then even more green leaves. But these first shoots are usually mixed with fields partially covered in snow, or sometimes returning snow, at least here in Lithuania. Therefore, I framed them in white in the 7th round. And above this snow, we see the tops of last year’s grass (round 8).
But the Sun is doing its work, the earth warms up and the energy buried in the frozen fields are finding their way—you can see this in rounds 9-12. I walk my dog every day, and I increasingly see green on the horizon (rounds 13-14), but all the plants are still barely visible—so popcorn is added. And all this is hidden by the warmth of the spring sun. I’ve noticed that after the spring equinox, we have more sunny days each year.
So, essentially, during this period of time, the energy of the beginning is present, and you can imagine how it will transform into beautiful, blazing flowers (rounds 17-21). But every morning when I go for a walk with the dog, I see frost. It’s as if it’s saying, “I know you have a lot of energy, but don’t rush. It’s not that warm yet” (rounds 22-26).
And the final border is my wish to draw a conclusion about the Aries period: we have a lot of energy (rounds 27-28) and many unblown seeds (round 29) that are warmed by the sun during the Aries period, and we have little sprouts everywhere (rounds 30 and 31). And at the end of the Aries period, there is still a lot of energy for moving forward.
I hope now you have a better understanding of what I was thinking when I was putting these stitches.
