It's been awhile since I posted on my blog! A trip to Paris and purchasing a new home in the city of Baltimore have kept me busy and I've spent very little time on the computer! I'm back in classes at Renaissance and I'll be spending more time on the computer. Our entire trip was spectacular but here are a few highlights! 

Yesterday I made 7 inch rich chocolate cooked - a recipe from Helen Corbitt's cookbook years ago when she was the chef for Neiman Marcus in Dallas.  She spread 1 Tablespoon of the batter in 8 inch cake pans to nearly the edge to make large cookies and baked them for seven minutes. I flipped the pans over and spread the batter on the bottom - made it much easier. Kathryn Costa, do you think this qualifies as a mandala? I'm making something more traditional today to begin my 100 Mandala Challenge!

Yantra (यन्त्र) is the Sanskrit word for a mystical diagram, especially diagrams or amulets supposed to possess occult powers in astrological or magicalbenefits in the Tantric traditions of the Indian religions. Traditionally such symbols are used in Eastern mysticism to balance the mind or focus it on spiritual concepts. The act of wearing, depicting, enacting and/or concentrating on a yantra is held to have spiritual or astrological or magical benefits in the Tantrictraditions of the Indian religions.

Shapes and patterns commonly employed in yantra include squares, triangles, circles and floral patterns but may also include more complex and detailed symbols, for instance:

• The lotus flower typically represents chakras, with each petal representing a psychic propensity (or vritti) associated with that chakra;
• A dot, or bindu, represents the starting point of creation or the infinite, unexpressed cosmos;
• The shatkona (şaţkoņa) (Sanskrit name for a Hexagram) is composed of a balance between:
• An upwards triangle which according to Tantra denotes energy, or more specifically action and service (seva). It may also denote spiritual aspiration, the element of fire, or Shiva. It is also said to represent the static substratum of the cosmos;[citation needed]
• A downwards triangle which according to Tantra denotes spiritual knowledge. It may also denote the creative power of the cosmos, fecundity, the element of water, or Shakti;
• A swastika represents good luck, welfare, prosperity or spiritual victory;
• Bija mantras (usually represented as characters of Devanāgarī that correspond to the acoustic roots of a particular chakra or vritti).

Geometric element meanings:

• Circle = Energy of the element water
• Square = Energy of the element earth
• Upward-facing Triangle = Energy of the element fire; energy
• Downward-facing Triangle = Energy of the element water; knowledge
• Diagonal line = Energy of the element air
• Horizontal line = Energy of the element water
• Vertical line = Energy of the element fire
• Point = Energy of the element ether