Tripping Mandala

A mandala generally represents the spiritual journey, starting from outside to the inner core, through layers. Mandala, which means “circle” in Sanskrit (the sacred language of Hinduism) is physically seen as a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and students, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. By mentally “entering” the mandala and “proceeding” toward its center, the viewer is guided through the cosmic processes of disintegration and reintegration.

This poster was printed by A. Sirkia in Los Angeles and is by Joe Roberts Jr., one of the most prominent silkscreen artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s, helping to supply a seeming insatiable demand for inexpensive wild posters for Baby Boomers to paper their walls (and ceilings!) with.

The Tripping Mandala here has Love and Peace at its core, which pretty well summed up the hippie utopian dream. Inside the mandala are a whole series of psychedelic visions and introspections ranging from a cartoon duck courtship to seas of holes, the mantra “OM” and a mysterious figure in a cloak.