Kate's Crochet Mandala + Mandalas as Healing

This lovely contribution to the Mandalas for Marinke project comes from Kate of Signed With an Owl (also on Instagram). She writes:

“I was so saddened over the loss of the talented and inspirational Wink. I first “met” Wink after she gave me a blog award in the early days of my blog. I can’t put into words how important she was in my development as a blogger and a maker. She was one of the first to encourage me to open an Etsy store, and in a more recent conversation I had with her she had offered any help she could give me in that endeavor. A large part of why I’m so close to finally opening one with confidence is due to her kind words.

Wink spoke about the therapeutic value of crochet and of the mandala, all of which I thought about as I crocheted this piece up. It truly was helpful as I attempted to process my strong reaction to the sad news about someone who I’ve never met in person, but who nonetheless impacted my life.

I was so excited when Wink started crocheting mandalas and hosting mandala CALs because I had been interested in mandalas from a psychological standpoint. Carl Jung said, “a mandala is the psychological expression of the totality of the self”. He believed that creating mandalas was therapeutic because it was a way to create order out of chaos and confusion. Sometimes people dealing with a traumatic experience will spontaneously create them. Perhaps Wink was trying to deal with her depression by crocheting mandalas.

I think it’s very sad and very scary that despite Wink’s loving family and friends, her success and accomplishments in the crochet world, and the help she was getting, she was still not able to win the fight against depression.

My heart goes out to her family and friends, and to everyone else who Wink has inspired through her beautiful work.

Visit each of the Mandalas for Marinke posts to see a variety of facts about depression and mental health issues. As well as the amazing mandalas, of course!