Imbolc Mandala

Today I finally made my Imbolc mandala, two days late but no less heartfelt for that. In honor of Brigd, the ancient Celtic goddess of healing (among many other attributes), I dedicated the mandala to Z's dear friend I, who has been ailing for over a month with an as-yet undiagnosed malady. N & I had cut up some silk flowers Friday, planning to use those for our Imbolc mandalas, but the thought came to me this morning to cut shapes from green paper instead, so I started on that. I discovered quickly that if I am ever to become proficient at scherenschnitte (not that I expected to do anything so clever!), I need much better scissors than the ones I had to hand. It took me a very long time, and once I determined upon a pattern, I kept cutting the little curls backwards, which was very frustrating. I'd initially intended to use nothing but green to call in the healing forces of spring, but then suddenly it was too much green - just overpowering. So I made some blue flowers, leaving them open instead of connected, for breathing space. And I felt the centers should be red to symbolize Brigd's fire, which purifies and heals. At the end, I added the two feathers. They really belong on a dreamcatcher, but I think they look right on this somehow.
I realized after I had finished it that I actually was supposed to create a healing mandala in this lesson - "divine healing for a personal concern." I think I will make another one, though, for that assignment. This one is dedicated just to I.

Z kept me company while I worked on this. Here are the valentines she created. This one is for her English teacher:
And these are the inside & outside of the one for her Chinese teacher for Chinese New Year (which is on Feb. 18 this year):
What a pleasant way to begin the day!

~Namaste