Mandala IV, 1968

Mandala IV, painted in 1968, is one of a series. The lower half symbolizes the personality or "lower man", and also humanity -- while the upper half symbolizes the soul aspect, and also the higher, spiritual or cosmic reality in which we live, and from which all illumination comes. The crescent-moon shape symbolizes the capacity of the moon, when full, to act as an "open door" for the higher energies from the sun to the earth.

Text, ©Benjamin Creme, The Esoteric Art of Benjamin Creme, Tara Press